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.
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 7800 XT 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 from the main menu, waiting for the game to auto-load through the continue screen. All results are performed manually with a stopwatch.
We have re-vamped our Horizon: Forbidden West testing, and thus, at this time, this is the current, new data with SSDs that we have for testing and comparing SSDs at the moment. As we test more, we will add them back into the graphs.
The Biwin Black Opal NV7400 2TB SSD is geared for gaming, as this is also Biwin’s gaming series. This is being proven out in the game load times, where the Biwin Black Opal NV7400 2TB SSD provided the fastest load times at 16.91 seconds, beating all other drives at the moment, with a 0.44% load time difference compared to the slowest SSD on the graph. This also shows that DirectStorage is working great and is very fast.
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, the Biwin Black Opal NV7400 2TB SSD is also once again the fastest drive for load times at 8.817 seconds. This beats out the previous champion here, the Lexar PLAY 2280 SE, for load time. It is quite a savings in load times when you compare it with the slowest drive, a whole 2 seconds difference, which does add up. Again, DirectStorage is working strongly.
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 use DirectStorage, but once again, the Biwin Black Opal NV7400 2TB SSD is near the top of performance, with game load times at 11.963 seconds. It sits well above all the drives below it, in a tier that with the likes of the Acer FA200 and Lexar PLAY 2280 SE. Even without DirectStorage, the Biwin Black Opal NV7400 2TB SSD has strong load times.
Final Fantasy XIV: Dawntrail Benchmark
We are now including the Final Fantasy XIV: Dawntrail Benchmark as well, which benchmarks the load times of several game scenes. This new and updated benchmark 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, the Biwin Black Opal NV7400 2TB SSD again shows a strong performance metric with load times of 6.428 seconds. This places it only fourth down on the graph for the fastest load time, and puts it close to the Lexar NM710 and Acer FA200. It sits above the average for load times and beats a lot of drives on performance, again without DirectStorage.
3DMark DirectStorage Benchmark
We are running the 3DMark DirectStorage feature test, showing the overall feature test score and individual test results as displayed when run on the SSD.
Running 3DMark’s DirectStorage feature test, we can see that the Biwin Black Opal NV7400 2TB SSD is 164.7% faster with DirectStorage enabled. The Biwin Black Opal NV7400 2TB SSD to GPU Memory performance without DirectStorage is 5.45GB/s, and then with DirectStorage enabled, it is 14.42GB/s. Biwin Black Opal NV7400 2TB SSD to system memory performance is also increased a bit with DirectStorage.