Vulkan storage buffer vs image sampler

Question

I am currently building an application in vulkan where I will be sampling a lot of data from a buffer. I will be using as much storage as possible, but sampling speed is also important. My data is in the form of a 2D array of 32 bit integers. I can either upload it as a texture and use a texture sampler for it, or as a storage buffer. I read that storage buffers are generally slow, so I was considering using the image sampler to read my data in a fragment shader. I would have to disable mipmapping and filtering, and convert UV coordinates to array indices, but if it's faster I think it might be worth it.

My question is, would it generally be worth it to store my data in an image sampler, or should I do the obvious and use a storage buffer? What are the pros/cons of each approach?

Answer 1

Guarantees about performance do not exist.

But Vulkan API tries not to decieve you. The obvious way is likely the right way.

If you want to sample then sample. If you want to do raw access then obviously do raw access. Generally, you should not be forcefully trying to put a square in a round hole.