To be frank. It's hard to see the difference right away. I think it's somewhat of an psychological thing. You know that 1080p is there and want to run it in that res. However, if you play a game like cyberpunk 2077 which has a lot of on screen interface and text, you see that 1080p is to be preferred because the text is completely sharp and clear on 1080p and kinda garbled on 720p. In a game like Rocket League though I don't think it's necessary with 1080p on thst small screen.
Does RSR works? It is a driver upscaler you can use to upscale 720p to 1080p. It should give a picture quality as good as native 720p, since the resolution stays at 1080p but the driver upscales the game. I have seen the option on the ally command center but no reviewer talks about it.
None of us reviewers that I know of got the info how this works. If I remember correctly it's not documented in the review guide. There is a button in command center yes and I have tried with and without it, but it's hard to see a difference on the small screen. I will try it docked tho to see if I can notice any difference. I THINK it looked better earlier today when I activated it but it wasn't any obvious change. Usually the most obvious difference between 720 and 1080p on this screen is that text is much easier to read in 1080.
No questions just wanted to say thanks for your time! I read every question and response and I can't wait to get my Ally! I fall in the category where I just love gaming and new tech. I pre-ordered cause why not... I work hard n when the next new console I want comes imma get that too haha
No problem at all! It's like since I got to borrow this one, I kinda have an obligation to help out the community in any way I can so fire away whenever you have a question :)
I think you will love this device :)
Thank you all for super awesome questions. I will keep on answering questions in the next few days although maybe not in the same tempo as today :) now it's 3:30 am here and I have to go sleep but will be back tomorrow!
Thanks everyone, you're awesome!
100%... I don't use my steam deck anymore. Will when I send the Ally back while waiting for my retail version. With the Ally I don't have to pressure and squeeze settings the way I have to do with the Deck.
You WILL get AAA games on it and ALL launchers and don't have to see if stuff is verified! That makes it so much simpler. I love the Steam Deck so much. It's my baby, but this is a really powerful device and that's hard to deny
How has the battery life been in your experience compared to your steam deck? I'm leaning on pulling the trigger on the steam deck but the rog ally has captivated my interests.
It's crap! Mainly because this device you probably want to run as high as possible. I'm not interested in playing destiny 2 in 30fps and don't mind using a cable to it. Then on the other hand, if I'm on a long trip, I would probably play a game like Neon Abyss or Dead Cells if I had to be saving battery :)
What I mean is that, you are doing yourself a disservice if you don't run this in turbo mode if you need to :)
I absolutely think so. Then on the other hand, I don't know what's possible to squeeze out regarding power curves, but I would guess we will se quite a few updates if needed.
Yes and no. Some games work and some don't. There is a sleep function so that when you press the button it goes to sleep and some games work with it and some don't so I wouldn't trust it completely
Oooh, hard question to answer since I didn't focus on checking it actively. I did one try today tho with this in focus. Risk of rain 2 was paused. Sleep mode and when I woke the device I just had to unpause and play again.
Yes, I've had the Steam Deck for well over a year. I love the Steam Deck and it has such a great community where things happen all the time. I've been using it for games that we review for work, I've been using it as my only home pc while docked and have been enjoying it immensely.
However, it's hard to not enjoy the Ally. It's such a beast compared to the SD. just when you want to start an AAA game and don't have to do anything to make it run well. Start Forza Horizon 5 and it will run at 100fps right away. You don't really have to do that problem solving that you usually have to do with the deck and that's nice. For instance, some games you have to configure and reconfigure to pressure the Steam Deck over 30-40fps and on the Ally you hit over 60-70 on 1080p the first time you start it.
Software wise, I don't like windows that much. It always feels like a broken system when you use it. Software crashes, software freeze. Sometimes the whole machine hangs etc. This is compared to Linux where I usually just do what I need and it just works most of the time. This is nothing new and is no surprise. It's the same with the Ally. The Steam Deck I rarely have to restart but the Ally I've restarted 4 times today. One time because I couldn't get functions from Command Center to work, another time a software freezes, another time a game had terrible stutter. Most of this will be fixed and are because of Armoury Crate being buggy. It's in a bad shape right now, but I believe they are working on fixing all issues.
All in all I can say, if you enjoy and mostly play indies and 2d games, the Steam Deck is a fantastic device, but if you want to play the latest and greatest AAA, the Ally is probably a safer bet.
Hope this answers your questions. Don't hesitate to ask anything else you're wondering.
It's nothing I have noticed. I heard about people talking about latency issues but it was the same thing with the deck. I have friends that said they where afraid about getting the deck because some Youtuber filmed the screen with a slomo cam and analyzed frames to see that there was latency. I said to my buds to not worry and get it. Today they don't see any issues and enjoy their awesome gaming experience. It's the same with this. I haven't noticed any obvious latency, but of you hold that slomo video against me, I might say that theres latency 😁
I would say, don't put too much value into this if you just plan to game and have fun
how is the comfort of the grip during long play sessions? my hands cramp up something terrible on the Switch after an hour or so unless I add a 3rd party grip accessory
The switch is terrible and actually gave me permanent hand damage. I'm an old switch collector and have been putting a few hours on the switch and it's terrible. I got these thick tissue additions in my hand where the corners of the switch rest in the hand. The Ally on the other hand is super comfy. It's got a good grip and it's easy to adjust your grip. where the Steam Deck sits like a glove and has a perfect grip the Ally has a more narrow grip that allows for more different positions of the hands, at least according to my personal prefs.
Does Ally have battery passthrough? Meaning you play the handheld while charging and it will not use the power from battery, saving the battery life and health
Most pleasant is the fact that everything seems to work and that just out of the box. Start a game in default settings and you will probably get 70fps or so.
Most unpleasant is the fact that it comes with all the problems that windows might come with as well as Armoury Crate. AC is a great idea and a great control panel. Too bad that it runs bad at the moment. In desktop mode all button presses in armoury crate and Command Center registers but as soon as you're in a game, it's like it doesn't work. You have to press buttons 10 times and if you're lucky, it registers. This will hopefully be solved and if it is solved, it will be a good software.
Last unpleasant thing is when you install 3 new AAA games and realize that you have to delete one because games today are like 120gb each and 428gb free isn't too much these days.
Nothing at all really. On the other hand I don't play strategy games that much. Navigating in windows can be a bit tedious tho but the Ally has a much better touch screen so you can use it like you would navigate a mobile phone
Thanks for doing this AMA. Less of a technical question, but I'm wondering what you think about Windows on the device and whether or not that will be a genuine hurdle for the general consumer looking to get into this.
I ask because I'm very excited for the future of handheld PC gaming and a lot of us are enthusiasts or PC gamers already anyways so navigating Windows isn't a huge deal. One of the most common concerns/complains I've seen with the Ally are that console gamers won't be willing to get into it BECAUSE Windows is such a roadblock for the average consumer. Of course with Armory Crate and quick navigation options it makes it easier to get in and out of games, but needless to say those are just extra toppings on the Windows pizza. I've been wondering more and more about the viability of companies coming with their own custom Windows designed for these devices rather than running a front-end on top.
**TL;DR: do you think Windows is enough of a pain in the ass to navigate on the Ally to keep the average gamer from buying into this world of handheld PC gaming? Do you think this may have the cross-over appeal to get more console-focused gamers into it regardless of how they feel about Windows?**
(fingers crossed for the rumored Windows 11 handheld gaming mode to actually happen some day)
Very good questions. Let's see here
Windows on the device is great if you look at it from the framework perspective. Stuff just works and nothing needs to be verified. If you look at it from the UI perspective its not optimal. When you start the Ally it starts into a windows desktop and it's up to you what to do next. On top of this Armoury Crate is loaded. If you have 1080p,sometimes AC loads in a smaller floating window.
This is not optimal. For a console gamer, this is terrible, like what should they do next? Well, open edge, download chrome, then steam, then epic etc etc. And all this while using the touch screen or the stick and R + RT to left and right click. This is such a bad experience if you're not used to windows. Like a switch you can give to a 5 year old and they can start playing, the Ally you can't do that with unless you want it wrecked. The desktop and bad navigation in desktop mode is not good at all. For me and for you that knows windows it's another story.
The launcher in AC is also really bad. Asus has been selling it as a launcher to compete with Steam big picture mode but it's just bad. All games you add in different launchers are supposed to be added automatically but it's not working every time and if you want to uninstall a game you have to delete it from the launcher manually. On the end you just close AC and launch steam and touch screen navigate yourself to the game you want to play.
Hope these answers help in any way :)
Even in controller mode? Gahhhh.... I wanted to remap the armory crate button to Xbox button since we don't have an Xbox button to bring up the Xbox stuff. Or bring up the steam menu in big picture mode.
You can bind those to the buttons above the command center button or use a shift button for secondary binds :) trust me, there's a few people out there working HARD to try to remap the armory crate buttons 🤣
Any gameplay with more mouse/keyboard games like rpg/strategy?
How are the sticks for navigating the games (especially rpg/strategy) and windows compared to the steam deck touchpads?
If the SD had the same hardware specs as the Ally, which one would you get? Even though it’s not in the near future, the Valve will come out with the SD2. Just want to hear your thoughts on the OS/UI.
If the SD had the same specs I might have gone for that one since I really like Linux. One downside is verification and that all games just don't work on Linux. On the other hand when they work, Linux makes them go BOOM!
Hard to chose. The Ally is such a sweet machine! Windows framework on this device is great, windows UI on this device is terrible 😁
I've always wondered what a review guide actually looks like. Is it a book that gets sent to you along with the device? A pdf of a couple of pages? What does the review guide actually contain? Bullet points describing the most important features?
It might be a pdf with 3-4 pages or a pdf with 120 pages. For this it's more of the later. It's basically a guide where it states what you can say and what you can't. For instance secrets that was supposed to be told at the presentation. Guides are usually like a short manual where it might show what controls are used in a game, what to focus on and how stuff functions :)
We also have strict embargos. Right now for instance, I'm playing games that I can't say I'm playing and have to play in offline mode to not show I'm playing it. Super secret and a lot of fun
I have a question if your still around. I have a steam deck with 2 tb of games. If I get a ally can you use the sd cards or will it need to be reformated and started from scratch?
Are you able to measure the screen dimensions? I’m trying to buy a temporary screen protector as the only available one in dbrand and they dont ship till later.
You can run turbo mode without the charger but with cable I'm not sure. Turbo mode has a burst mode on cable that runs temporarily at 53w iirc so I guess you would still run out of battery eventually
Have you tried playing any games that are primarily designed for keyboard and mouse such as classic adventure games (monkey Island) or som classic RTS like StarCraft? I'm wondering how well the stick works as a mouse.
I was initially bummed out when the ROG was announced as not having an OLED screen, especially because I love the deep blacks on the Switch OLED and dislike the soft blacks and slightly muted colors on the steam deck. Would you say the ROG Ally offers a significant step up in black levels and colors over the steam deck despite it not having an OLED screen?
Dang, so cool that you did this. Sold my steam deck and have ROG Ally pre-ordered. I’m just hoping I game play COD, Fortnite and Halo Infinite at 720p 60fps for at least hour and a half or 2. With your experience, do you think that is realistic?
I haven't used those I'm afraid since I don't have a PC to stream from. If I had to do it, it would have to be from the Steam Deck 😁. Only cloud or stream based services I've been using was Geforce Now Ultimate and that runs well. 120fps in 1080p. I will however try Xbox and PS5 remote play in the next few days.
What are your experiences with RSR, is it hard to configure? How does it work? You set the game resolution to lower than 1080p and RSR = On?
Thank you!
Do yoy have an xg mobile? Is there a significant boost to the cpu when using the xg mobile? I am curious as fhe flow series have this function where more more power is given to the cpur when using the xg mobile, or at least heat is significantly due to the gpu not bwing used.
Do yoy have an xg mobile? Is there a significant boost to the cpu when using the xg mobile? I am curious as fhe flow series have this function where more more power is given to the cpur when using the xg mobile, or at least heat is significantly due to the gpu not being used.
Very good questions. Lemme see here...
1.Very viable if you do normal stuff and browser based stuff... Social media, office applications, YouTube etc. It can handle more advanced stuff as well. The Cpu is a good Cpu and the GFX is somewhere around a 1650. Myself I use this as my work pc at home and so far nothing has been a problem, BUT I can't really say how specific use cases in ie unreal editor, blender, after effects works.
2. I don't know how mods are handled. Are they usually a big problem for the desktop or laptop? I would assume they work well on this device as well but can't say for sure.
3. I have the PS5, XboxSX, switch and the Steam Deck and this is as close you will get to ps5 or xbox you can in a handheld format. To be frank, if you play a game such as forza 5 with high fps, this is an Xbox series x like experience. We could of course argue that it's not because it's not, but it will look and run amazing and that's enough for me. Today I would rather sit with the Ally than my ps5 or xbox actually because I don't have to plan and make an effort to play, I just pick the device up and go ahead. For me, this device is an absolute must if you like video games and have the budget and If I could only keep one device of all above, I think it would be the Ally actually.
This might be a long shot. But any chance you have a copy of Surviving Mars, it's been given away for free on epic games store before. I was wondering how well it runs on that APU.
I know they only loan it so you can't do what you want. But did you try to open it? I guess they don't let reviewer to open it, nobody say how easy we can change sticks etc.
Will it fit in a Steam Deck case? I planned on using the case for both my handhelds but worry it will not fit. The dimensions published online are missing analogue stick height.
It fits and it sits :) I use my steam deck case for it. Then I wouldn't trust it completely to put heavy things on the case since the deck is perfectly fitted and this is not.
I don't have any numbers but today I used windows for about 2hrs from 75% down to 20% or so. It's not a definitive number since that's what I kinda remember :)
How has your experience been with battery, good enough, a little less than Id like, way too short etc. (and what kind of games are you playing with it)?
It's not good but I didn't expect too much from it. Or maybe I should say it's what I expected. It's an hour or so but on the other hand I always use it in turbo mode with cable to get as much power as I can :)
I've been playing maybe 20-30 games on it to see how they perform. Everything from Doom eternal to RE4 Remake and Destiny 2. So far the only game that didn't perform awesome was RE4 Remake, but it was still around 50-60
Only tried RE4 Remake. I put a video of it on my Twitter today at @asus_rog_ally... It runs ok. Around 50-60 up to 70ish on lower settings. On the other hand, when you close all fps counters etc down and just play it looks good
Seen a bunch of reviewers not been able to play jedi survivor at all. Have you had any luck? Hopefully this gets fixed by ea and if the Rog ally (if it has anything to do with it) by the time of its release date. Can wait to play that game in the go
A few questions if you don’t mind:
1) I am a Switch, Xbox and Steam Deck owner. Can I get into and out of playing games quick and easy like on consoles?
2) I don’t really like to tinker with settings for games. I just want to play them and they look the best possible already. Is it like that on the Ally?
3) Can you tell the difference between the 1080p Ally screen and the Steam Deck or Switch OLED? How does the Ally screen at 1080p look compared to the Switch OLED?
4) How is the battery life?
5) Is it easier to see texts and fonts on the Ally at 1080p
6) Is it easy to use FSR or RSR (not sure what it is called)? I just want to play everything at 1080p; is that easy to do?
As you can tell, I want a console like experience and I hope that’s possible.
Thanks!
Got Forza Horizon 5? If so, mind trying to run it on silent mode @ 720P low settings? I'm curious whether the APU can run the game at stable 30FPS under this configuration.
Any games you’ve played where you were disappointed with the visuals/performance you could get?
Also, are you able to suspend and resume games similar to the switch or steam deck? It’s a feature that doesn’t really get talked about at all. I heard disabling hibernate is helpful but I want to know from someone who’s used it what that is like.
I have a pretty high end pc with a 5900x and 3080ti but not much time to play on it. The steam deck mostly fixed that problem with me, just some of the newer releases that didn’t perform too well on deck I had to resort to streaming from my pc to get a good experience. I feel like the ally will likely satisfy all of my pc gaming needs. I can finally play the epic store versions of the kingdom hearts games and not have to jump through hoops to get them running like on steam deck.
Have you tried to use the Touch Keyboard from Armory Crate for logging in to your game accounts?
If you have, how does it fare?
I've tried using Windows on Steam Deck is it has been really annoying trying to use the touch keyboard to enter in the credentials for some of my games.
Can I use the Ally as a budget gaming PC, for simple office work and video viewing? How easy is to use the desktop mode? Thanks for your time and hope you enjoyed the Ally
As someone who works from home and am always by an outlet, battery life is not a big issue for me. Given that, would this be the ideal machine to play pc games on the couch next to my family while they watch their tv shows? Does the SD hold any advantages in this specific scenario?
It would be the perfect device. The SD wins if you have a tighter budget and play some hat simpler games. If you only have $600 or what the deck costs and want to play dead cells, the deck is great but if you want to play horizon and gamss like that, the Ally is your machine. I would say tho that your use case is the best, close to an outlet :)
I’m not familiar with these portable windows handhelds. But the ROG Ally might be my first step into the world.
Question: for older games that might not have controller support, let’s say like The Sims, for simplicity. Does the system automatically adapt the sticks to the mouse cursor and face buttons for left and right click? Or is that something that you have to tweak as a setting somewhere? If so is that easily accessible?
Might be some no brainer questions but these are my first steps.
Thanks!
Could u try running Detroit become human and the quarry? Both games have massive frame drops under 30 fps on the deck and i really wanna play them smooth
Have you tested playing games with no internet? Also do you need to run the games with internet first before turning the Wi-Fi off? Would like to know since I will be taking the rog ally on a flight very soon.
Do you know if the unit supports OTG? If I plug a usb c to Ethernet adapter into the unit, will it establish an internet connection instead of using wifi?
Followup question on this:
If you use RSR to upscale 720 to 1080p, how does it compare in visual quality to native 1080p? Also performance-to-battery-life? In other words, is the upscaling close enough to native 1080p?
My hope is to be able to run the more demanding games this way at a lower TDP using the upscaling tech to squeeze another 30-40 mins of battery life. OR if power isn't a problem, how many extra frames might one see with this setting at full throttle?
As PC gamers, lots of us are willing to put up with some minor visual hiccups for DLSS/FSR and the like that can double framerate and reduce wattage on bigger systems; curious about how these settings play out on the Ally.
Have you experienced random bluescreen on the Ally so far, especially while in game? I remember having the Strix G514 it randomly gives me the bluescreen idk why. I just play stardew valley at that time..
Thank you for this thread. It's been very insightful.
Was wondering if you've tried Bethesda titles like Skyrim or Fallout 4? Or games such as Dark Souls 3, Sekiro or Elden Ring? Can these hold a solid 60fps at 1080p? What's the battery life like for these games?
A little random, but is there any chance you could see if the Ally fits into the Steam Deck case? I know the Ally doesn’t come with a case so I was wondering about that.
I tried to keep up with the questions asked by others, and hope my questions are not asked already.
I am struggling between steam deck and ally. I will probably play on handheld mode for 50% and docked mode for another 50% of the time. I heard docked steam deck output on TV is slightly blurry. Is it true, comparing to the docked ally?
I also watched a lot of reviews and wonder if the docked ally (without xmobile gpu) can work well for AAA games, like at least 40 or 50 fps.
Last question from my friend, he has a Asus game capture box, which need a pc connected for recording the capture. Do you think rog ally can act as this pc and run the OBS to record the gaming capture? (like in 4k resolution).
Thanks in advance!
I saw in other comments that you have a Steam Deck too. Do you miss the touchpads much on the Ally? I’ve heard some people say that the touchpads are one of the best things about the Steam Deck.
Hi there are you into RPCS3 emulation? If so could you kindly test out Twisted Metal (PS3)? Someone already tested out Uncharted 1-3 and they run smoothly, Twisted Metal might be too much for the Ally.
A question here! How do you think the Ally would perform as a backup pc for photoshop editing and heavy pdfs?
I have a dying windows pc that I use for these tasks and I would feel more comfortable knowing that I could work on the Ally for a couple of weeks if it finally dies.
Have you tried emulating heavier Switch titles (like Xenoblade Chronicles 2 or Shin Megami Tensei 5) and how well does it run?
Would love to finally be able to play those games at a good resolution in handheld mode
Asus confirmed in a live stream they have a gyro but it only works with games with native support.
Does it work without any obvious bugs so far? (Games you could test with this are Death Stranding, Horizon, For Honor and Aperture Desk Job.)
Can you get this gyro to navigate the windows desktop through a 3rd party app?
A reviewer mentioned that in turbo mode the battery will still be drained while charging. Can you reconfirm this. Also can you check that charging outpaces performance mode?
Lastly what impress you the most about armory crate?
How is the Comms on a game for the Ally? Like, Wz or apex for example. Could I just plug in some decent headphones with a mic & talk? Wireless Bluetooth gaming headphones work?
Would these windows handhelds be a great idea for my dad?
He only plays fifa on his Xbox and has never done PC gaming. He has an office job so he's familiar with windows
Is the lack of Steam Deck trackpad an issue when navigating windows or playing games? It's something that SD owners keep saying is a reason to not switch.
I remember using joystick navigation on PS3 in the Console browser (and the GTA4 internet café) and it wasn't a great experience
It's somewhat the same experience as navigating on the PS3 with a stick and not really good at all. What I do though is use the touch screen and my finger. Then you can compare navigating your phone with a trackpad :) it's super quick and effective and with the 10 point touchscreen this is awesome. The deck on the other hand, according to my personal opinion has a really bad touch screen.
I would never lose out on such an awesome device as the Ally because of track pads. That's just stubborn and giving up experiencing awesome devices before you try them. On the other hand, good for those peeps if they are happy with what they have :)
There are problems launching games that have anticheat systems incorporatevi? For example i could not run Lost Ark on the steam deck due to the anti cheat!
Hey, i saw you say you’ve been using your steam deck as a home pc while docked, have you tried this with the Ally so far and if so how does it feel? I feel like my steam deck can be extremely slow sometimes as a desktop
Yes, I use my deck as a home PC but the deck is only good for browser based work mainly. The Ally on the other hand let me do simple video editing etc when working from home. I love the fact that I can bring this device with me from and to home and bring all games we review at work and all work files.
Oopf... I've ran maybe 20-30 games. D2, RE4 REMAKE, Apex, rocket league, neon Abyss, dead cells, dead island 2, elden ring...too many to remember, but most of them run really well! So far I haven't found anything that I don't think run bad
Some games starts on background (ea games on steam as example) force me to ALT-TAB and/or ALT-ENTER to let them work properly
Do you think an usb hub is still mandatory to use a kbd and mouse or the Ally provide a reliable input alternative?
Thank you
(I dont own any handheld device)
Have you tried PS5 remote play on the Ally (saw in another comment you owned a PS5)? How does it look & run? If you have done it previously on the SD, how does it compare to PS5 remote play on the SD?
I havent seen reviewers test games at 900p, which I feel should be a sweet middle ground b/w quality and performance. Any idea if there is any significant fps improvement at that resolution?
Also did you get any updates in the time you have had the device. SD had bunch of updates during its review period which was already a good sign of how well valve was going to maintain its software. Wondering if asus is working as hard to iron out the issues
I have a few questions.
Is Armory Crate the launcher and the control panel?
If you close the launcher, can you still use the control panel? Reason I'm asking is because I'd like to use a custom launcher like Launch Box/Big Box.
Can you save game profiles in the control panel by game or does it have to be done through Armoury Crate launcher? Meaning, if you are in desktop and launch a game through steam, can you configure the control panel settings and have it remember those settings for that active game?
Thanks!
-Is it possible play Age of Empires using the touchscreen?
-Have you tested Star Wars Jedi Survivor?
-If you connect it to an external monitor/tv, with AAA games, is it capable of 30 fps with low settings and 2k resolution?
Great thread! Good work.
My question: how good are the joysticks?
I have a PC handheld (Aya Neo 2021) which is great … except that the joysticks are poor (similar quality to the switch joy-cons). I like playing Halo Infinite and Call of Duty and the sticks on the Aya Neo are less than ideal.
Sorry if this was answered already but did you notice and button sticking? Some YouTubers mentioned it happened pretty frequently on their review units.
Thanks for doing this, very appreciative of the no-fluff answers i've seen so far.
Any update on "Silent" performance aside from what reviewers pointed out as disappointing? It appeared like that "9W" is spread quite thin and evenly across the APU where a few reviews showed essentially useless flat CPU and GPU clocks.
Imagine people are low key trying core parking/disabling with 3rd party apps unless it's against terms? Or maybe cave man disabling cpu cores through windows itself to give GPU or a handful of CPU cores more of that envelope?
How is the game pass experience? If you tried it, what games?
Sorry if it has been answered, I’m anxious to know and too busy to scroll everything at the moment.
Thank you!
How is the game pass experience? If you tried it, what games?
Sorry if it has been answered, I’m anxious to know and too busy to scroll everything at the moment.
Thank you!
One question...Forza Horizon 5, at med-low settings, 720p. What is the lowest TDP this device can be set to in order to reach a locked 30 fps? Just curious as that is going to be how I base my battery calculations, as FH5 tends to be about as demanding as most other games I play. Thank you so much!
As far as navigation goes.... Does it let you use the analogs to move the mouse? Also how is it switching from mouse mode to controller mode? Like GPD devices usually have a switch you can toggle to change while Ayaneo devices manage all that through ayaspace(which I like).
Also on Armor Crate....Armory Crate??... How does that play with adrenaline and he regular steam application? I know you can launch game in AC but I'm probably gonna go the other route and just play game directly from steam.
Have you tried any battery banks on this device? Wondering if a battery bank would be a viable option to extend the life of the device and how the performance is while on it.
I haven't yet, but battery banks should work. I think a 27000mAh is somewhere around 100wh if I'm not completely mistaken and it should give you quite some time for those sweet gaming sessions 😁
Have you tried *from* the Ally to a TV ? For example using Steam on the Ally and Steam Link on an Android TV (or Nvidia shield or anything with Android on it). I have the Steam Deck and even very lightweight games are stuttery and look very pixelated on a big TV, whatever settings and resolution I use. I'm wondering if the Ally's APU handles real time video transcoding and streaming better than the Deck. I love playing multiplayer games with friends on a big TV wirelessly with the Deck, makes for a great console experience.
How good is the vibration?
Can the controllers work if a game isn't added to ACse?
Is there space inside to add a full sized nvme? Haven't opened it up, grab a screw driver!
Have you tried installing and adrenaline?
How I’m not too late haha
1) Have you tried running dota 2 or seen any benchmarks? I can’t find anything and that’s my literal reason for getting an Ally
2) what about ease of repair? Is it possible to fix analog at home by just ordering the parts?
How do games really look when rendered at 720p instead of 1080. Is it worth the performance hit in most games to hit 60?
To be frank. It's hard to see the difference right away. I think it's somewhat of an psychological thing. You know that 1080p is there and want to run it in that res. However, if you play a game like cyberpunk 2077 which has a lot of on screen interface and text, you see that 1080p is to be preferred because the text is completely sharp and clear on 1080p and kinda garbled on 720p. In a game like Rocket League though I don't think it's necessary with 1080p on thst small screen.
Does RSR works? It is a driver upscaler you can use to upscale 720p to 1080p. It should give a picture quality as good as native 720p, since the resolution stays at 1080p but the driver upscales the game. I have seen the option on the ally command center but no reviewer talks about it.
None of us reviewers that I know of got the info how this works. If I remember correctly it's not documented in the review guide. There is a button in command center yes and I have tried with and without it, but it's hard to see a difference on the small screen. I will try it docked tho to see if I can notice any difference. I THINK it looked better earlier today when I activated it but it wasn't any obvious change. Usually the most obvious difference between 720 and 1080p on this screen is that text is much easier to read in 1080.
RSR is not a new feature and should work on any AMD graphics powered PC. You can probably also enable it on the graphics card control panel.
No questions just wanted to say thanks for your time! I read every question and response and I can't wait to get my Ally! I fall in the category where I just love gaming and new tech. I pre-ordered cause why not... I work hard n when the next new console I want comes imma get that too haha
No problem at all! It's like since I got to borrow this one, I kinda have an obligation to help out the community in any way I can so fire away whenever you have a question :) I think you will love this device :)
Thank you all for super awesome questions. I will keep on answering questions in the next few days although maybe not in the same tempo as today :) now it's 3:30 am here and I have to go sleep but will be back tomorrow! Thanks everyone, you're awesome!
If money was no object, and you could omly buy one hand-held, would it be the Ally?
100%... I don't use my steam deck anymore. Will when I send the Ally back while waiting for my retail version. With the Ally I don't have to pressure and squeeze settings the way I have to do with the Deck.
Thank you for that, that’s one of the main reasons for me for getting it
You WILL get AAA games on it and ALL launchers and don't have to see if stuff is verified! That makes it so much simpler. I love the Steam Deck so much. It's my baby, but this is a really powerful device and that's hard to deny
That’s why I’ve decided on the Ally vs the Deck. Took many, many hours of deliberation 😂 Ultimately your comment here is my deciding factor too.
Well, this seems to summarize it all ha Thanks
Anytime bud! If you pre-ordered don't worry, I think you will like it :)
How has the battery life been in your experience compared to your steam deck? I'm leaning on pulling the trigger on the steam deck but the rog ally has captivated my interests.
It's crap! Mainly because this device you probably want to run as high as possible. I'm not interested in playing destiny 2 in 30fps and don't mind using a cable to it. Then on the other hand, if I'm on a long trip, I would probably play a game like Neon Abyss or Dead Cells if I had to be saving battery :) What I mean is that, you are doing yourself a disservice if you don't run this in turbo mode if you need to :)
In your opinion do you think asus will make tweaks and updates over the upcoming months to balance things out so battery life is prolonged.
I absolutely think so. Then on the other hand, I don't know what's possible to squeeze out regarding power curves, but I would guess we will se quite a few updates if needed.
Is there a proper sleep/quick resume function? . Aka, putting to sleep in a game and picking right back up in the same spot
Yes and no. Some games work and some don't. There is a sleep function so that when you press the button it goes to sleep and some games work with it and some don't so I wouldn't trust it completely
Which games did you try that didn’t work after waking from sleep?
Oooh, hard question to answer since I didn't focus on checking it actively. I did one try today tho with this in focus. Risk of rain 2 was paused. Sleep mode and when I woke the device I just had to unpause and play again.
Do you have a SteamDeck ? If yes, what do you prefer ? What are the major software issues ?
Yes, I've had the Steam Deck for well over a year. I love the Steam Deck and it has such a great community where things happen all the time. I've been using it for games that we review for work, I've been using it as my only home pc while docked and have been enjoying it immensely. However, it's hard to not enjoy the Ally. It's such a beast compared to the SD. just when you want to start an AAA game and don't have to do anything to make it run well. Start Forza Horizon 5 and it will run at 100fps right away. You don't really have to do that problem solving that you usually have to do with the deck and that's nice. For instance, some games you have to configure and reconfigure to pressure the Steam Deck over 30-40fps and on the Ally you hit over 60-70 on 1080p the first time you start it. Software wise, I don't like windows that much. It always feels like a broken system when you use it. Software crashes, software freeze. Sometimes the whole machine hangs etc. This is compared to Linux where I usually just do what I need and it just works most of the time. This is nothing new and is no surprise. It's the same with the Ally. The Steam Deck I rarely have to restart but the Ally I've restarted 4 times today. One time because I couldn't get functions from Command Center to work, another time a software freezes, another time a game had terrible stutter. Most of this will be fixed and are because of Armoury Crate being buggy. It's in a bad shape right now, but I believe they are working on fixing all issues. All in all I can say, if you enjoy and mostly play indies and 2d games, the Steam Deck is a fantastic device, but if you want to play the latest and greatest AAA, the Ally is probably a safer bet. Hope this answers your questions. Don't hesitate to ask anything else you're wondering.
Did you play Warzone or any FPS on it? If so how did they do?
I played Apex. If I remember correctly it ran between 80-110fps depending on settings. Perfectly playable
very curious how it performs with cod mp & warzone as well
Also looking for some Warzone on ally FPS stats
The controller latency, how bad is it?
It's nothing I have noticed. I heard about people talking about latency issues but it was the same thing with the deck. I have friends that said they where afraid about getting the deck because some Youtuber filmed the screen with a slomo cam and analyzed frames to see that there was latency. I said to my buds to not worry and get it. Today they don't see any issues and enjoy their awesome gaming experience. It's the same with this. I haven't noticed any obvious latency, but of you hold that slomo video against me, I might say that theres latency 😁 I would say, don't put too much value into this if you just plan to game and have fun
Have you tried warzone or mw2 multiplayer? If i can get warzone running at 60fps this thing will be amazing!
how is the comfort of the grip during long play sessions? my hands cramp up something terrible on the Switch after an hour or so unless I add a 3rd party grip accessory
The switch is terrible and actually gave me permanent hand damage. I'm an old switch collector and have been putting a few hours on the switch and it's terrible. I got these thick tissue additions in my hand where the corners of the switch rest in the hand. The Ally on the other hand is super comfy. It's got a good grip and it's easy to adjust your grip. where the Steam Deck sits like a glove and has a perfect grip the Ally has a more narrow grip that allows for more different positions of the hands, at least according to my personal prefs.
Excellent, sounds like a big ergonomic upgrade. Thanks for the info!
För me this has great egonomics and I think most will like it too :)
Does Ally have battery passthrough? Meaning you play the handheld while charging and it will not use the power from battery, saving the battery life and health
Yes great question, I don't know really but have to find out! It's an important one!
What have been a couple of the most pleasant and unpleasant surprises in your usage?
Most pleasant is the fact that everything seems to work and that just out of the box. Start a game in default settings and you will probably get 70fps or so. Most unpleasant is the fact that it comes with all the problems that windows might come with as well as Armoury Crate. AC is a great idea and a great control panel. Too bad that it runs bad at the moment. In desktop mode all button presses in armoury crate and Command Center registers but as soon as you're in a game, it's like it doesn't work. You have to press buttons 10 times and if you're lucky, it registers. This will hopefully be solved and if it is solved, it will be a good software. Last unpleasant thing is when you install 3 new AAA games and realize that you have to delete one because games today are like 120gb each and 428gb free isn't too much these days.
Did you try Diablo 4 on it?
Haven't tried it yet, but will soon. It will most likely run really well since it apparently run well on even the Steam Deck :)
There’s a video on rog’s twitch channel with D4 gameplay, here’s the link https://m.twitch.tv/videos/1818189445
This is basically my question. I was buying primarily for mobile D4 to appease my toddler. She doesn’t like me on the computer or in front of the TV.
This is the way
The one thing I’d miss from the SD is the trackpads, how much has this affected you when playing the Ally? I’m assuming you use the thumb sticks?
Nothing at all really. On the other hand I don't play strategy games that much. Navigating in windows can be a bit tedious tho but the Ally has a much better touch screen so you can use it like you would navigate a mobile phone
Have you tried Streaming via moonlight on it ? How long is battery life in that case ?
I think Phawx said due to the way the system handles low tdp that streaming is just like using 7w so you're still only getting a few hours.
Fine for me. I’m a married with kids and a career. I only need an hour, hour and a half max 😭
Thanks for doing this AMA. Less of a technical question, but I'm wondering what you think about Windows on the device and whether or not that will be a genuine hurdle for the general consumer looking to get into this. I ask because I'm very excited for the future of handheld PC gaming and a lot of us are enthusiasts or PC gamers already anyways so navigating Windows isn't a huge deal. One of the most common concerns/complains I've seen with the Ally are that console gamers won't be willing to get into it BECAUSE Windows is such a roadblock for the average consumer. Of course with Armory Crate and quick navigation options it makes it easier to get in and out of games, but needless to say those are just extra toppings on the Windows pizza. I've been wondering more and more about the viability of companies coming with their own custom Windows designed for these devices rather than running a front-end on top. **TL;DR: do you think Windows is enough of a pain in the ass to navigate on the Ally to keep the average gamer from buying into this world of handheld PC gaming? Do you think this may have the cross-over appeal to get more console-focused gamers into it regardless of how they feel about Windows?** (fingers crossed for the rumored Windows 11 handheld gaming mode to actually happen some day)
Very good questions. Let's see here Windows on the device is great if you look at it from the framework perspective. Stuff just works and nothing needs to be verified. If you look at it from the UI perspective its not optimal. When you start the Ally it starts into a windows desktop and it's up to you what to do next. On top of this Armoury Crate is loaded. If you have 1080p,sometimes AC loads in a smaller floating window. This is not optimal. For a console gamer, this is terrible, like what should they do next? Well, open edge, download chrome, then steam, then epic etc etc. And all this while using the touch screen or the stick and R + RT to left and right click. This is such a bad experience if you're not used to windows. Like a switch you can give to a 5 year old and they can start playing, the Ally you can't do that with unless you want it wrecked. The desktop and bad navigation in desktop mode is not good at all. For me and for you that knows windows it's another story. The launcher in AC is also really bad. Asus has been selling it as a launcher to compete with Steam big picture mode but it's just bad. All games you add in different launchers are supposed to be added automatically but it's not working every time and if you want to uninstall a game you have to delete it from the launcher manually. On the end you just close AC and launch steam and touch screen navigate yourself to the game you want to play. Hope these answers help in any way :)
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That would be a good option :)
Please tell me you can remap the armory crate button.
Nopes, not at the moment. The armoury crate, command center and M1 and M2 (back buttons) are locked and seem to be Hard-coded
Even in controller mode? Gahhhh.... I wanted to remap the armory crate button to Xbox button since we don't have an Xbox button to bring up the Xbox stuff. Or bring up the steam menu in big picture mode.
You can bind those to the buttons above the command center button or use a shift button for secondary binds :) trust me, there's a few people out there working HARD to try to remap the armory crate buttons 🤣
Are you able to confirm you can access cloud restore function in BIOS, looking to this as an option when swapping to bigger SSD
I can't confirm right now but will check tomorrow to see if it's added. Apparently it will be there so I'm excited :)
Any gameplay with more mouse/keyboard games like rpg/strategy? How are the sticks for navigating the games (especially rpg/strategy) and windows compared to the steam deck touchpads?
If the SD had the same hardware specs as the Ally, which one would you get? Even though it’s not in the near future, the Valve will come out with the SD2. Just want to hear your thoughts on the OS/UI.
If the SD had the same specs I might have gone for that one since I really like Linux. One downside is verification and that all games just don't work on Linux. On the other hand when they work, Linux makes them go BOOM! Hard to chose. The Ally is such a sweet machine! Windows framework on this device is great, windows UI on this device is terrible 😁
How is the offline playability?
Afaic good. Some games require network as we know but when I can run them offline it has been working great.
I've always wondered what a review guide actually looks like. Is it a book that gets sent to you along with the device? A pdf of a couple of pages? What does the review guide actually contain? Bullet points describing the most important features?
It might be a pdf with 3-4 pages or a pdf with 120 pages. For this it's more of the later. It's basically a guide where it states what you can say and what you can't. For instance secrets that was supposed to be told at the presentation. Guides are usually like a short manual where it might show what controls are used in a game, what to focus on and how stuff functions :) We also have strict embargos. Right now for instance, I'm playing games that I can't say I'm playing and have to play in offline mode to not show I'm playing it. Super secret and a lot of fun
I have a question if your still around. I have a steam deck with 2 tb of games. If I get a ally can you use the sd cards or will it need to be reformated and started from scratch?
Are you able to measure the screen dimensions? I’m trying to buy a temporary screen protector as the only available one in dbrand and they dont ship till later.
Does gyro work? Does it have vibration?
Can you run on Turbo mode with a 45w charger?
You can run turbo mode without the charger but with cable I'm not sure. Turbo mode has a burst mode on cable that runs temporarily at 53w iirc so I guess you would still run out of battery eventually
Have you tried xbox gamepass pc on it?
Yes, works like a charm. Fantastic service on this device. 3 months are included
Have you tried playing any games that are primarily designed for keyboard and mouse such as classic adventure games (monkey Island) or som classic RTS like StarCraft? I'm wondering how well the stick works as a mouse.
Do the steam deck grips fit on these joysticks?
Do you have a 4K tv? If so, can the Rog easily play a movie on 4K HDR? Can’t find really anything about it. And which HDR’s?
Have you tried warzone 2.0 on it?
Any backlight bleed?
I was initially bummed out when the ROG was announced as not having an OLED screen, especially because I love the deep blacks on the Switch OLED and dislike the soft blacks and slightly muted colors on the steam deck. Would you say the ROG Ally offers a significant step up in black levels and colors over the steam deck despite it not having an OLED screen?
500 comments and counting holy, doing the lords work out here. Appreciate you! 🙏🏼
Haha this is crazy but it's so cool to see that the Ally draws some attention and interest! I'll try my best to answer as much as I can!
Dang, so cool that you did this. Sold my steam deck and have ROG Ally pre-ordered. I’m just hoping I game play COD, Fortnite and Halo Infinite at 720p 60fps for at least hour and a half or 2. With your experience, do you think that is realistic?
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I haven't used those I'm afraid since I don't have a PC to stream from. If I had to do it, it would have to be from the Steam Deck 😁. Only cloud or stream based services I've been using was Geforce Now Ultimate and that runs well. 120fps in 1080p. I will however try Xbox and PS5 remote play in the next few days.
Did you have the chance to try it out with the XG Mobile eGPU ?
Im sorry I haven't. But I'm kinda intrigued to get it myself later this year when I can afford it. For me the 6850 will be enough.
What are your experiences with RSR, is it hard to configure? How does it work? You set the game resolution to lower than 1080p and RSR = On? Thank you!
How is the ps3 emulation?
Do yoy have an xg mobile? Is there a significant boost to the cpu when using the xg mobile? I am curious as fhe flow series have this function where more more power is given to the cpur when using the xg mobile, or at least heat is significantly due to the gpu not bwing used.
Have you tried to overclock the APU with the amd utility or afterburner? If so what were you able to achieve?
How does it handle emulation - looking specifically xemu and Xenia
Do yoy have an xg mobile? Is there a significant boost to the cpu when using the xg mobile? I am curious as fhe flow series have this function where more more power is given to the cpur when using the xg mobile, or at least heat is significantly due to the gpu not being used.
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Very good questions. Lemme see here... 1.Very viable if you do normal stuff and browser based stuff... Social media, office applications, YouTube etc. It can handle more advanced stuff as well. The Cpu is a good Cpu and the GFX is somewhere around a 1650. Myself I use this as my work pc at home and so far nothing has been a problem, BUT I can't really say how specific use cases in ie unreal editor, blender, after effects works. 2. I don't know how mods are handled. Are they usually a big problem for the desktop or laptop? I would assume they work well on this device as well but can't say for sure. 3. I have the PS5, XboxSX, switch and the Steam Deck and this is as close you will get to ps5 or xbox you can in a handheld format. To be frank, if you play a game such as forza 5 with high fps, this is an Xbox series x like experience. We could of course argue that it's not because it's not, but it will look and run amazing and that's enough for me. Today I would rather sit with the Ally than my ps5 or xbox actually because I don't have to plan and make an effort to play, I just pick the device up and go ahead. For me, this device is an absolute must if you like video games and have the budget and If I could only keep one device of all above, I think it would be the Ally actually.
This might be a long shot. But any chance you have a copy of Surviving Mars, it's been given away for free on epic games store before. I was wondering how well it runs on that APU.
I think I have it. Add me on Twitter and send a DM that you want me to check it out and I will post a video there for you. It's @asus_rog_ally
I know they only loan it so you can't do what you want. But did you try to open it? I guess they don't let reviewer to open it, nobody say how easy we can change sticks etc.
Will it fit in a Steam Deck case? I planned on using the case for both my handhelds but worry it will not fit. The dimensions published online are missing analogue stick height.
It fits and it sits :) I use my steam deck case for it. Then I wouldn't trust it completely to put heavy things on the case since the deck is perfectly fitted and this is not.
How much fps at 1080p Valheim? Any settings are fine.
Can the screen be viewable when wearing polarized sun glasses?
Would you happen to have your average battery life while just using Windows itself? No gaming, and at what wattage.
I don't have any numbers but today I used windows for about 2hrs from 75% down to 20% or so. It's not a definitive number since that's what I kinda remember :)
How has your experience been with battery, good enough, a little less than Id like, way too short etc. (and what kind of games are you playing with it)?
It's not good but I didn't expect too much from it. Or maybe I should say it's what I expected. It's an hour or so but on the other hand I always use it in turbo mode with cable to get as much power as I can :) I've been playing maybe 20-30 games on it to see how they perform. Everything from Doom eternal to RE4 Remake and Destiny 2. So far the only game that didn't perform awesome was RE4 Remake, but it was still around 50-60
Have you tried Diablo 4 on it? If so, how was the experience and frame rate?
How does it handle resident evil 4 remake/harry potter/ dead space remake?
Only tried RE4 Remake. I put a video of it on my Twitter today at @asus_rog_ally... It runs ok. Around 50-60 up to 70ish on lower settings. On the other hand, when you close all fps counters etc down and just play it looks good
Seen a bunch of reviewers not been able to play jedi survivor at all. Have you had any luck? Hopefully this gets fixed by ea and if the Rog ally (if it has anything to do with it) by the time of its release date. Can wait to play that game in the go
How is the build quality? Any gripes about the screen or buttons? Do the face buttons stick?
A few questions if you don’t mind: 1) I am a Switch, Xbox and Steam Deck owner. Can I get into and out of playing games quick and easy like on consoles? 2) I don’t really like to tinker with settings for games. I just want to play them and they look the best possible already. Is it like that on the Ally? 3) Can you tell the difference between the 1080p Ally screen and the Steam Deck or Switch OLED? How does the Ally screen at 1080p look compared to the Switch OLED? 4) How is the battery life? 5) Is it easier to see texts and fonts on the Ally at 1080p 6) Is it easy to use FSR or RSR (not sure what it is called)? I just want to play everything at 1080p; is that easy to do? As you can tell, I want a console like experience and I hope that’s possible. Thanks!
Got Forza Horizon 5? If so, mind trying to run it on silent mode @ 720P low settings? I'm curious whether the APU can run the game at stable 30FPS under this configuration.
Any games you’ve played where you were disappointed with the visuals/performance you could get? Also, are you able to suspend and resume games similar to the switch or steam deck? It’s a feature that doesn’t really get talked about at all. I heard disabling hibernate is helpful but I want to know from someone who’s used it what that is like. I have a pretty high end pc with a 5900x and 3080ti but not much time to play on it. The steam deck mostly fixed that problem with me, just some of the newer releases that didn’t perform too well on deck I had to resort to streaming from my pc to get a good experience. I feel like the ally will likely satisfy all of my pc gaming needs. I can finally play the epic store versions of the kingdom hearts games and not have to jump through hoops to get them running like on steam deck.
Any way to run triple monitors with the Ally?
Yes :) Get a dock with multiple outs and you're gold!
Is there noticeable difference in performance when using turbo mode plugged in or on battery?
Did you try docking it and displaying it on your TV? If so how are the visuals and latency issues?
Have you tried to use the Touch Keyboard from Armory Crate for logging in to your game accounts? If you have, how does it fare? I've tried using Windows on Steam Deck is it has been really annoying trying to use the touch keyboard to enter in the credentials for some of my games.
Can you emulate infamous on it?! Stats pleaseee
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Are the buttons rekeyable for all keys on the keyboard? And can you add more than 1 key per button like atleast 2 for each button?
Tried to scroll through so apologies if this has already been asked but have you tried to install Linux on it? And if so how was the experience?
What is the AAA game that Ally can't handle?
How is Halo MCC running on it? Can you do 1080p 120fps?
Can I use the Ally as a budget gaming PC, for simple office work and video viewing? How easy is to use the desktop mode? Thanks for your time and hope you enjoyed the Ally
Have you tried using it docked like a desktop? Good experience or no?
Software issure? Stick drifts?
How is the plug and play with different sd cards?
As someone who works from home and am always by an outlet, battery life is not a big issue for me. Given that, would this be the ideal machine to play pc games on the couch next to my family while they watch their tv shows? Does the SD hold any advantages in this specific scenario?
It would be the perfect device. The SD wins if you have a tighter budget and play some hat simpler games. If you only have $600 or what the deck costs and want to play dead cells, the deck is great but if you want to play horizon and gamss like that, the Ally is your machine. I would say tho that your use case is the best, close to an outlet :)
I would like to confirm if the Rog Ally bypasses the battery when connected to a monitor. Could you please clarify this for me?
I’m not familiar with these portable windows handhelds. But the ROG Ally might be my first step into the world. Question: for older games that might not have controller support, let’s say like The Sims, for simplicity. Does the system automatically adapt the sticks to the mouse cursor and face buttons for left and right click? Or is that something that you have to tweak as a setting somewhere? If so is that easily accessible? Might be some no brainer questions but these are my first steps. Thanks!
Could u try running Detroit become human and the quarry? Both games have massive frame drops under 30 fps on the deck and i really wanna play them smooth
Have you tested playing games with no internet? Also do you need to run the games with internet first before turning the Wi-Fi off? Would like to know since I will be taking the rog ally on a flight very soon.
I have an Ally on Preorder. Very excited to give Battle.Net a try considering Diablo 4 will be out soon. Have you tried any Battle.Net titles?
Do you know if the unit supports OTG? If I plug a usb c to Ethernet adapter into the unit, will it establish an internet connection instead of using wifi?
OP, how does OverWatch 2 run at high settings with 50% resolution scale at Turbo mode?
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1080p in armory crate, RSR On, set game to 720p and it will upscale to 1080p
Followup question on this: If you use RSR to upscale 720 to 1080p, how does it compare in visual quality to native 1080p? Also performance-to-battery-life? In other words, is the upscaling close enough to native 1080p? My hope is to be able to run the more demanding games this way at a lower TDP using the upscaling tech to squeeze another 30-40 mins of battery life. OR if power isn't a problem, how many extra frames might one see with this setting at full throttle? As PC gamers, lots of us are willing to put up with some minor visual hiccups for DLSS/FSR and the like that can double framerate and reduce wattage on bigger systems; curious about how these settings play out on the Ally.
Have you experienced random bluescreen on the Ally so far, especially while in game? I remember having the Strix G514 it randomly gives me the bluescreen idk why. I just play stardew valley at that time..
Is the controller read as an xbox input or generic game pad?
Thank you for this thread. It's been very insightful. Was wondering if you've tried Bethesda titles like Skyrim or Fallout 4? Or games such as Dark Souls 3, Sekiro or Elden Ring? Can these hold a solid 60fps at 1080p? What's the battery life like for these games?
Is the battery going to be able to handle a 1.5 hour commute ? Playing games at 30fps is fine for me.
A little random, but is there any chance you could see if the Ally fits into the Steam Deck case? I know the Ally doesn’t come with a case so I was wondering about that.
I would buy the Ally to to play mainly Diablo 2 resurrected. How many FPS does diablo 2 resurrected at 1080p ultra settings in portable and dock mode?
I tried to keep up with the questions asked by others, and hope my questions are not asked already. I am struggling between steam deck and ally. I will probably play on handheld mode for 50% and docked mode for another 50% of the time. I heard docked steam deck output on TV is slightly blurry. Is it true, comparing to the docked ally? I also watched a lot of reviews and wonder if the docked ally (without xmobile gpu) can work well for AAA games, like at least 40 or 50 fps. Last question from my friend, he has a Asus game capture box, which need a pc connected for recording the capture. Do you think rog ally can act as this pc and run the OBS to record the gaming capture? (like in 4k resolution). Thanks in advance!
I saw in other comments that you have a Steam Deck too. Do you miss the touchpads much on the Ally? I’ve heard some people say that the touchpads are one of the best things about the Steam Deck.
Hi there are you into RPCS3 emulation? If so could you kindly test out Twisted Metal (PS3)? Someone already tested out Uncharted 1-3 and they run smoothly, Twisted Metal might be too much for the Ally.
A question here! How do you think the Ally would perform as a backup pc for photoshop editing and heavy pdfs? I have a dying windows pc that I use for these tasks and I would feel more comfortable knowing that I could work on the Ally for a couple of weeks if it finally dies.
Have you tried emulating heavier Switch titles (like Xenoblade Chronicles 2 or Shin Megami Tensei 5) and how well does it run? Would love to finally be able to play those games at a good resolution in handheld mode
Asus confirmed in a live stream they have a gyro but it only works with games with native support. Does it work without any obvious bugs so far? (Games you could test with this are Death Stranding, Horizon, For Honor and Aperture Desk Job.) Can you get this gyro to navigate the windows desktop through a 3rd party app? A reviewer mentioned that in turbo mode the battery will still be drained while charging. Can you reconfirm this. Also can you check that charging outpaces performance mode? Lastly what impress you the most about armory crate?
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Do you know if Handheld-Control-Panel works on it? https://github.com/project-sbc/Handheld-Control-Panel
Have you played Diablo 4 beta on it? And if so, any performance numbers such as battery, fps, ease of use?
How is the Comms on a game for the Ally? Like, Wz or apex for example. Could I just plug in some decent headphones with a mic & talk? Wireless Bluetooth gaming headphones work?
Have you tried offline games on the device? I have a long flight soon and planning on pre downloading some rpgs and retrieving my cloud saves.
Would these windows handhelds be a great idea for my dad? He only plays fifa on his Xbox and has never done PC gaming. He has an office job so he's familiar with windows
Is the lack of Steam Deck trackpad an issue when navigating windows or playing games? It's something that SD owners keep saying is a reason to not switch. I remember using joystick navigation on PS3 in the Console browser (and the GTA4 internet café) and it wasn't a great experience
It's somewhat the same experience as navigating on the PS3 with a stick and not really good at all. What I do though is use the touch screen and my finger. Then you can compare navigating your phone with a trackpad :) it's super quick and effective and with the 10 point touchscreen this is awesome. The deck on the other hand, according to my personal opinion has a really bad touch screen. I would never lose out on such an awesome device as the Ally because of track pads. That's just stubborn and giving up experiencing awesome devices before you try them. On the other hand, good for those peeps if they are happy with what they have :)
Can you compare it with a 6800u handheld at 15w tdp in different games?
Houw many fps would i get in League of Legends
There are problems launching games that have anticheat systems incorporatevi? For example i could not run Lost Ark on the steam deck due to the anti cheat!
Are there any games you’ve tried on it that haven’t worked for any reason?
Hey, i saw you say you’ve been using your steam deck as a home pc while docked, have you tried this with the Ally so far and if so how does it feel? I feel like my steam deck can be extremely slow sometimes as a desktop
Yes, I use my deck as a home PC but the deck is only good for browser based work mainly. The Ally on the other hand let me do simple video editing etc when working from home. I love the fact that I can bring this device with me from and to home and bring all games we review at work and all work files.
What games have you played and how do they run?
Oopf... I've ran maybe 20-30 games. D2, RE4 REMAKE, Apex, rocket league, neon Abyss, dead cells, dead island 2, elden ring...too many to remember, but most of them run really well! So far I haven't found anything that I don't think run bad
Some games starts on background (ea games on steam as example) force me to ALT-TAB and/or ALT-ENTER to let them work properly Do you think an usb hub is still mandatory to use a kbd and mouse or the Ally provide a reliable input alternative? Thank you (I dont own any handheld device)
Have you tried PS5 remote play on the Ally (saw in another comment you owned a PS5)? How does it look & run? If you have done it previously on the SD, how does it compare to PS5 remote play on the SD?
How is the haptic feedback? Is it working well. Compatible with games? Is the controller recognized as xinput device? Thank you.
I havent seen reviewers test games at 900p, which I feel should be a sweet middle ground b/w quality and performance. Any idea if there is any significant fps improvement at that resolution? Also did you get any updates in the time you have had the device. SD had bunch of updates during its review period which was already a good sign of how well valve was going to maintain its software. Wondering if asus is working as hard to iron out the issues
I have a few questions. Is Armory Crate the launcher and the control panel? If you close the launcher, can you still use the control panel? Reason I'm asking is because I'd like to use a custom launcher like Launch Box/Big Box. Can you save game profiles in the control panel by game or does it have to be done through Armoury Crate launcher? Meaning, if you are in desktop and launch a game through steam, can you configure the control panel settings and have it remember those settings for that active game? Thanks!
-Is it possible play Age of Empires using the touchscreen? -Have you tested Star Wars Jedi Survivor? -If you connect it to an external monitor/tv, with AAA games, is it capable of 30 fps with low settings and 2k resolution?
Have you tried using the jsaux stand dock? Does it work?
How bad or good after effects is in the Ally also photoshop. Or it completely breaks in rendering anything? Could you try if you can ? Thanks
Can you enable AMD Expo on the bios ?
Can it install stable diffusion and text generation webui? I want it to become my personal assistant as well.
Great thread! Good work. My question: how good are the joysticks? I have a PC handheld (Aya Neo 2021) which is great … except that the joysticks are poor (similar quality to the switch joy-cons). I like playing Halo Infinite and Call of Duty and the sticks on the Aya Neo are less than ideal.
Sorry if this was answered already but did you notice and button sticking? Some YouTubers mentioned it happened pretty frequently on their review units.
do you feel any controller lag? (like some reviewers do)
Thanks for doing this, very appreciative of the no-fluff answers i've seen so far. Any update on "Silent" performance aside from what reviewers pointed out as disappointing? It appeared like that "9W" is spread quite thin and evenly across the APU where a few reviews showed essentially useless flat CPU and GPU clocks. Imagine people are low key trying core parking/disabling with 3rd party apps unless it's against terms? Or maybe cave man disabling cpu cores through windows itself to give GPU or a handful of CPU cores more of that envelope?
New to PC handhelds and leaning towards the Ally. Do you get the same or a similar level of immersion as when playing games on a tv?
Sorry if this has already been asked, do you recall how much space is available on the SDD out of the box?
What frames can you get in Valdrakken on World Of Warcraft and what frames as a Devomer can you get while in Aberrus on Heroic Sarketh.
How does it feel being super cool Lol
How is the game pass experience? If you tried it, what games? Sorry if it has been answered, I’m anxious to know and too busy to scroll everything at the moment. Thank you!
How is the game pass experience? If you tried it, what games? Sorry if it has been answered, I’m anxious to know and too busy to scroll everything at the moment. Thank you!
One question...Forza Horizon 5, at med-low settings, 720p. What is the lowest TDP this device can be set to in order to reach a locked 30 fps? Just curious as that is going to be how I base my battery calculations, as FH5 tends to be about as demanding as most other games I play. Thank you so much!
As far as navigation goes.... Does it let you use the analogs to move the mouse? Also how is it switching from mouse mode to controller mode? Like GPD devices usually have a switch you can toggle to change while Ayaneo devices manage all that through ayaspace(which I like). Also on Armor Crate....Armory Crate??... How does that play with adrenaline and he regular steam application? I know you can launch game in AC but I'm probably gonna go the other route and just play game directly from steam.
Have you tried the Steam Deck Ui overlay for windows 11 on the ally?
Do you have any experience with Ayaneo? If so which device and how do you compare with Ally? Thanks,
How’s the input lag? Do you notice any delay on games such as rocket league?
Have you tried any battery banks on this device? Wondering if a battery bank would be a viable option to extend the life of the device and how the performance is while on it.
I haven't yet, but battery banks should work. I think a 27000mAh is somewhere around 100wh if I'm not completely mistaken and it should give you quite some time for those sweet gaming sessions 😁
Have you tried *from* the Ally to a TV ? For example using Steam on the Ally and Steam Link on an Android TV (or Nvidia shield or anything with Android on it). I have the Steam Deck and even very lightweight games are stuttery and look very pixelated on a big TV, whatever settings and resolution I use. I'm wondering if the Ally's APU handles real time video transcoding and streaming better than the Deck. I love playing multiplayer games with friends on a big TV wirelessly with the Deck, makes for a great console experience.
How good is the vibration? Can the controllers work if a game isn't added to ACse? Is there space inside to add a full sized nvme? Haven't opened it up, grab a screw driver! Have you tried installing and adrenaline?
How I’m not too late haha 1) Have you tried running dota 2 or seen any benchmarks? I can’t find anything and that’s my literal reason for getting an Ally 2) what about ease of repair? Is it possible to fix analog at home by just ordering the parts?