26 PCWorld OCTOBER 2020NEWS
IMAGE: GIGABYTE AORISHow Microsoft and Nvidia plan to
kill game-loading times on PCs
A game changer, literally. BY BRAD CHACOST
hat blisteringly fast storage
technology found in the next-gen
consoles is coming to PCs too,
debuting first with the RTX IO
technology in Nvidia’s new GeForce RTX
30-series graphics cards (go.pcworld.
com/8090). Microsoft just pulled back the
curtain a bit more on how it works.
Yes, the creator of Windows is explaining
how SSD technology works in a graphics
card. No, it’s not as bizarre as it sounds.
Both the Xbox Series X (go.pcworld.com/
xbsx) and Nvidia’s RTX IO tap into Microsoft’s
DirectStorage, a new DirectX API. Microsoft
teased that it would be coming to PCs (go.
pcworld.com/c2pc) after the Xbox Series Xannouncement.
This week, the company revealed (go.
pcworld.com/dcst) a bit more about how
the technology helps your SSD and GPU
work more closely together to reduce (and
possibly eliminate) loading times—though
you’ll need a speedy NVMe drive to take
advantage of it.
“With Nvidia RTX IO, vast worlds will
load instantly. Picking up where you left off
will be instant. This is a very big deal for
next-generation gaming,” Nvidia CEO
Jensen Huang said while introducing the
technology. Instantaneous loading is also a
key selling point for the Xbox Series X and
PlayStation 5 (go.pcworld.com/spl5)