Typically, the GPU receives data from the drive indirectly. First, they are loaded by the central processor, and only then they are sent to the GPU. Obviously, this approach increases load times. RTX IO technology transfers most of the communication work from the CPU to the GPU. This not only reduces loading times but also increases frame rates and improves the experience of the game world.

In addition to transferring data directly from the drive to the graphics card, RTX IO technology is responsible for efficient, lossless compression. Modern games take up more and more space. For example, Call of Duty: Modern Warfare with updates weighs 224 GB. So the RTX IO technology will not only be useful, but also potentially necessary in the future, because the volume of the same NVMe SSD is limited, and the new technology should allow reducing the volume of game files.

“ Loading problems and latency can be reduced, and high-quality textures can be transferred at incredible speeds, so even if you’re racing around the game world, everything will work and look great,” says NVIDIA. “Plus, lossless compression can reduce the size of games downloaded and installed, which allows gamers to store more games on SSDs and also improve their download speed. ”

NVIDIA technology is based on the Microsoft DirectStorage API and, according to the company, is capable of delivering ” storage performance up to 100 times faster than traditional hard drives .” Of course, in the case of a solid-state drive, the increase is not so significant, but it is still very, very noticeable. Most importantly, the technology significantly reduces the use of CPU resources.  

RTX IO will become available as soon as developers start releasing games with its support. However, preliminary versions of Microsoft DirectStorage for developers will not appear until next year, so you should not wait for games with RTX IO until the second quarter of 2021. Note also that the RTX IO will run on both the new Ampere GPUs and the previous Turing GPUs. Therefore, owners of the RTX 20-series will not be overlooked.