Up until now, the Resizable BAR has only been available for more modern CPUs, allowing the GPU to allocate more bandwidth than is allocated by stock. However, a new mod is now available on GitHub, allowing those with GeForce GTX 16 and RTX 20 the ability to do the same. However, installing this mod comes with the chance of bricking your motherboard.
NvStrapsReBar, the mod now available on GitHub by terminatorul, allows users with other CPUs to benefit from the Resizeable BAR function. This is done by rewriting the UEFI firmware on the motherboard. Users are then able to manually or automatically adjust the settings. ReBAR is normally enabled through a vBIOS for RTX 30 and RTX 40 cards, but this mod lets you access it on the older systems.
Mod lets you use ReBAR on older CPUs, but not without a catch
This mod doesn’t come without its risks though. If you aren’t familiar with tweaking BIOS settings, you have the chance of damaging and even bricking your motherboard. Only those who are used to modding their systems should try out this mod. If you aren’t as familiar with the inner workings, we’d recommend steering clear of this one for now. If you do decide to add this mod, make sure to follow terminatorul’s instructions to a tee.
Another reason why those who aren’t quite into the modding community should hold off on using terminatorul’s mod is that there is no guarantee of performance gains. ReBAR is meant to allow the system and drivers to optimize the resources it has available. But, not every game will see a gain. In fact, some games actually saw a decreased performance. Testing on Radeon GPUs saw up to a 24% gain in specific titles. However, it varied from title to title.
This ReBAR mod can let users make the best out of their GTX 16 and RTX 20s. This is as long as they know what they’re doing. Unfortunately, older systems will have to be patient for their chance at using ReBAR. Mod creator terminatorul did attempt to make the NvStrapsReBar mod available for GTX 10-series graphics cards, but ran into technical issues preventing it. Only time will tell if even older cards will get the chance to use ReBAR in the future.
