MSI has added Resizable BAR support for its 300-series motherboards, making it possible for gamers with Intel eighth and ninth-generation CPUs to take advantage of the feature for improved gaming performance — entirely for free. The BIOS update is available on over 50 of MSI's motherboards, including those using Z390, H370, and B360 chipsets. More importantly, however, it's available on H310 motherboards, so even those with the most budget of gaming systems can benefit from this performance improvement.
Resizable BAR is an optional PCIExpress technology that lets the system leverage unused GPU memory to give the CPU faster access to certain in-game assets. It's the same as AMD's Smart Access Memory feature, but universal. It can result in a noticeable improvement in in-game performance, depending on the hardware you have and the in-game settings you're running. But 15% isn't out of the question.
To take advantage of this new MSI update, you'll need to upgrade your motherboard's firmware, and have a compatible Nvidia GPU running the latest Nvidia driver. Previously it was viable with Intel 10th and 11th generation CPus on Intel 400-series motherboards, but now it's coming to the 300 series too.
MSI joins the likes of ASUS, Asrock, Colorful, EVGA, and Gigabyte in offering this feature, and it means that a wider array of older-generation gamers can take advantage of it for improved FPS and details in their favorite games.
Have you tried out resizable BAR yet? If so, what kind of effect did it have on your gaming experience?
