Does Resizable Bar Help Gaming? Tips New 2022 -

Does Resizable Bar Help Gaming? Some players argue that being able to see more of the game screen can give them a better sense of their surroundings and help them make better decisions. Others contend that resizable bars do not make a significant difference in gameplay.

What is Resizable Bar?

Gaming PCs create an on-screen image using the CPU processing data (textures, shaders, and the like) from the frame buffer. The CPU can access this buffer only in 256MB read blocks. This is a problem because modern GPUs have 8GB or more video memory.

Resizable Bar makes the entire graphics buffer available to the CPU at once. Where it used to sip, it now guzzles. It is hoped that games will run at higher frame rates if textures, shaders, and geometry load faster.

This likely sounds familiar because AMD beat Nvidia with Smart Access Memory in 2020. SAM and Resizable Bar are not the same things. They’re both parts of the PCIe interface and have been there since PCIe 3.0.

There are still some differences. SAM requires an AMD Ryzen CPU and a Radeon RX 6000 Series GPU. Resizable Bar requires an RTX 30 series graphics card, but it can be used with Ryzens or Intel 10th Gen chips. Other system requirements exist – not all motherboard chipsets will work with Resizable Bar, and those that do may need to update their BIOS. However, Nvidia’s Resizable bar isn’t as hardware-limited as AMD SAM.

But does it really work?

Ah. Well.

Nvidia clearly stated that not all games would experience a positive effect. In fact, in their testing, some games performed worse than others. The resizable Bar is supposed to be invisibly disabled for these cases. However, I only tested with Nvidia allowlist games and did not see any improvements that you would be able to perceive.

Resizable Bar only added one to two frames per second in most results. At 1080p, Horizon Zero Dawn lost one or three frames, while Watch Dogs Legion lost one. It’s not a knackering performance, but it is sending it through the roof. However, it doesn’t seem like it does much in these four games.

The good news is that a Resizable Bar can be enabled. Although I had read and heard that Watch Dogs Legion might take a performance hit due to it being on the allowlist before, that was not the case in my testing. Ubisoft or Nvidia may have been working behind the scenes to improve compatibility. It is possible that Resizable Bar’s effectiveness can differ between games. This opens up the possibility of future updates or new game releases delivering better results.

If there are no real drawbacks, I suggest you leave Resizable Bar enabled. You might get a few extra frames if you are lucky. This is especially true if you’re working at higher resolutions. However, this won’t do any harm to your frame rate output. Although it’s not the most intelligent recommendation I have ever made, I will admit that it’s not the most boisterous.

How can I turn Resizable Bar on and off?

If your motherboard, CPU and GPU are all up-to-date and compatible, you can enable Resizable Bar by going to the BIOS. If you are lucky (as I was with my TUF Gaming Z590-Plus WiFi router), there might be a toggle switch visible right away. To restart your computer, flip the switch and save any changes. You can disable the Resizable Bar again by using the same method.

If you can’t find an accessible toggle, go to the BIOS’ advanced settings. This is usually located under a submenu PCI. There are Resizable Bar/Resize bar and Above 4G Encoding settings. After ensuring that both are enabled, go to the Boot menu and disable the Compatibility Support Module (CSM). Save and exit the program. You can revert any changes made in the BIOS to turn off the Resizable Bar later.

It would help if you were careful about disabling the CSM on older storage systems. If Windows is installed in an old MBR format and not the GPT format, you will have to disable the CSM or re-enable it.

The Nvidia Control Panel allows you to check if the Resizable Bar is active. You will find it under your GPU details by clicking “System Information” at the bottom-left corner. It will be enabled in supported games if marked “Yes” and disabled if marked “No”.

It won’t hurt to switch on Resizable Bar, but it might not help. This is something Nvidia and game developers can work together to make a more substantial upgrade.

Does Resizable Bar Help Gaming?

A resizable bar will not work with every game, even if you have the proper hardware. Nvidia has created a list of compatible matches with Resizable Bar. More titles are expected to follow.

It is supported by the following games:

This list will be kept up to date by Nvidia. Keep this page bookmarked if you want to see your favorite game added by Nvidia over the next few months.

FAQs

1. Is Resizable Bar Exclusive to Nvidia Hardware

Nvidia, unlike AMD, does not manufacture its x86 processors. This means they will have to support this feature with AMD and Intel processors.

AMD, on the contrary, doesn’t require Nvidia. They create their CPUs and GPUs, and they work together using their Resizable BAR.

AMD stated that the technology was not exclusive to their hardware.

2. How do you enable Nvidia Resizable Bar?

The following video will show you how to enable Nvidia Resizable Bar and improve gaming performance.

Conclusion

You now know the basics of Nvidia’s Resizable Bar, how it works and what supported motherboards, games and processors it can be enabled to improve your gaming performance.

Glitchmind will keep you informed about the most recent motherboards and games that support Nvidia Resizable Bar.