NVIDIA, with the help of IBM and a number of third parties, has developed technology that will make graphics cards less dependent on CPUs by giving future GPUs direct access to SSD resources.
The technology is called BaM (Big accelerator Memory), and it allows the GPU to directly access the SSD via the PCIe bus, almost without using the CPU power, as it is now. Thus, the freed up CPU resources can be used for other, more useful tasks. Graphics cards will be able to directly read and write data from and to the SSD, which will also reduce the load on the graphics cards’ own memory. This solution will also eliminate the need for developers to integrate solutions like the DirectStorage API .
The BaM technology will significantly speed up the work of high-performance systems; the authors of the project primarily developed it with an eye on “heavy” computing tasks and machine learning systems. Direct access to SSDs will also allow graphics cards to handle higher resolutions, improving rendering performance. Currently, this technology is at the prototype stage, and the developers have not yet specified when it will be able to enter the market.
source: PCGamesN
