The next generation of gaming consoles is still months away, but already much has been said about the move to NVMe SSD storage and the potential impact it will have on PC gaming. After all, the PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X are essentially PCs for consoles. It will take some time to fully understand the full impact of this shift, but in the meantime, one interesting piece of information has emerged: Epic Games has revealed that it has rewritten key parts of Unreal Engine 5 "with PlayStation 5 in mind."

As Tyler noted in his article a few weeks ago, the key to the ultra-detailed scenes shown in the recent UE5 demo is fast SSD storage. He spoke with Epic CEO Tim Sweeney, who stated that "high-end PCs with SSDs, especially those equipped with NVMe interfaces (which transfer data through the PCIe bus), can expect 'great performance' from UE5-based games." Naturally, a fast CPU and GPU are required. Of course, a fast CPU and GPU are also needed, otherwise even the fastest SSD won't help much. It would be like putting racing tires on a Ford Pinto.

But what we didn't know at the time was the extent to which game developers would optimize their games for SSD storage. We don't have the full picture yet, but the latest findings are certainly interesting.

"The ability to stream content at extreme speeds has changed the way we think about streaming content, allowing developers to create denser, more detailed environments."

With PlayStation®5 in mind, Unreal Engine's core We even rewrote the core I/O subsystem of the Unreal Engine with PlayStation®5 in mind," said Epic's Nick Penwarden in an interview with VG247.

SSDs have been available for PCs for several years. Currently, however, the gaming performance of NVMe SSDs is about the same as that of the relatively slow (but still fast) SATA SSDs.

This means that there is untapped potential. The fastest SATA SSDs are around 550-580 MB/sec sequential read/write, whereas NVMe SSDs are typically at least four to five times faster, sometimes even more. And for NVMe SSDs that take advantage of PCIe 4.0 (currently only available on AMD's X570 and B550 chipsets), sequential reads and writes can reach a whopping 5,000 MB/sec, with even faster models on the horizon.

Remember, there is more to gain than just load times. This is where game optimization for next-generation game consoles comes into play. Sony is sticking its neck out publicly by emphasizing the PS5's SSD capabilities so much, considering that SSDs have been around for years. However, with fundamental changes in game engines and game coding methods, the untapped speed of PC SSDs could be realized in ways not previously possible.

That said, this is a best-case scenario. Game demos are one thing; we will have to wait and see what is actually developed. But at least SSDs are finally getting their moment in the limelight.