The Nvidia GeForce RTX 3060 is currently capable of increasing frame rates by up to 10% in certain games, and other 30-series GPUs will soon follow suit considering that the RTX 3060 is a powerful card to begin with, it is theoretically possible to achieve very smooth frame rates and not at the expense of PC processing power [If you have an RTX 3060 Ti, RTX 3070, RTX 3080, or RTX 3090 GPU, you will have to wait another month or so until this feature is released

The information comes from Nvidia's official website, which details the technology in an article titled "GeForce RTX 30 Series Performance to Accelerate with Resizable BAR Support" As you might expect, the information is a bit on the technical side, but the gist is clear enough: a new technology known as Resizable BAR (Base Address Register) allows RTX 30 Series GPUs to transfer in-game assets more efficiently, thereby increasing frame rates for certain games frame rates for certain games by transferring in-game assets more efficiently

First, some practical information: To take advantage of the resizable BAR technology, you will need an Nvidia GeForce RTX 30 series card, as well as a compatible CPU and motherboard At this time, only the RTX 3060 has resizable BAR technology, but other 30 series cards will follow in "late March" To update your drivers, simply use the GeForce Experience program

It would take too long to go into detail about all compatible CPUs, but there is a comprehensive table on Nvidia's website In a nutshell, AMD compatible CPUs include the Ryzen 3 5xxx, Ryzen 5xxx, Ryzen 7xxx, and Ryzen 9xxx series, all with AMD 400 and 500 series chipsets

Compatible Intel CPUs include the Intel 10th generation i9-10xxx, i7-10xxx, i5-10xxx, and i3-xxx series and Intel 11th generation i9-11xxx, i7-11xxx, and i5-11xxx series Supported Intel 10th generation chipsets include the Z490, H470, B460, and H410 models All Intel 11th generation chipsets should be compatible

(If in doubt, check the CPU specifications under "This PC" > "Properties"; Windows will show the exact make and model of the processor)

Users will also need a motherboard that supports this technology Currently, motherboards from Asus, ASRock, Colorful, EVGA, Gigabyte, and MSI are supported If the motherboard supports Series 30 GPUs, it will also support resizable BAR technology

This feature is also available on certain Nvidia GeForce RTX 30 series laptops, but support varies by manufacturer; Nvidia recommends that laptop owners contact the manufacturer directly for compatibility

Assuming you have all the proper hardware and updated drivers, you can check to see if the resizable BAR is working correctly in the Nvidia Control Panel On the Display tab, under Details, click [ Resizable BAR] option If it says "Yes," you are good to go; if it says "No," something is wrong

One caveat to the resizable BAR technology is that developers have to go to a bit of trouble to take advantage of it As a result, frame rate improvements are limited to only a few games At the moment, there are eight supported games: Assassin's Creed Valhalla, Battlefield V, Borderlands 3, Forza Horizon 4, Gears 5, Metro Exodus, Red Dead Redemption 2, and Watch Dogs: Legion

Nvidia has promised support for additional games next month After that, it will be up to individual developers to decide whether to devote resources to maximize the resizable BAR technology

Nvidia calls resizable BAR an "advanced feature of PCI Express" and claims that it can enhance gaming performance, especially by increasing frame rates

"As you move through the world in your game, GPU memory (VRAM) constantly transfers textures, shaders, and geometry via numerous small CPU-to-GPU transfers," Nvidia's technical and marketing content editor in a post Andrew Burnes writes "Modern game assets are getting larger and larger in size, resulting in massive transfers Resizable BAR allows simultaneous transfers when multiple requests are made, instead of requesting assets on an as-needed basis

Basically, resizable BAR is a more efficient way to transfer data between the CPU and GPU, especially where game assets are concerned The "multiple request" aspect is also important, since modern games load huge amounts of assets at once Fewer queues means faster rendering, which means (in this case) faster frame rates

Since Tom's Guide's test rig is equipped with an RTX 3070 card, we are not yet able to test the resizable BAR directly However, stay tuned We will try some of these games and see how much the frame rate improves