NVIDIA Neural Texture Compression and Microsoft DirectX Cooperative Vector Significantly Cut GPU VRAM Usage by Up to 90%

NVIDIA’s advancements in Neural Texture Compression (NTC) have made significant strides, especially in collaboration with Microsoft’s DirectX Cooperative Vector technology. Recent benchmarks indicate a remarkable reduction in VRAM usage, pushing performance standards further in graphical rendering.

Demonstration of NVIDIA’s NTC Performance Enhancements via DirectX Raytracing 1.2

Innovations in graphics extend beyond just hardware improvements, as evidenced by successful upscaling technologies like NVIDIA’s Deep Learning Super Sampling (DLSS).A recent analysis by @opinali highlights the effective performance of NVIDIA’s NTC, particularly when paired with Microsoft’s updated DirectX Raytracing 1.2. In his experiments, a notable case was observed during the shoe-rendering test, showcasing a significant decline in VRAM consumption when leveraging NTC alongside DirectX Raytracing (DXR) 1.2.

First look at NVIDA’s Neural Texture Compression with DXR1.2 Cooperative Vector! First, this needs a preview driver (590.26), I installed that so you don’t have to—and it corrupted the screen, only after a few hard-resets it decided to work.😅🧵 https://t.co/szgX1jVtcY

— Osvaldo Pinali Doederlein (@opinali) July 15, 2025

NVIDIA’s NTC utilizes neural networks to efficiently compress and decompress game textures, reducing their size while maintaining quality. The latest Microsoft DXR 1.2 update introduces Cooperative Vectors, which enable GPU shaders to collaborate on small matrix and vector calculations. This synergy between NTC and Cooperative Vectors results in an effective compression and decompression system integrated within standard game shaders using DirectX 12, further optimizing VRAM utilization.

How does it perform? Disabling v-sync, RTX 5080, demo at the startup position: (explained next tweet) Default: 2, 350fps / 9.20MB No FP8: 2, 160fps / 9.20MB No Int8: 2, 350fps / 9.20MB DP4A: 1, 030fps / 9.14MB Transcoded: 2, 600fps / 79.38MB

— Osvaldo Pinali Doederlein (@opinali) July 15, 2025

In the user’s tests, activating both Cooperative Vectors and NTC in Default mode resulted in a rendering speed of 2, 350 FPS. However, disabling these features (switching to DP4A mode) led to a sharp decline in performance to 1, 030 FPS, illustrating a nearly 80% performance gap. Furthermore, the VRAM savings are substantial; however, it is crucial to note that NTC is currently exclusive to NVIDIA systems, as Intel and AMD have yet to develop comparable neural rendering technologies.

It is essential to highlight that NVIDIA’s NTC functionality is presently available through the latest 590.26 preview drivers, which also incorporate NVIDIA’s Smooth Motion technology. Users should approach these preview drivers with caution, as they may cause performance instability. Together, these advancements promise to significantly boost the capabilities of next-gen GPUs through enhanced software optimizations.

Source & Images