ASUS has released new beta BIOSes that bring Resizable BAR (Base Address Register) support to some of its Z490 motherboards. This happens to be same technology behind AMD’s Smart Access Memory, which means that Intel users can leverage the full potential of a Radeon RX 6000 Series graphics card without a Ryzen 5000 Series processor or 500 Series motherboard.
The addition of Resizable BAR has been confirmed by Tom’s Hardware, which shared a screenshot of a ROG Maximus XII BIOS with “Above 4G Decoding” and “Re-Size BAR Support” options. Users can find the new settings under the Advanced panel after updating to the relevant firmware (version 1002).
According to a slide shared by ASUS PR guy Chris Wefers (via VideoCardz), enabling Resizable BAR on a ROG Maximus XII Hero/Intel Core i7-10700K/AMD Radeon RX 6800 XT configuration allowed for a 13.4 percent performance increase in Forza Horizon 4. This is similar to AMD’s own benchmarks, which alluded to an 11 percent increase with Smart Access Memory enabled.
Wefers noted that the new firmware is available for select Intel H470 and B460 motherboards as well. Users can search for the new BIOSes on ASUS’s support site.
AMD Smart Accesss Memory Support jetzt auch auf ASUS/ROG-Mainboards mit Intel Z490/H470/B460-Chipsatz. Ab Beta-BIOS 1002 bzw. 1601 pic.twitter.com/dOVf3C41rh
— Chris Wefers (@chris_wefers) December 1, 2020
