GeForce RTX 30 Series Performance Accelerates With Resizable BAR Support

Resizable BAR utilizes an advanced feature of PCI Express to increase performance in certain games. As of March 30th, 2021, Resizable BAR is supported for GeForce RTX 30 Series graphics cards and laptops.

For desktops to take advantage of Resizable BAR, users need a GeForce RTX 30 Series graphics card with a supported VBIOS, a compatible CPU, compatible motherboard, motherboard SBIOS update, and our newest GeForce Game Ready driver.

For GeForce RTX 30 Series laptops, please check with the manufacturer to see if Resizable BAR is supported on a specific model.

For instructions on how to enable Resizable BAR, continue reading. 

Resizable BAR is an optional PCI Express interface technology. As you move through a world in a game, GPU memory (VRAM) constantly transfers textures, shaders and geometry via many small CPU to GPU transfers.

With the ever-growing size of modern game assets, this results in a lot of transfers. Using Resizable BAR, assets can instead be requested as-needed and sent in full, so the CPU can efficiently access the entire frame buffer. And if multiple requests are made, transfers can occur concurrently, rather than queuing. 

To successfully activate Resizable BAR on a desktop PC, please follow these steps in order, referring to the expanded installation instructions below:

1. Confirm you have a compatible CPU & CPU chipset (see list below)
2. Confirm you have a compatible motherboard (see list below)
3. Update your motherboard SBIOS, if required, by installing an update from the manufacturer. Then enable Resizable BAR support in your motherboard’s BIOS interface
4. Update to the latest GeForce Game Ready Driver (version 465.89 WHQL at the time of writing, released March 30th, 2021), or a later version
   
5. If you have a GeForce RTX 3060, you’re good to go. If you have a GeForce RTX 3060 Ti, 3070, 3080, or 3090, then you may require an updated VBIOS
6. If you have a Founders Edition graphics card from NVIDIA, get your VBIOS update tool directly from our website. If you have a custom partner card, get the update tool from their site (see list below)
7. Verify Resizable BAR is enabled in the NVIDIA Control Panel (see instructions below)

Resizable BAR requires CPU and motherboard compatibility, and a Resizable BAR SBIOS update. As of March 30th, 2021, the following CPU chipsets and CPUs officially support Resizable BAR on GeForce RTX 30 Series desktop GPUs:

NVIDIA is working with motherboard manufacturers around the world to bring Resizable BAR support to compatible products. As of March 30th, 2021, the following manufacturers are offering SBIOS updates for select motherboards to enable Resizable BAR with GeForce RTX 30 Series desktop graphics cards:

Head to the manufacturers’ website to discover whether your motherboard is compatible, and to download and install updates if available. Additionally, please refer to the manufacturer’s documentation for enabling Resizable BAR support in the BIOS after installation of new firmware.

Please note, some motherboard manufacturers have unofficially extended Resizable BAR support to prior generation products. Your mileage may vary utilizing these solutions.

Having updated your motherboard, you’ll need to update your GPU, and download and install a GeForce Game Ready Driver, released March 30th, 2021, or later.

In practice, the performance benefits of Resizable BAR can vary substantially from game to game. In our testing, we’ve found some titles benefit from a few percent, up to 12%. However, there are also titles that see a decrease in performance, so NVIDIA will be pre-testing titles and using game profiles to enable Resizable BAR only when it has a positive performance impact. That way you won’t have to worry about bugs or performance decreases, and won’t have to rely on the community to benchmark each title and discover whether Resizable BAR is beneficial in the games you’re playing.

Popular, graphically demanding titles can run faster and smoother with Resizable BAR, further improving your experience

With the release of our GeForce Game Ready Driver on March 30th, 2021, we’re enabling Resizable BAR support on all GeForce RTX 30 Series GPUs, and expanding support to an additional 9 games, for a total of 17:

As we identify additional titles that benefit from Resizable BAR, we’ll introduce support via Game Ready Driver updates.

Before proceeding further through the Resizable BAR process, please download and install the latest GeForce Game Ready Driver, released March 30th, 2021, or later, and reboot your PC.

GeForce RTX 3060 desktop graphics cards launched February 25th, 2021 with a pre-installed Resizable BAR VBIOS. If you purchased one, all you need is a compatible motherboard and motherboard SBIOS, described above, and our newest Game Ready Driver.

GeForce RTX 3060 Ti, 3070, 3080 and 3090 desktop graphics cards may require a VBIOS update.

For GeForce RTX 30 Series Founders Edition graphics cards manufactured by NVIDIA, please head to our knowledge base, where you can download the firmware update tool, follow how-to instructions, and get further information. If your system does not support Resizable BAR there is no benefit to installing the firmware update, so please check you meet all other requirements first.

Firmware updates for custom GeForce RTX 30 Series graphics cards manufactured by our partners can be found on their websites. The links provided below are for your convenience only; partner hardware vendors are responsible for functionality and support of GPU VBIOS updates:

• ASUS: Select GeForce RTX 30 Series --> Model --> Support --> Driver & Utility
• COLORFUL
• EVGA
• Gainward: Select GPU --> Tool
• Galax
• GIGABYTE
• INNO3D
• MSI: Select GPU --> Support --> Utility --> choose MSI Dragon Center or MSI Live Update
• Palit: Select GPU --> Tool 
• PNY
• Zotac

If an update for your specific model is not yet available, do not install the Founders Edition firmware or other custom firmware as it is not compatible.

After you’ve updated all your components and installed our Game Ready Driver, you can verify Resizable BAR is working on your system by opening the NVIDIA Control Panel.

On the bottom left of the Control Panel, simply click “System Information”, and in the new window look for “Resizable BAR” on the right. If it says “Yes”, you’re set.

If it says “No”, please ensure Resizable BAR is enabled in your motherboard’s BIOS interface and reboot your PC.