NVIDIA Resizable BAR Firmware Update Tool

This article explains how to update the GPU firmware for Resizable BAR compatibility on GeForce RTX 30 Series GPUs from NVIDIA and our partners. Contact your GPU vendor if you have further support questions not covered by this article.

Resizable BAR is an optional PCI Express interface technology. NVIDIA has created a downloadable GPU firmware update tool for GeForce RTX 30 Series GPUs to enable Resizable BAR. The tool will detect whether a firmware update is supported, and if supported, will give the user the option to update it.

Enabling Resizable BAR requires a compatible CPU, motherboard, system firmware (SBIOS), R465 or higher driver, as well as GPU firmware (VBIOS) support. Updating the GPU firmware should only be performed if the rest of the platform supports Resizable BAR.

Read our Resizable BAR article to learn more about supported CPUs, motherboards, GPUs, and games.

Running the Tool

Prior to running the tool, make sure the newest Game Ready Driver is installed. Ensure power is connected and stable during the update. Save open files and do not turn off your PC.

Once you have the tool downloaded, please run the tool and follow the on-screen instructions. When running the tool, a console window will be displayed with instructions. While performing the update, the screen may flicker or temporarily go blank.

A reboot is necessary for the new firmware to take effect.

The tool will detect all cards in the system and indicate one of the following statuses:

Status	Meaning
Update supported, will be applied	The existing GPU firmware does not support Resizable BAR, and this tool can be used to update it.
Already updated	The GPU firmware has already been updated from this tool.
Resizable BAR already enabled	The GPU already has Resizable BAR enabled, and no update is necessary.
Unsupported by this tool, contact card vendor	The existing GPU firmware does not support Resizable BAR, and the card is not supported by this tool. Contact the card’s vendor for support.
Unsupported	The GPU is not capable of supporting the Resizable BAR feature. This update is only available for RTX 30 Series GPUs.

If an update is performed, please restart your PC for the new firmware to take effect.

Confirming Resizable BAR is Enabled

After you’ve updated all your components, and installed our R465 or higher 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 NVIDIA 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.

Additional Information

How do I enable Resizable BAR? There are three components to enabling a higher BAR value.

 

1. Supported GPU including VBIOS a. GeForce RTX 30 Series desktop GPUs - Support for a specific sku determined by GPU vendor b. GeForce RTX 30 Series laptops

2. Supported Motherboard SBIOS a. Users can obtain motherboard support and SBIOS information from their motherboard vendor b. Within SBIOS, adjust the setting to: 1. Boot in UEFI mode 2. Enable “Above 4GB Decoding” 3. Enable “Resizable BAR” in the SBIOS 4. Disable Compatibility Support Module (CSM) in the SBIOS. 5. Ensure GPT partition type is used (and not MBR) 

3. Supported driver (Game Ready Driver or NVIDIA Studio Driver) a. RTX 3080 NB, 3070 NB, 3060 NB: 461.40 or higher b. RTX 3060: 461.72 or higher c. All other supported RTX 30 series GPUs: version 465.89 or higher

I’ve walked through all the steps to enable Resizable BAR and I’m still seeing the setting show up as “No” in the NVIDIA Control Panel, or I am getting black screens when booting. What am I missing? Here are three areas to confirm:

• Ensure the Compatibility Support Module (CSM) is disabled in the motherboard/PC BIOS
• Ensure the boot drive is using GPT partition type and UEFI BIOS mode
• Additionally, reconfirm the VBIOS updated successfully.

 

Can I update a multi-GPU system? The updater will detect and update all the cards that can be updated in a system.

 

If the BAR value is set to the size of my GPU’s framebuffer (ie: 10GB), does that mean a game will be using all that (10GB) for BAR? No. The BAR value is used as a cap or ceiling for the total amount of BAR that can be used by the game.

 

Why would I want to change the BAR values from whatever is default today? In general, BAR allocations can have a positive impact on performance in certain games.

If the tool is unable to successfully update the firmware, a message will be displayed. Below are potential messages along with suggested actions.

Message: "An error occurred while updating. Please restart your PC and try again. If the update fails, please contact the card's vendor for support." Suggestion: This message may occur if a problem occurs before attempting to update the firmware. Restart your PC and try again.

Message: "An error occurred while updating. The GPU firmware may have been corrupted, please try again without restarting your PC. If the update fails, please contact the card's vendor for support."

Suggestion: This message may occur if a problem occurs after starting to update the firmware. In this case, do not reboot your PC. The tool should be run again immediately, as the GPU firmware may have been corrupted. If an error occurs again, try to manually uninstall the NVIDIA graphics driver and run the tool again. If an error still occurs, please contact the card’s vendor for support.

Message: "This tool is for use with add-in graphics cards only."

Suggestion: This message may occur if running the tool on a laptop. Please contact the laptop’s vendor for questions regarding Resizable BAR support.