Here’s How To Update Your FireCuda 530 SSD For Improved DirectStorage Performance
Seagate has issued a new firmware update for its FireCuda 530 PCIe Gen 4 NVMe SSDs that enhances the DirectStorage capabilities of the drive. This will enable drive owners to utilize the full strength’s Microsoft’s DirectStorage API with applicable GPUs and games that support the feature, dramatically improving load time performance.
The SSD firmware update can be downloaded from this webpage here, where users will need to enter the serial number of the SSD to gain access to the new update. Seagate says its DirectStorage enhancing firmware update will be for both current and future Seagate customers.
Seagate doesn’t specify how its firmware update improves DirectStorage performance, but this is not the first time we’ve seen SSD firmware updates relating to Microsoft’s new API. Phison showed off a firmware update last year that was designed to improve the performance of supported SSD in areas where DirectStorage-supported applications hit the drive the hardest. Specifically improving sustained random read performance with large block sizes. We can’t say that Seagate has done the same thing here with its own DirectStorage firmware update, but we suspect it has done similar optimizations since DirectStorage-supported games should stress all SSDs the same way.
🚨DirectStorage Firmware Update for FireCuda 530🚨
— Seagate Gaming (@seagategaming) June 13, 2023
This FireCuda 530 firmware update enables DirectStorage support to supercharge your FireCuda SSD!
Click here to follow the simple process: https://t.co/8tXNJBDVOG#SeagateFireCuda #SeagateGaming #DirectStorage pic.twitter.com/r47DKdKjCp
Microsoft’s DirectStorage API is a new standard that developers can use to improve NVMe SSD utilization in modern video games. Currently, NVMe drives are so fast that the CPU often bottlenecks the drive’s performance, hindering game loading times and delaying asset streaming performance. With DirectStorage, Microsoft is able to reduce this bottleneck issue with the integration of several features, including an enhanced file I/O stack, features that improve data management and scheduling, and more.
The most well-known DirectStorage feature is GPU file decompression which moves appropriate game data from the SSD directly into GPU memory for processing. This feature completely bypasses the CPU for data processing and significantly improves load time performance in games that can take advantage of the feature.
The new firmware is available for download right now, so if you own a FireCuda 530 SSD and play DirectStorage-supported titles, be sure to check it out.
