Earlier this year in March, Microsoft released its DirectStorage API for Windows 11 PCs. The performance improvements are very promising with the first title to receive the technology, Forspoken, already showing up to 70% improvement compared to legacy Win32 API. However, the game has already been delayed twice with the latest official announcement stating it's not arriving before next year.
In the meantime though, enthusiasts awaiting the release of Forspoken can make sure their systems are ready to take advantage of the technology. Although Microsoft says that any Windows 11 system sporting an NVMe SSD is DirectStorage compatible, Sabrent earlier today announced the first drive designed to take advantage of the next-gen storage API. Enter the new Rocket 4 Plus G model which Sabrent says is "designed for the DirectStorage API".
The new drive comes in flavors of 1TB, 2TB, and 4TB, and the product is also available with a heatsink. The Sabrent Rocket 4 Plus G utilizes the standard 3D TLC NAND and promises throughputs of over 7Gbps thanks to its PCIe 4.0 nature.
Sabrent says its new O2 GO firmware helps the new Rocket 4 Plus G sustain high speeds over long gaming sessions. As with any SSD, the additional heatsink would certainly also help a lot. The company has confirmed that the hardware itself is different from the regular Sabrent Rocket 4 Plus model.
Do the original 4TB SSDs get a firmware update?
— GF13-017NJII - The Burning Gundam (@tagethemage) August 1, 2022
Sadly no, as there are some hardware changes also.
— Sabrent America (@Sabrent) August 1, 2022
What this means is that faster NVMe SSDs, like the new Sabrent Rocket 4 Plus G, could likely benefit even more from the move to DirectStorage. While this is not confirmed, the new Sabrent drive may be one of the first SSD models ready for AMD's SmartAccess Storage tech. That's because the latter revealed in an interview that not all NVMe drives are going to be SmartAccess Storage compatible.
The drives are currently up for pre-order on Sabrent's official website here.
Source: Sabrent America (Twitter)