Il 23 maggioat Computex Taipei, AMD CEO Lisa Su will hold a conference where she is expected to make some important announcements including Smart Access Storage (SAS). This acronym, leaked on the rumor site Videocardzshould represent the AMD implementation of Microsoft DirectStorage.
At the moment there are no certain details, so what we write is simply a deduction pending confirmation. The abbreviation suggests that Smart Access Storage is similar in concept to Smart Access Memory (SAM), but instead of graphics, please refer tostorage performance acceleration. This is exactly what DirectStorage, the technology at the heart of the Xbox Series X | S consoles, does and is also coming to PC.
Of the DirectStorage operation we have talked in depth in this article, but in a nutshell know that it is a solution (an API to be exact) that it greatly reduces CPU usage (up to 40%) putting in almost direct communication between the video card and the storage drive in order to speed up the exchange of data.
On the one hand, this frees up resources on the CPU side, and on the other it allows load vast game worlds in no time, almost in a flash. There is currently no PC game that implements DirectStorage, but we know the technology will be built into Forspoken: the developers they talked about the improvements that the API will bring in terms of loading times, although the integration is currently underway and is not yet complete.
According to the indiscretion, Smart Access Storage (SAS) will debut in June on a brand new Corsair Voyager gaming notebook (codenamed Xenomorph) belonging to the range of AMD Advantage certified solutions. The technology will certainly not be exclusive to laptops, we will also see it on desktop PCs, but perhaps a notebook with all AMD hardware (Ryzen 9 6900HX and Radeon RX 6800M) allows us to propose a better initial operation. In parallel, the choice to present the technology on a gaming notebook could represent an important signal of AMD’s priorities.
We just have to wait for further news, remembering that NVIDIA already a year and a half ago was talking about DirectStorage using the marketing name RTX IO. Intel, which is preparing to enter the dedicated desktop GPU sector after announcing the first mobile solutions, will certainly not stand by and watch.