Gaming & DirectStorage Performance
On this page, we will examine the game load time performance of the SSD, using 2 games that support DirectStorage as well as 2 games that do not. In addition, we will utilize the DirectStorage test in 3DMark to look specifically at the DirectStorage benchmark on the SSD.
Horizon Forbidden West (DirectStorage Support)
We are using the full retail game Horizon Forbidden West. This game supports DirectStorage for saved game load times. We are using an AMD Radeon RX 6800 16GB video card for testing and all components are shown to support DirectStorage. We enable the highest graphics settings in the game at 4K for testing. We will show loading a saved game file and how long it takes to load into the game. All results are performed manually with a stopwatch.
In the graph above, we are testing the time it takes to load a saved game, this directly tests DirectStorage on the SSD and how long it takes to load a saved game. In Horizon Forbidden West, the ADATA LEGEND 970 PRO 2TB PCIe Gen5 NVMe SSD did not disappoint when it came to game loading times, we got 16.9 seconds, and this was the second fastest result compared to the other SSDs, which overall were very tightly packed. The ADATA LEGEND 970 PRO 2TB PCIe Gen5 NVMe SSD is technically slower than the LEGEND 970, but we are talking time scales that are meaningless in real terms.
Forspoken (DirectStorage Support)
We are using the full retail game Forspoken, which supports DirectStorage to test game loading time. Forspoken was released on January 24th, 2023, on the PC and uses the Luminous Engine. We are using an AMD Radeon RX 6800 16GB video card. We enable the highest graphics settings, including Ultra High Texture Memory, and run at 4K. We use the built-in benchmark and report the scene load times. We add the sum of all seven scene load times and run the benchmark three times. We then take the average of the three sums from each run. We graph the average result.
In Forspoken, also a DirectStorage supported game, the ADATA LEGEND 970 PRO 2TB PCIe Gen5 NVMe SSD feel a bit behind in this one, coming in as the last performer at 8.743 seconds. This was 3% slower than the previous generation LEGEND 970, the spread here is about 3% in difference between the slowest to fastest SSD, but the ADATA LEGEND 970 PRO 2TB PCIe Gen5 NVMe SSD was on that trailing side.
Starfield
We are using the full game of Starfield, patched to the latest version. Starfield does not support DirectStorage, so this is the raw load time of a game without DirectStorage as a factor on the SSD. Starfield typically has longer load times, and thus is a great test to see how long it takes to load a saved game. We are using an AMD Radeon RX 6800 16GB video card and we enable the highest graphics settings at 4K. We will show loading a saved game file and how long it takes to load into the game. All results are performed manually with a stopwatch.
Starfield does not support DirectStorage, so this is raw game load times with no helpers. We see that the ADATA LEGEND 970 PRO 2TB PCIe Gen5 NVMe SSD isn’t the slowest here, but it is close to the slowest with the MSI SPATIUM M580 FROZR. When comparing it with the previous generation LEGEND 970, it does trail it just slightly. Compared to the fastest drive, the Corsair MP700 PRO, the ADATA LEGEND 970 PRO 2TB PCIe Gen5 NVMe SSD is 3% slower.
Final Fantasy XIV: Dawntrail Benchmark
We are including the Final Fantasy XIV: Dawntrail Benchmark as well which benchmarks the load times of several game scenes. This new and updated benchmarks utilizes a new updated engine with updated and improved graphics textures and fidelity. The benchmark calculates the sum load time of the scenes and reports the number. We run the benchmark three times, and take the average of the load times. This provides consistent, objective game load testing data we can use for comparison in a game scenario outside of DirectStorage. This benchmark uses DX11.
In Final Fantasy XIV: Dawntrail benchmark, which also does not support DirectStorage, the ADATA LEGEND 970 PRO 2TB PCIe Gen5 NVMe SSD once again seems to trail the other SSDs in performance. The ADATA LEGEND 970 PRO 2TB PCIe Gen5 NVMe SSD underperforms the LEGEND 970 by 5% in performance loading scenes in this game benchmark. Compared to the fastest SSD, the ADATA LEGEND 970 PRO 2TB PCIe Gen5 NVMe SSD falls behind 6%.
3DMark DirectStorage Benchmark
We are running the 3DMark DirectStorage feature test and showing the overall feature test score and individual test results as displayed when run on the SSD.
According to the 3DMark DirectStorage test, the ADATA LEGEND 970 PRO 2TB PCIe Gen5 NVMe SSD is 208.2% faster with DirectStorage enabled. It provides 8.32GB/s DirectStorage off, and 25.63GB/s DirectStorage on. We see that Storage to RAM is 9.96GB/s without DirectStorage and 10.82GB/s with DirectStorage.