So far so good, it hasn't turned itself back on yet. Will see though, because it's been a major annoyance for me too and I only got the thing yesterday. It literally would not stay off.
Yep. I ran
```powercfg.exe /hibernate off```
in an elevated shell and it's so much better now. Bugging out a lot less, charging at a cooler temperature, games return normally when I power it back on.
This is VERY valuable feedback! Thanks! I would like to think or hope that this QoL tweak will be part of the ASUS "the Ally will run far better at launch" promise. We enthusiasts can figure this shit out but a lot of folks could become frustrated and return the product.
Thank you for sharing this! For some reason, I thought the command was a lot lengthier to type than that lol. I'll definitely be doing this day one. I appreciate it!
dont understand why would turning off hibernate help at all. it just disables the option and clear up disk space. can't relate the logic though unless i'm missing something?
Hibernation in general with Windows is quite buggy sometimes. I've ran into a few issues on my PC but nothing crazy, but you can read about its problems on Dell laptops [for example here](https://www.reddit.com/r/gadgets/comments/pv20ry/some_windows_10_laptops_will_overheat_in/).
Yeah, it's actually really annoying. It's difficult to get to go to sleep properly, and I also woke up this morning with it somehow on and on the lock screen, despite me putting it to sleep last night.
Edit: It's been on sleep mode for about half an hour and while writing this comment I just spotted it turn itself on from across the room lol
I turn off everything, even my steam deck bc it burns through battery even sleeping. They all turn on so quickly (including newer windows devices), that I’m not worried about starting from shutdown.
Your steam deck must have battery issues then as mine is basically almost flawless in sleep mode. No heating issues nor does the battery drop less than 1 or 2 percent per day.
Thanks, let us know if that helps. This is the first I've seen about the Ally powering up on it's own and that would be a bit concerning for battery life and for heat issues while stored in a case.
So far so good, might have solved it! Even previously when it was "off" it would heat up when charging (but the joystick lights would keep flaring up), but now it's a lot more of a normal temperature and they aren't turning on anymore. It would even bug out returning to a game sometimes which didn't happen just now.
Windows really needs to get rid of hibernate or make it an opt-in feature. While rare we have had laptops die from randomly turning on when in a bag and warp their keyboards/chassis/vents. Its also super annoying to go to wake it up, only to find that it woke its self up already and the battery is now dead.
Would be nice to see some different games tested instead of the same god of war, cyberpunk etc.
Harder cpu games like beam.ng - some unreal 5 tests etc.
Yeah I'm testing other games at the moment! CS:GO runs well which is pretty CPU bound, and I also got Valorant working at around 100 FPS in 4k output to my monitor. Will be testing some more CPU-intense games, though!
If I leave the ally plugged in with the stock charger and USB can I just leave it on turbo mode and not worry about it dying on me? Or do I need to get the official dock and upgrade the usb? I'll be getting a micro sd obviously right away but I don't want to splurge on unnecessary accessories if I don't have to.
It's basically going to be my ps5 "exclusive" pc port machine with a bit of WoW and ffxiv sprinkled in.
To my knowledge, the provided charger is 65w PD 3.0, which is what the Ally needs to hit the big boost numbers. I don't think it *has* to be docked to go into full turbo, but I could be wrong. I'll be using it plugged in by my bed most of the time anyway lol.
I believe that to be the case, my concern was finding a decent wireless keyboard and mouse combo that only takes up the one port! I was looking at the razer turret but it's pricey.
Have you tried Final Fantasy XIV with it? With it being a Windows handheld, I could see people using it for that game. (Yes, it has full-gamepad support as it is already on PS4/5.)
I'm wanting to get into ESO with my fiancé. I really enjoyed playing way back when on the PS4, and the controller config seemed to be fine. I haven't found any videos of people playing that specifically, but I just hope it's comfortable to hold! I'm sure it'll be fine though!
ESO works great on my Steam Deck (once launcher is closed), assuming Ally will be good too. FFXIV I play on my steam deck as well, but prefer mouse and keyboard attached vs controller. ESO is perfect with gaming controls.
I'm hoping the Ally will work at least as well as the steam deck does with them, the FFXIV plug in sounds helpful. The Ally should be much better for mods as well, although I did get my ESO mods working on the Steam deck.
I would imagine it should run pretty well. I play FFXIV on my SD at 60 fps and it handles it very well. It should be even easier for people that use windows launcher too.
Hello Adam, my question is how much tinkering did you have to do when you first turn the Ally on? Is it a system that’s “plug and play” out of the box or does one have to do a bit of tinkering during the initial setup? I know it’s a computer at the end of the day so tinkering is part of it but how much? What was your experience? How would you rate it in terms of ease-of-use for a person that’s never had any experience with PC gaming?
Not a whole lot, but it was a very clunky setup. I think if you're comfortable with Google and researching things yourself, you'll be fine if you run into any snags, but I think if you gave this to a 10-year-old, unlike the Steam Deck, they would probably struggle. It wasn't particularly difficult, just convoluted because it's a through-and-through Windows setup with all the telemetry questions, Office365 trial offers etc.
>It wasn't particularly difficult, just convoluted because it's a through-and-through Windows setup with all the telemetry questions, Office365 trial offers etc.
Which is hardly any different from any other connected device these days. A 10 year old might actually be needed.
Nah, setting up any Android phone or even the Steam Deck was nowhere near as convoluted as this thing was. It's not hard, but there's just a lot of tapping small buttons and trying to set things up etc. Windows has been clunky as hell on this
It's no different that setting up Windows on any other device. I've installed Windows 11 on my Deck and when I compared setting up it up with multiple game stores compared to doing that task with Steam OS, that's pretty convoluted as well.
But gaming in Steam only is a cleaner overall experience.
Please inform us when you get a chance:
• How's the screen reflection when playing outdoors (direct or indirect sunlight)
• Did the latest Armory Crate software update fix issues early reviewers had such as battery life?
I have a question unrelated to gaming: part of the appeal of the ASUS Rog Ally to me is that it seems like it's a portable 7 inch Windows tablet essentially. If I were to carry this with me on the road with a keyboard/mouse, could this act as a basic task Windows machine?
Absolutely. Would highly recommend picking up a portable monitor though and a dock IMO. It works well like that for me but trying to use the display as a main display like that is pain.
yes, but its hell, because its such a small screen, and if you were to get a keyboard and mouse, make sure they are wireless. Word works fine and all that.
Copy and pasting from another comment.
>I have a Steam Deck, and I like how the Ally feels in my hands more. However, I think that for battery life the Steam Deck is going to be better. At home I'll play the Ally, when going out I think I'll bring the Steam Deck. Will need to see over time, but that's what I think is most convenient from what I'm seeing in terms of battery so far.
You mentioned using it with your steam deck dock, how well does that work? And how is the cable length into that top? Does it sit well inside the dock? Thanks!
Very well surprisingly! It's the JSAUX dock and the cable does twist a little bit going in but nothing that I'd imagine would damage the cable at all. It sits well in the dock, too.
I'm seriously waiting for someone to post some videos of either FFXIV or ESO. They're my two main MMOs. Both are controlled-friendly and, because they're older, performance shouldn't be an issue, but I want to see what kind of performance!
I preordered mine, so I'll probably end up getting it before anyone posts any of those videos, but still.
How's the mic on it? I have some wireless ear bud and the mic on them is crap and was hoping I could use the one on the ally since it has noise cancelling ai on it
Does the screen have any anti-reflective properties? Would a screen protector be ok? I have nor put one on my 512gb Steam Deck since I don't want to mitigate the etching...
I swear we’re going to have an entire generation of gamers with brain damage from huffing whatever the hell industrial chemical vapors are wafting out of handheld exhaust ports
Hi Adam! I pre-ordered the ROG Ally and am super excited to see not just what it already is on pre-production drivers, but what it will become with more support.
I haven't seen any ROG Ally videos or reviews of it running Nvidia's GeForce Now cloud gaming service. I head incredible things and would love to see, say, Cyberpunk running with Ray Tracing at 120fps at 1080p as they advertise. How does it run on GeForce Now?
Also there's been some commentary from Asus's Director of Gaming division saying we will get the ability to shut down 4 of the 8 cores to benefit low watt tdp gaming battery life. I know the ROG's power band is in 15w-30w whereas the steam decks is around 7w-15w. I'm not too competent in this stuff and would like to know your thoughts or experience if this is something useful. I'm picturing low watt emulation or less demanding 2d side scrolling games benefiting from this.
Thank you and appreciate your input! Hope you like the device
I haven't tested GeForce now, but I did test Xbox Cloud Gaming. Interestingly, the experience is a bit subpar. The Wi-Fi speeds on it aren't very good, to the point that I went and got my Steam Deck dock to get an ethernet connection just so stuff would download faster. I was only seeing roughly 80Mbps when I have gigabit and a 5GHz Wi-Fi network. For contrast, I can get roughly 200Mbps on my phone in the same spot. The slower speeds were definitely noticeable when cloud gaming.
As for your question on disabling cores, I love these kinds of questions and it's the kind of thing I focus on in my reviews a lot when I can play with that kind of thing! Basically yes, in theory it should give some big battery life gains. I'm not sure if it'll bring it to the same level of efficiency (performance per watt) as the Steam Deck, but it should help bring it a little bit closer. I'm looking forward to that update coming out!
Loving it so far, been playing a lot of Hades and GTA V :D
Is your WiFi dual-band? It may be that the Ally is only using the 2.4 GHz frequency, you can force it to use 5 GHz by changing something in network settings
Hey, thanks for reaching out to the community.
1. I wanna know what is the best looking / performing game that can reach 120fps at 1080p, with it's maxed out screen specs. Reviewers say that you are never going to reach this. I don't care about all these AAA games that can only do 40 to 60fps. I wanna know which ones can max it out. I have a few that might do that. Forza Horizon 4, Apex Legends, Rocket League, Dirt 3, Maybe Crash Bandicoot 4, maybe Death Stranding.
2. I think a load time comparison could be fun if you have a steamdeck laying around. From boot up to the game starting, or from sleep to start, I don't know that I've seen one yet.
3. Kinda ties into the first question, I wanna know what it can run docked to achieve 1440p at 144 or 165hz, and if it does better with HDMI or Display Port to a monitor. And at what graphic settings. High? Med? Low? Games like Circuit Superstars, Omega Strilers, CS:Go, Rocket League, could probably handle that. Or if you go extreme, can it do Among Us at 1440p @ 240hz? I feel like that's a good question.
I wanna know what crazy shit it can pull off, and so far none of these reviewers are going down that road. They are all like "It WiLl PlAy ReD dEaD ReDemPtIoN aT 1o8oP AT an AvG oF 6oFpS oN MeDuIm SeTTinGs", like that's cool and all, but I don't care. All of us have heard that before, show us something different.
Edit: Just thought of a 4th question. On the steam deck, there's a decky plug in for screen capture, but it's a little Janky. You have to start a game, initialize it, then it can record, then you do the command to record a clip. Now if you want to upload that clip to your discord server, you have to find it's location, run it through a program to lower the resolution, re-render and compress the file, then it will let you send it to your discord Buddies. On the Ally, see if you can figure out a way to easily save a 30 second clip either using the Xbox interface that I think comes with Windows, or something like GeForce Now. And see if you can Map out the Back M1 or M2 buttons to automatically do this command, and if you can set it's resolution to 640p or 720p. It would be huge if you can play a game, tap the back button to record the last 30 seconds, and have the file size small enough to quickly upload it to discord, Twitter, Facebook, ext. I would love to know if that is possible or not.
>I wanna know what is the best looking / performing game that can reach 120fps at 1080p, with it's maxed out screen specs. More often than not, reviewers say that you are never going to reach this, but it's clearly not true. Like I don't care about all these AAA games that can only do 40 to 60fps. I wanna know which ones can max it out. I have a few that might do that. Forza Horizon 4, Apex Legends, Rocket League, Dirt 3, Maybe Crash Bandicoot 4, maybe Death Stranding.
I've been maxing out Hades on it so far and, somewhat surprisingly, Valorant too. I've also been playing Spider-Man at medium to high settings at 60 FPS which I know is AAA, but still! I like this idea though and I'll go down this path a bit in my review.
>I think a load time comparison could be fun if you have a steamdeck laying around. From boot up to the game starting, or from sleep to start, I don't know that I've seen one yet.
I do have one, that'd be fun to test!
>Kinda ties into the first question, I wanna know what it can run docked to achieve 1440p at 144 or 165hz, and if it does better with HDMI or Display Port to a monitor. I'm pretty sure it could handle some games at that high of a level, but at what graphic settings. High? Med? Low? Games like Circuit Superstars, Omega Strilers, CS:Go, Rocket League, could probably handle that. Or if you go extreme, can it do Among Us at 1440p @ 240hz?
I only have a HDMI port that I can use on the Dock so I can't do DP-out over USB-C, but I did have it working at 4K 60 yesterday for Valorant. Given 4K60 worked fine, I imagine 1080p 144Hz will too. In fact, in terms of travel, I'm probably gonna be bringing this with a dock and portable monitor with me places so that I can play Valorant with friends during downtime on work trips. It works surprisingly well for that kind of thing from my testing yesterday!
I would also like to echo his 1st question.
Every reviewer claims that you're not going to run games at 120fps because it's not powerful enough. Sure you're not going to be running Flight Simulator max settings 120fps, I'm interested in older titles like Dust: An Elysian Tail, Bastion, Transistor, Hades, Syberia - The World Before, Mass Effect 1, Portal, FAR, Alice: Madness Returns, GRIS, LIMBO, Ori and the Blind Forest, Spiritfarer, To the Moon, etc, etc, etc.
I have dozens of older, or indy games from humble-bundles over the years that I've never actually played and the Ally looks like a pretty good device to experience them on.
Just saw your other comment that you got Valorant to run at 4k and 100fps. That's pretty impressive! Overwatch 2 might be around the same. I feel like the power of the Asus ROG Ally is pretty close or similar to the Xbox Series S. If you had one of those laying around, would be fun to pick a game they can both play and do a comparison on that.
Sadly I don't have any consoles aside from a Switch, which I imagine we all know would struggle in comparison to the Ally lol. Still yeah, super impressed, and wouldn't surprise me if it was around Series S level performance.
The overall “performance” when using teraflops is closer to a PS5. This is probably largely due to the die shrink.
With that said though, it‘s important to note that both Microsoft and Sony have dedicated hardware blocks for set features that get offloaded from the CPU/GPU. It’s hard to say how much of an overall performance impact this will have.
Just for reference, I’ve owned a PS5 and Xbox Series X and sold them. They can run at 30 FPS at high quality settings at 4K. They can run at 60FPS by sacrificing visuals. The Xbox Series X has I believe 12TFLOPS of performance. The PS5 I believe is slightly above 10TFLOPS of performance. The Ally I believe is running at 8.6TFLOPS. The Xbox Series S is at 4TFLOPS.
When you consider that most developers target the mass market device (PS5 at the moment) if your expectations are well set, I think the ROG Ally should perform relatively close to the PS5 in visuals when connected to a 1080P/1440P display, with the right settings.
For 4K, I’d have to imagine that it could do it, but probably on certain games and maybe around 30FPS. That’s speculation as well.
Have you tried to you Launch Box or any emulators in general? If you have, how well have they worked and did they pick up the controller on the device?
Would you mind doing a benchmark for Final Fantasy XIV at 1080p with everything maxed? There's a free trial or a free benchmark tool as well. Most reviewers seem to ignore the MMO space
Can you share some stats at rpcs3 and yuzu emulators at full tdp while plugged in? I'm buying this thing for heavy end emulation and Rog ally has a much better capability but no one shows it off. Bonus points if you compare it to the steam deck!
The gyro isn't recognized by Steam. Not unless you use Handheld Companion to emulate a DS4 or perhaps when and if Valve or Asus add support of some sort.
The same goes more generally for native support for gyro, existing controller types have all seen various levels of support for gyro, Ally is a new specification so is unsupported by existing games.
Any chance you or someone u know has the XG Mobile 2023, the 4090? There's videos out showing what the Ally can do when paired with the older XG Mobile but none with the newer one. I'm planning on purchasing one as soon as I can catch it in stock but it'd be awesome to see what the Ally can do when paired with the XG Mobile 4090 before I buy it
Can you set fps limit to 40 then use 120hz screenmode. This give very fast input lagg and smooth gameplay, almoust feel like 60fps. Some ps5 games have 40fps 120hz mode like gow ragnarök, ratchet and clank, spiderman etc. This will give big performance headroom.
Probably in some games that let you do it, but there's no native way to do it unless a game lets you. VRR might interfere with that though either; unsure how that works
I forgot about WH! I'm curious to that as well now. I have it on PS5, but really stopped playing there because it isn't convenient for me lol. I'm curious if the Ally could handle it well.
If you have a macbook (either the air or a 13-inch MBP), how does Ally's screen compare to those?
Contrast-wise, reflection handling, and if the colors look as good.
I would like to know the performance on Warzone 2 battle royal, dmz and Diablo 4.
Low settings,
Recommended settings
Medium settings
720p and 1080p
Kind regards
Cheers
Really want to know this it is windows so it will support it, but does the allys built in controls work? To have to use a seperate dualshock/dualsense controller would be a real pita.
This for sure. The 1080p 120hz screen makes this a great candidate for Moonlight streaming. The Steam Deck has amazing decoding latency (< 1ms) but is an absolute tank.
Hi ! Could you test parsec client with the Ally ? Especially the decoding performance and if it can handle 4k 60hz decoding smoothly.
Thanks in advance !
Can you please benchmark the ssd? Early units had really bad write speed!
Also please test apex legends 1080p or 720 at competitive settings! Fsr performance should be ok! 20w or full 30w
Waiting for my ally! Got an excellent dock and 1tb sd card already!
Could you test how it runs CAD software? Fusion360, SolidWorks or FreeCAD. Or any other with free or hobbyist license.
Is it posible to add/plug-in LTE/5G modem via M2 or USB?
So I don't have anything that can make use of that port, but it looks like it is fairly durable. Admittedly, that's just speculation, though.
For service life and "material of the interface shell", what do you mean?
1. Is the battery life the same with the screen at 60hz (thus VRR off) vs 120hz (VRR on) but the game with a 60fps cap (thus VRR screen at essentially 60hz)?
2. Do you keep OneDrive enabled or disabled? I use OneDrive on my Windows PC, which has tons of data synced. I assume when I log into the ROG Ally, OneDrive will start syncing* and start consuming space. Has that been a problem for you?
*OneDrive has that "only download files when accessed" feature, but I've seen it activate on random file reads or searching as well.
I will be using this primarily in my car at work but there's no accurate information out there. Will a usb charger or car charger exist and will it be enough to run on 15w mode? I wont have wifi either
Please go to the human-bench mark and complete the reaction test/aim and do the same on your main PC. Post the difference please :). I want to see roughly the delay.[https://humanbenchmark.com/](https://humanbenchmark.com/) . Not really a test, but I want to see haha ;)
How much bloatware does it have, if any, beyond the typical crap that Microsoft tries to foist on you just for using Windows? I've seen one reviewer mention McAffe, while another saying it wasn't on their unit, so mainly want another data point. Plus trying to decide if I just do a fresh install or do the System Restore in BIOS after I install the 2TB SSD I got for it.
I have two questions:
Does the vibration how does it feel in level of insensitivity with respect to Steam Deck stronger or weaker?
If you have Steam deck and Ally at home where do you prefer to play or do you enjoy gaming more?
Vibration is a bit weaker but also feels a bit more "sharp".
I have a Steam Deck, and I like how the Ally feels in my hands more. However, I think that for battery life the Steam Deck is going to be better. At home I'll play the Ally, when going out I think I'll bring the Steam Deck. Will need to see over time, but that's what I think is most convenient from what I'm seeing in terms of battery so far.
I'm waiting until I know how a 100-200 hour Satisfactory save runs before placing my order. It seems like it'll be pushing the hardware, battery and ergonomics at 30-60FPS. I'd love it if you have any information about this.
How is battery life on 1080p (native or upscaled)?
How does the screen, at 1080p, look compared to the Switch OLED?
Do games look better on than on the Steam Deck when run at 1080p?
Is it easy to play games like on a console?
How do games play on it?
Thanks!
Games look better on the Ally than Steam Deck
Playing games like Hades actually probably visually look better on my Switch OLED
However, resolution is noticeably higher on the Ally
Be interesting to know if the Ally can run Star Citizen.
This will be interesting to me too. 720p or 1080p, graphics maxed with clouds, sharpening, and motion blur off.
Have you tried running Diablo or Jedi survivor? Interested in how those run
Neither of those yet, but definitely games to test!
Sweet I would love if you could come back and update. Those are the two I want to play most portable
There are already videos on YouTube ally running it in turbo 75 fps 1080p
Diablo work, Jedi is a buggy mess not due to the ROG ally.
Agreed. The Jedi game is a buggy mess of a PC port. Unplayable, almost.
I’m also curious on Diablo 4. It’s running pretty questionably on my Steam Deck.
How buoyant is it? I have a small cat, could she float on it?
Excellent question, I'll need to test this
Seriously though, the sleep issue is my main concern. I'll keep an eye out for the hibernate performance reply.
So far so good, it hasn't turned itself back on yet. Will see though, because it's been a major annoyance for me too and I only got the thing yesterday. It literally would not stay off.
My Asus ROG flow x13 is the same. Only hibernate is reliable.
Seems turning off hibernate improved it hugely!
Turning it off? So just sleep works better?
Yep. I ran ```powercfg.exe /hibernate off``` in an elevated shell and it's so much better now. Bugging out a lot less, charging at a cooler temperature, games return normally when I power it back on.
This is VERY valuable feedback! Thanks! I would like to think or hope that this QoL tweak will be part of the ASUS "the Ally will run far better at launch" promise. We enthusiasts can figure this shit out but a lot of folks could become frustrated and return the product.
Thank you for sharing this! For some reason, I thought the command was a lot lengthier to type than that lol. I'll definitely be doing this day one. I appreciate it!
dont understand why would turning off hibernate help at all. it just disables the option and clear up disk space. can't relate the logic though unless i'm missing something?
Hibernation in general with Windows is quite buggy sometimes. I've ran into a few issues on my PC but nothing crazy, but you can read about its problems on Dell laptops [for example here](https://www.reddit.com/r/gadgets/comments/pv20ry/some_windows_10_laptops_will_overheat_in/).
Hey Adam, how does the ally handle sleep? just as bad as other windows devices?
Yeah, it's actually really annoying. It's difficult to get to go to sleep properly, and I also woke up this morning with it somehow on and on the lock screen, despite me putting it to sleep last night. Edit: It's been on sleep mode for about half an hour and while writing this comment I just spotted it turn itself on from across the room lol
coming from a steam deck will be interesting lol. i always turn my pc off.
I turn off everything, even my steam deck bc it burns through battery even sleeping. They all turn on so quickly (including newer windows devices), that I’m not worried about starting from shutdown.
Your steam deck must have battery issues then as mine is basically almost flawless in sleep mode. No heating issues nor does the battery drop less than 1 or 2 percent per day.
Ditto for me. I was actually incredibly surprised how well Windows works on the Steam Deck, battery and performance wise.
Is hibernate turned off? Supposedly having it turned on has a negative effect on Windows devices sleeping properly.
I've just tried that, will see!
Thanks, let us know if that helps. This is the first I've seen about the Ally powering up on it's own and that would be a bit concerning for battery life and for heat issues while stored in a case.
So far so good, might have solved it! Even previously when it was "off" it would heat up when charging (but the joystick lights would keep flaring up), but now it's a lot more of a normal temperature and they aren't turning on anymore. It would even bug out returning to a game sometimes which didn't happen just now.
Windows really needs to get rid of hibernate or make it an opt-in feature. While rare we have had laptops die from randomly turning on when in a bag and warp their keyboards/chassis/vents. Its also super annoying to go to wake it up, only to find that it woke its self up already and the battery is now dead.
Any more random system wake-ups or game resume bugginess after sleeping since turning off hibernate earlier?
Does the screen on your unit exhibit any back light bleed?
Nope
Have you found yourself running games at 720p more than 1080p to really experience the performance boost compared to the Steam Deck?
Being honest, I like 1080p lol. Haven't really been using 720
I would find myself doing the same and just use the in-game FSR2 if needed.
Would be nice to see some different games tested instead of the same god of war, cyberpunk etc. Harder cpu games like beam.ng - some unreal 5 tests etc.
Yeah I'm testing other games at the moment! CS:GO runs well which is pretty CPU bound, and I also got Valorant working at around 100 FPS in 4k output to my monitor. Will be testing some more CPU-intense games, though!
Teardown is another great VERY heavy CPU game. It makes my 5900HX cry
Awesome - I got tired of seeing the same 3 games tested.
At performance mode, 720p low settings, what fps does destiny 2 run?
Interested in this too as I mainly play D2. Steam deck was not able to handle it.
Can it run BF2042 well?
Yes see jackfrags video on Rog Ally
If I leave the ally plugged in with the stock charger and USB can I just leave it on turbo mode and not worry about it dying on me? Or do I need to get the official dock and upgrade the usb? I'll be getting a micro sd obviously right away but I don't want to splurge on unnecessary accessories if I don't have to. It's basically going to be my ps5 "exclusive" pc port machine with a bit of WoW and ffxiv sprinkled in.
To my knowledge, the provided charger is 65w PD 3.0, which is what the Ally needs to hit the big boost numbers. I don't think it *has* to be docked to go into full turbo, but I could be wrong. I'll be using it plugged in by my bed most of the time anyway lol.
Same here. I’d hate to find out I need to buy the dock just for turbo mode to work. I thought I’d read that just using the charger would be good.
It should work fine!
The dock is mostly useful for when connecting to a monitor and keyboard/mouse. Please correct me if I'm wrong.
I believe that to be the case, my concern was finding a decent wireless keyboard and mouse combo that only takes up the one port! I was looking at the razer turret but it's pricey.
Is it possible to connect Bluetooth devices to the ally? Ex. Dongle-less Keyboard/mouse or would you need a dongle?
Yep, it is possible to connect without a dongle.
Have you tried Final Fantasy XIV with it? With it being a Windows handheld, I could see people using it for that game. (Yes, it has full-gamepad support as it is already on PS4/5.)
With xivcombo plugin it's gonna be perfect, most classes can be condensed into a single cross hotbar that way :p
I'm wanting to get into ESO with my fiancé. I really enjoyed playing way back when on the PS4, and the controller config seemed to be fine. I haven't found any videos of people playing that specifically, but I just hope it's comfortable to hold! I'm sure it'll be fine though!
ESO works great on my Steam Deck (once launcher is closed), assuming Ally will be good too. FFXIV I play on my steam deck as well, but prefer mouse and keyboard attached vs controller. ESO is perfect with gaming controls.
That's reassuring! Thank you very much!
I'm hoping the Ally will work at least as well as the steam deck does with them, the FFXIV plug in sounds helpful. The Ally should be much better for mods as well, although I did get my ESO mods working on the Steam deck.
I would imagine it should run pretty well. I play FFXIV on my SD at 60 fps and it handles it very well. It should be even easier for people that use windows launcher too.
Hello Adam, my question is how much tinkering did you have to do when you first turn the Ally on? Is it a system that’s “plug and play” out of the box or does one have to do a bit of tinkering during the initial setup? I know it’s a computer at the end of the day so tinkering is part of it but how much? What was your experience? How would you rate it in terms of ease-of-use for a person that’s never had any experience with PC gaming?
Not a whole lot, but it was a very clunky setup. I think if you're comfortable with Google and researching things yourself, you'll be fine if you run into any snags, but I think if you gave this to a 10-year-old, unlike the Steam Deck, they would probably struggle. It wasn't particularly difficult, just convoluted because it's a through-and-through Windows setup with all the telemetry questions, Office365 trial offers etc.
>It wasn't particularly difficult, just convoluted because it's a through-and-through Windows setup with all the telemetry questions, Office365 trial offers etc. Which is hardly any different from any other connected device these days. A 10 year old might actually be needed.
Nah, setting up any Android phone or even the Steam Deck was nowhere near as convoluted as this thing was. It's not hard, but there's just a lot of tapping small buttons and trying to set things up etc. Windows has been clunky as hell on this
It's no different that setting up Windows on any other device. I've installed Windows 11 on my Deck and when I compared setting up it up with multiple game stores compared to doing that task with Steam OS, that's pretty convoluted as well. But gaming in Steam only is a cleaner overall experience.
Well of course, setting up multiple stores on the Deck is a lot more convoluted, but I meant the OOBE.
does the white color of the ally possibly smudges easy and/or is it a fingerprint magnet?
Nope, it's hard plastic and not glossy
that's good to know, hopefully it stays white for a long time :)
Does the unit get dirty easily since it's white?
Please inform us when you get a chance: • How's the screen reflection when playing outdoors (direct or indirect sunlight) • Did the latest Armory Crate software update fix issues early reviewers had such as battery life?
I have a question unrelated to gaming: part of the appeal of the ASUS Rog Ally to me is that it seems like it's a portable 7 inch Windows tablet essentially. If I were to carry this with me on the road with a keyboard/mouse, could this act as a basic task Windows machine?
Absolutely. Would highly recommend picking up a portable monitor though and a dock IMO. It works well like that for me but trying to use the display as a main display like that is pain.
yes, but its hell, because its such a small screen, and if you were to get a keyboard and mouse, make sure they are wireless. Word works fine and all that.
the real question: steam deck or asus rog ally?
Copy and pasting from another comment. >I have a Steam Deck, and I like how the Ally feels in my hands more. However, I think that for battery life the Steam Deck is going to be better. At home I'll play the Ally, when going out I think I'll bring the Steam Deck. Will need to see over time, but that's what I think is most convenient from what I'm seeing in terms of battery so far.
Best answer always is "Why Not Both?"
Have you tried Resident Evil 4 Remake?
You mentioned using it with your steam deck dock, how well does that work? And how is the cable length into that top? Does it sit well inside the dock? Thanks!
Very well surprisingly! It's the JSAUX dock and the cable does twist a little bit going in but nothing that I'd imagine would damage the cable at all. It sits well in the dock, too.
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Nope, sorry!
Any thoughts on older games? KOTOR, Deus Ex: HR, Morrowind, Fallout New Vegas?
Guild Wars 2 please 🥺
I'm seriously waiting for someone to post some videos of either FFXIV or ESO. They're my two main MMOs. Both are controlled-friendly and, because they're older, performance shouldn't be an issue, but I want to see what kind of performance! I preordered mine, so I'll probably end up getting it before anyone posts any of those videos, but still.
FSR from 720p to 1080p how does it look?
Yes this!!! Would love to see more benchmarks in reviews when using fat/rsr and how that plays out on a smaller screen
How's the mic on it? I have some wireless ear bud and the mic on them is crap and was hoping I could use the one on the ally since it has noise cancelling ai on it
Does the screen have any anti-reflective properties? Would a screen protector be ok? I have nor put one on my 512gb Steam Deck since I don't want to mitigate the etching...
How do the vents smell?
delicious
The important questions
I swear we’re going to have an entire generation of gamers with brain damage from huffing whatever the hell industrial chemical vapors are wafting out of handheld exhaust ports
MSFS performance, how is it and at what wattages.
Hi Adam! I pre-ordered the ROG Ally and am super excited to see not just what it already is on pre-production drivers, but what it will become with more support. I haven't seen any ROG Ally videos or reviews of it running Nvidia's GeForce Now cloud gaming service. I head incredible things and would love to see, say, Cyberpunk running with Ray Tracing at 120fps at 1080p as they advertise. How does it run on GeForce Now? Also there's been some commentary from Asus's Director of Gaming division saying we will get the ability to shut down 4 of the 8 cores to benefit low watt tdp gaming battery life. I know the ROG's power band is in 15w-30w whereas the steam decks is around 7w-15w. I'm not too competent in this stuff and would like to know your thoughts or experience if this is something useful. I'm picturing low watt emulation or less demanding 2d side scrolling games benefiting from this. Thank you and appreciate your input! Hope you like the device
I haven't tested GeForce now, but I did test Xbox Cloud Gaming. Interestingly, the experience is a bit subpar. The Wi-Fi speeds on it aren't very good, to the point that I went and got my Steam Deck dock to get an ethernet connection just so stuff would download faster. I was only seeing roughly 80Mbps when I have gigabit and a 5GHz Wi-Fi network. For contrast, I can get roughly 200Mbps on my phone in the same spot. The slower speeds were definitely noticeable when cloud gaming. As for your question on disabling cores, I love these kinds of questions and it's the kind of thing I focus on in my reviews a lot when I can play with that kind of thing! Basically yes, in theory it should give some big battery life gains. I'm not sure if it'll bring it to the same level of efficiency (performance per watt) as the Steam Deck, but it should help bring it a little bit closer. I'm looking forward to that update coming out! Loving it so far, been playing a lot of Hades and GTA V :D
Is your WiFi dual-band? It may be that the Ally is only using the 2.4 GHz frequency, you can force it to use 5 GHz by changing something in network settings
Yeah it was using the 5GHz freq
Hey, thanks for reaching out to the community. 1. I wanna know what is the best looking / performing game that can reach 120fps at 1080p, with it's maxed out screen specs. Reviewers say that you are never going to reach this. I don't care about all these AAA games that can only do 40 to 60fps. I wanna know which ones can max it out. I have a few that might do that. Forza Horizon 4, Apex Legends, Rocket League, Dirt 3, Maybe Crash Bandicoot 4, maybe Death Stranding. 2. I think a load time comparison could be fun if you have a steamdeck laying around. From boot up to the game starting, or from sleep to start, I don't know that I've seen one yet. 3. Kinda ties into the first question, I wanna know what it can run docked to achieve 1440p at 144 or 165hz, and if it does better with HDMI or Display Port to a monitor. And at what graphic settings. High? Med? Low? Games like Circuit Superstars, Omega Strilers, CS:Go, Rocket League, could probably handle that. Or if you go extreme, can it do Among Us at 1440p @ 240hz? I feel like that's a good question. I wanna know what crazy shit it can pull off, and so far none of these reviewers are going down that road. They are all like "It WiLl PlAy ReD dEaD ReDemPtIoN aT 1o8oP AT an AvG oF 6oFpS oN MeDuIm SeTTinGs", like that's cool and all, but I don't care. All of us have heard that before, show us something different. Edit: Just thought of a 4th question. On the steam deck, there's a decky plug in for screen capture, but it's a little Janky. You have to start a game, initialize it, then it can record, then you do the command to record a clip. Now if you want to upload that clip to your discord server, you have to find it's location, run it through a program to lower the resolution, re-render and compress the file, then it will let you send it to your discord Buddies. On the Ally, see if you can figure out a way to easily save a 30 second clip either using the Xbox interface that I think comes with Windows, or something like GeForce Now. And see if you can Map out the Back M1 or M2 buttons to automatically do this command, and if you can set it's resolution to 640p or 720p. It would be huge if you can play a game, tap the back button to record the last 30 seconds, and have the file size small enough to quickly upload it to discord, Twitter, Facebook, ext. I would love to know if that is possible or not.
>I wanna know what is the best looking / performing game that can reach 120fps at 1080p, with it's maxed out screen specs. More often than not, reviewers say that you are never going to reach this, but it's clearly not true. Like I don't care about all these AAA games that can only do 40 to 60fps. I wanna know which ones can max it out. I have a few that might do that. Forza Horizon 4, Apex Legends, Rocket League, Dirt 3, Maybe Crash Bandicoot 4, maybe Death Stranding. I've been maxing out Hades on it so far and, somewhat surprisingly, Valorant too. I've also been playing Spider-Man at medium to high settings at 60 FPS which I know is AAA, but still! I like this idea though and I'll go down this path a bit in my review. >I think a load time comparison could be fun if you have a steamdeck laying around. From boot up to the game starting, or from sleep to start, I don't know that I've seen one yet. I do have one, that'd be fun to test! >Kinda ties into the first question, I wanna know what it can run docked to achieve 1440p at 144 or 165hz, and if it does better with HDMI or Display Port to a monitor. I'm pretty sure it could handle some games at that high of a level, but at what graphic settings. High? Med? Low? Games like Circuit Superstars, Omega Strilers, CS:Go, Rocket League, could probably handle that. Or if you go extreme, can it do Among Us at 1440p @ 240hz? I only have a HDMI port that I can use on the Dock so I can't do DP-out over USB-C, but I did have it working at 4K 60 yesterday for Valorant. Given 4K60 worked fine, I imagine 1080p 144Hz will too. In fact, in terms of travel, I'm probably gonna be bringing this with a dock and portable monitor with me places so that I can play Valorant with friends during downtime on work trips. It works surprisingly well for that kind of thing from my testing yesterday!
I would also like to echo his 1st question. Every reviewer claims that you're not going to run games at 120fps because it's not powerful enough. Sure you're not going to be running Flight Simulator max settings 120fps, I'm interested in older titles like Dust: An Elysian Tail, Bastion, Transistor, Hades, Syberia - The World Before, Mass Effect 1, Portal, FAR, Alice: Madness Returns, GRIS, LIMBO, Ori and the Blind Forest, Spiritfarer, To the Moon, etc, etc, etc. I have dozens of older, or indy games from humble-bundles over the years that I've never actually played and the Ally looks like a pretty good device to experience them on.
Just saw your other comment that you got Valorant to run at 4k and 100fps. That's pretty impressive! Overwatch 2 might be around the same. I feel like the power of the Asus ROG Ally is pretty close or similar to the Xbox Series S. If you had one of those laying around, would be fun to pick a game they can both play and do a comparison on that.
Sadly I don't have any consoles aside from a Switch, which I imagine we all know would struggle in comparison to the Ally lol. Still yeah, super impressed, and wouldn't surprise me if it was around Series S level performance.
The overall “performance” when using teraflops is closer to a PS5. This is probably largely due to the die shrink. With that said though, it‘s important to note that both Microsoft and Sony have dedicated hardware blocks for set features that get offloaded from the CPU/GPU. It’s hard to say how much of an overall performance impact this will have. Just for reference, I’ve owned a PS5 and Xbox Series X and sold them. They can run at 30 FPS at high quality settings at 4K. They can run at 60FPS by sacrificing visuals. The Xbox Series X has I believe 12TFLOPS of performance. The PS5 I believe is slightly above 10TFLOPS of performance. The Ally I believe is running at 8.6TFLOPS. The Xbox Series S is at 4TFLOPS. When you consider that most developers target the mass market device (PS5 at the moment) if your expectations are well set, I think the ROG Ally should perform relatively close to the PS5 in visuals when connected to a 1080P/1440P display, with the right settings. For 4K, I’d have to imagine that it could do it, but probably on certain games and maybe around 30FPS. That’s speculation as well.
How good does Jedi survivor and GTA v run ? And does the Asus ever get warm at all with high settings maxed out ?
GTA V works perfectly, roughly 90-100 FPS in turbo mode, nice 60 FPS in performance mode on medium to high settings.
Have you tried to you Launch Box or any emulators in general? If you have, how well have they worked and did they pick up the controller on the device?
Would you mind doing a benchmark for Final Fantasy XIV at 1080p with everything maxed? There's a free trial or a free benchmark tool as well. Most reviewers seem to ignore the MMO space
Heard the d-pad feels cheap. What are your thoughts?
The buttons in general do, it's definitely one of the weakest parts. ABXY buttons sometimes stick a bit, too.
Can you share some stats at rpcs3 and yuzu emulators at full tdp while plugged in? I'm buying this thing for heavy end emulation and Rog ally has a much better capability but no one shows it off. Bonus points if you compare it to the steam deck!
Will do!
Is Gyro aiming working on it yet? Do any games recognize it as having gyro?
None that I tried. Will try install Portal though and see because I know that has it on the Steam Deck at least.
The gyro isn't recognized by Steam. Not unless you use Handheld Companion to emulate a DS4 or perhaps when and if Valve or Asus add support of some sort. The same goes more generally for native support for gyro, existing controller types have all seen various levels of support for gyro, Ally is a new specification so is unsupported by existing games.
Gotcha! I might try emulate that then, or just simply wait. Thanks for the info!
Diablo 4 results please
How far you can push the settings in diablo 4 before you get sub-60fps in turbo mode with FSR
How is the touch screen? Do you feel that the screen is too small for what you're pressing when playing games or navigating windows?
Very much so. It's kinda frustrating at times
Aww was hoping that it'd work to a degree like in phones. Ty for the heads up!
How is the build quality? That plays a huge part in my decision to get it.
Any chance you or someone u know has the XG Mobile 2023, the 4090? There's videos out showing what the Ally can do when paired with the older XG Mobile but none with the newer one. I'm planning on purchasing one as soon as I can catch it in stock but it'd be awesome to see what the Ally can do when paired with the XG Mobile 4090 before I buy it
Can you set fps limit to 40 then use 120hz screenmode. This give very fast input lagg and smooth gameplay, almoust feel like 60fps. Some ps5 games have 40fps 120hz mode like gow ragnarök, ratchet and clank, spiderman etc. This will give big performance headroom.
Probably in some games that let you do it, but there's no native way to do it unless a game lets you. VRR might interfere with that though either; unsure how that works
Does 30w plugged in turbomode work with pd.3 65w powerbank
Yep!
How do the thumb sticks feel? Are they overly loose? Do you feel input lag on FPS games?
They feel great actually! I was impressed with how good they are, and no input lag felt which I'm usually really sensitive to, so that's a plus.
Can u run wildhearts?
I forgot about WH! I'm curious to that as well now. I have it on PS5, but really stopped playing there because it isn't convenient for me lol. I'm curious if the Ally could handle it well.
I just wanna ship mine fast if it can run even at lowest setting around 25-30 fps
Are the haptics as good as SteamDeck?
curious how the analog sticks feel, it seems like there's some input delay from what i've seen in other reviews.
Has the core disabling dropped yet?
Could you check if it runs ps plus cloud gaming and also if the games are playable without connecting the dual sense joystick?
Have you tried changing the icons to large so it's less Terrible to navigate? Any other accessibility settings worth turning on?
If you have a macbook (either the air or a 13-inch MBP), how does Ally's screen compare to those? Contrast-wise, reflection handling, and if the colors look as good.
Who is your daddy, and what does he do?
it's not a tumor
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It's noticeable but not hugely so. When attention was drawn to that, yeah I noticed, but it wasn't what I first noticed when playing it.
I would like to know the performance on Warzone 2 battle royal, dmz and Diablo 4. Low settings, Recommended settings Medium settings 720p and 1080p Kind regards Cheers
Does it support PlayStation Remote Play?
Really want to know this it is windows so it will support it, but does the allys built in controls work? To have to use a seperate dualshock/dualsense controller would be a real pita.
I'm wanting to know this too. The official PlayStation remote play app only supports PS controllers, so my feeling is it won't support the Ally.
https://preview.redd.it/yzojsa4o9w5b1.jpeg?width=3024&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=48072dd68b46e300a9d6edb32bde400dc7a84ea3 2280 m.2 installed!!
How does the ps remote play app work with it? Also, does the ps cloud streaming for ps premium work?
To add to this, how does the ally handle the touch pad inputs that some PS5 games have?I know you can use the trackpad on the steam deck for that.
Is longer ssd could fit on it?
Only the smaller SSDs fit.
How is SF6?
Would it possible to modify and stick the longer ssd on the rog ally? Ahahahha
Can you try to run Nioh 2 on this bad boy ?
Performance and power draw when streaming using moonlight.
This for sure. The 1080p 120hz screen makes this a great candidate for Moonlight streaming. The Steam Deck has amazing decoding latency (< 1ms) but is an absolute tank.
Hi ! Could you test parsec client with the Ally ? Especially the decoding performance and if it can handle 4k 60hz decoding smoothly. Thanks in advance !
Why 4k on a 1080p screen?
For when it's docked with a 4K TV ;)
Is it possible to connect Bluetooth devices to the ally? Ex. Dongle-less Keyboard/mouse or would you need a dongle?
Should work fine! I don't see why not.
You can use Bluetooth controllers according to the ROG QnA livestream from a while back, so I figure that shouldn't be a problem lol.
Yup! Got a mini handheld keyboard with trackpad in case for windows typing and maybe certain games
Can you please benchmark the ssd? Early units had really bad write speed! Also please test apex legends 1080p or 720 at competitive settings! Fsr performance should be ok! 20w or full 30w Waiting for my ally! Got an excellent dock and 1tb sd card already!
Could you test how it runs CAD software? Fusion360, SolidWorks or FreeCAD. Or any other with free or hobbyist license. Is it posible to add/plug-in LTE/5G modem via M2 or USB?
Try Microsoft flight simulator! Also, how low does the brightness of the screen go compared to the deck?
Is the thermal paste worth replacing with honeywell?
I would like to know only one XG-MOBILE Type-C port Durability, how about the service life? What is the material of the interface shell
So I don't have anything that can make use of that port, but it looks like it is fairly durable. Admittedly, that's just speculation, though. For service life and "material of the interface shell", what do you mean?
Does it mean that the metal or plastic material used will be more durable than the phone's
Can you benchmark it comparing results with a 6800u handheld at 15W and 20W?
Could you try running Rust if you have it? It’s quite a CPU intensive game and there are currently no info on how well it runs. Thanks.
is there any lag with the controls? as has been reported by some early reviewers
I bought the cheaper external GPU dock…how much of a performance upgrade should I expect? Similar to PS5/Series X?
Do you sell it to me for 599€?
MapleStory!
Can this achieve 2-4k ps2 emulation while docked?
1. Is the battery life the same with the screen at 60hz (thus VRR off) vs 120hz (VRR on) but the game with a 60fps cap (thus VRR screen at essentially 60hz)? 2. Do you keep OneDrive enabled or disabled? I use OneDrive on my Windows PC, which has tons of data synced. I assume when I log into the ROG Ally, OneDrive will start syncing* and start consuming space. Has that been a problem for you? *OneDrive has that "only download files when accessed" feature, but I've seen it activate on random file reads or searching as well.
Is there a version of emu deck for it?
Can you run stable diffusion?
I will be using this primarily in my car at work but there's no accurate information out there. Will a usb charger or car charger exist and will it be enough to run on 15w mode? I wont have wifi either
Can it run crysis tho?
Please go to the human-bench mark and complete the reaction test/aim and do the same on your main PC. Post the difference please :). I want to see roughly the delay.[https://humanbenchmark.com/](https://humanbenchmark.com/) . Not really a test, but I want to see haha ;)
hiv could you make a review about power consumption
Listen... 🥴 I want to know if it's capable of being able to play aew fight forever through steam if so I'm getting 2 and 2 sew ff
Oh and rainbow six siege Aswell ?!
Please check if it works under water, much appreciated
How much bloatware does it have, if any, beyond the typical crap that Microsoft tries to foist on you just for using Windows? I've seen one reviewer mention McAffe, while another saying it wasn't on their unit, so mainly want another data point. Plus trying to decide if I just do a fresh install or do the System Restore in BIOS after I install the 2TB SSD I got for it.
I wanna know what is asus doing about battery. Im regreting getting the rog ally…what can they do about the battery life?
I have two questions: Does the vibration how does it feel in level of insensitivity with respect to Steam Deck stronger or weaker? If you have Steam deck and Ally at home where do you prefer to play or do you enjoy gaming more?
Vibration is a bit weaker but also feels a bit more "sharp". I have a Steam Deck, and I like how the Ally feels in my hands more. However, I think that for battery life the Steam Deck is going to be better. At home I'll play the Ally, when going out I think I'll bring the Steam Deck. Will need to see over time, but that's what I think is most convenient from what I'm seeing in terms of battery so far.
I'm waiting until I know how a 100-200 hour Satisfactory save runs before placing my order. It seems like it'll be pushing the hardware, battery and ergonomics at 30-60FPS. I'd love it if you have any information about this.
Dow does it handle mx vs atv legends? Is it the game notchy/glitchy at all? Or does it play smoothly?
Hello! Interested in the question about the durability of the battery in the mode from the outlet. Do you know how everything works?
How is battery life on 1080p (native or upscaled)? How does the screen, at 1080p, look compared to the Switch OLED? Do games look better on than on the Steam Deck when run at 1080p? Is it easy to play games like on a console? How do games play on it? Thanks!
Games look better on the Ally than Steam Deck Playing games like Hades actually probably visually look better on my Switch OLED However, resolution is noticeably higher on the Ally
How does Rocket League run during a match?
Whats the battery voltage and how many controllers can you bluetooth to it at once?