ROG Xbox Ally and ROG Xbox Ally X launch October 16

They have very different hardware but the Ally X is probably ~15% faster than than Switch 2. If they can actually reduce the Windows overhead so that it performs more like SteamOS, you could probably see performance up to ~30% faster.
Canadian Lol GIF


Same Switch that has Elden Ring running like dogshit and Steam Deck has it at 30-40FPS at Medium? Are you high bro?
 
Significantly weaker is an exaggeration until we get benchmarks. Based on what I've seen it's not going to be a generational leap in performance. That will likely come with the next model.

I'm with you on the compatibility W but that alone isn't enough. SteamOS is a more feature rich experience overall. If the Xbox App beta on PC is anything to go by, you get generic (low res) box art icons for your Steam games. You can't see your time played, achievements, screenshots, forums, news updates without accessing Steam. I'm too OCD to tolerate that.

Keep in mind, the Deck OLED is roughly the same price as the standard Xbox Ally. That is the better purchase IMO.

People seriously underrate how great the Steam UI is in general. When I went to PC gaming I just stopped using other stores. I would rather just spend more money and stay in Steam.
 
Canadian Lol GIF


Same Switch that has Elden Ring running like dogshit and Steam Deck has it at 30-40FPS at Medium? Are you high bro?

You wanna compare the game in your avatar? Or Hogwarts Legacy? Or Yakuza? Or many other games?


I have no horse in the race and I'm primarily a PC gamer, but Switch 2 has been really impressive thus far.
 
It doesn't have an OLED screen right?

I want to upgrade my Steam Deck OLED, but doesn't feel like Valve is gonna release an upgrade for some time yet. Love Steam OS but could probably adapt.

I would like an OLED screen above all else.

Lenovo is also releasing a new one right. With a big screen? The Steam Deck OLED was a welcome upgrade on the LCD, but I would like to go even bigger.
 
It doesn't have an OLED screen right?

I want to upgrade my Steam Deck OLED, but doesn't feel like Valve is gonna release an upgrade for some time yet. Love Steam OS but could probably adapt.

I would like an OLED screen above all else.

Lenovo is also releasing a new one right. With a big screen? The Steam Deck OLED was a welcome upgrade on the LCD, but I would like to go even bigger.
Nah, they went with a 120hz LCD screen instead.
 
Last edited:
How is it trash take and not better by a fact?? Lol at "feel superior". Deck is superior (at that aspect), not me. 🤦‍♂️

It's not better by fact. It's just your fucking subjective opinion. Which I couldn't give a fuck less about so why are you quoting me with your bullshit takes? Go and peddle your Steam Deck somewhere else.
 
It's not better by fact. It's just your fucking subjective opinion. Which I couldn't give a fuck less about so why are you quoting me with your bullshit takes? Go and peddle your Steam Deck somewhere else.
My opinion that a freaking trackpad can navigate faster and better than a potato dpad??? Whatever makes you happy.
 
You wanna compare the game in your avatar? Or Hogwarts Legacy? Or Yakuza? Or many other games?


I have no horse in the race and I'm primarily a PC gamer, but Switch 2 has been really impressive thus far.
DF did comparisons with Cyberpunk 2077 and Hogwarts. The former has higher performance on Deck vs the Switch 2 while the latter has settings lower than low on Switch 2 and still has loading screens to get into Hogwarts.

Handheld of course. Docked mode the Switch 2 is the clear winner. Switch 2 is really impressive from a power usage point of view as well.
 
Significantly weaker is an exaggeration until we get benchmarks. Based on what I've seen it's not going to be a generational leap in performance. That will likely come with the next model.

The Z1 Extreme was already meaningfully more powerful than the Steamdeck, and there are reports of a further 15% uplift over the Z1E by the Z2E.
It's also got significantly better emulation performance and will be a faster experience when used as a desktop.


I'm with you on the compatibility W but that alone isn't enough. SteamOS is a more feature rich experience overall. If the Xbox App beta on PC is anything to go by, you get generic (low res) box art icons for your Steam games. You can't see your time played, achievements, screenshots, forums, news updates without accessing Steam. I'm too OCD to tolerate that.

…but you'll be able to launch Steam on the Ally X if you desire.
Aren't all those things a fingertip away on your mobile phone?

Keep in mind, the Deck OLED is roughly the same price as the standard Xbox Ally. That is the better purchase IMO.

The standard Xbox Ally is a poor value proposition, and I maintain it's a foolish decision by MS to ship that device as compromised as it is.
 
Last edited:
It's not better by fact. It's just your fucking subjective opinion. Which I couldn't give a fuck less about so why are you quoting me with your bullshit takes? Go and peddle your Steam Deck somewhere else.

I mean, I'd say having track pads is better than not having track pads. and they are indeed very good. not necessarily vital, but they come in extremely handy for multiple reasons.
when I played Deus Ex for example, my left trackpad was mapped to a wheel menu mapped to the 1-0 keys, so I could quick swap my inventory.
the right track pad was mapped to the mouse of course, not for aiming (I'm good enough on a stick that I don't need that), but because it made interacting with the computer terminals more intuitive.

however, both of these could be replaced with decent touchscreen support, which is something Steam Input is missing and which is a mindboggling omission imo. they should add custom touch buttons to Steam Input, so I can add touch buttons to my inventory and stuff like that, which would be way better than having to use a wheel menu.
 
Last edited:

AMD Ryzen AI Z2 Extreme Impresses in Early ASUS ROG Xbox Ally X Benchmarks

Article:
According to the tech influencer Cary Golomb on X, the Xbox Ally X was capable of running Doom: The Dark Ages at 70 FPS with ray tracing and AMD FSR frame generation enabled. This was with FSR upscaling the image from 540p to 1080p and a mix of medium and low settings. Perhaps more impressive are the power draw and the internal temperatures during gaming. Even with the TDP set to a very respectable 18 W, and with the GPU running at 97% load, the temperature read-out was still showing 57° C. Given that gaming handheld is under load on the smaller side compared to some of the recent 11-inch monstrosities that have popped up, the temperature under load demonstrates a decently capable cooling solution.



------------------

His youtube channel if anyone wants to catch the video when he (supposedly) posts it later today.
 

AMD Ryzen AI Z2 Extreme Impresses in Early ASUS ROG Xbox Ally X Benchmarks

Article:
According to the tech influencer Cary Golomb on X, the Xbox Ally X was capable of running Doom: The Dark Ages at 70 FPS with ray tracing and AMD FSR frame generation enabled. This was with FSR upscaling the image from 540p to 1080p and a mix of medium and low settings. Perhaps more impressive are the power draw and the internal temperatures during gaming. Even with the TDP set to a very respectable 18 W, and with the GPU running at 97% load, the temperature read-out was still showing 57° C. Given that gaming handheld is under load on the smaller side compared to some of the recent 11-inch monstrosities that have popped up, the temperature under load demonstrates a decently capable cooling solution.



------------------

His youtube channel if anyone wants to catch the video when he (supposedly) posts it later today.

 
And this is why you know they whole YT shtick is terrible - guy thinks he should be running frame-gen at 35FPS base.
Yeah I can't say that 70fps at 540p "custom" low/medium settings with FG is super impressive even with RT.

Though if this is at Gamescom which I assume it is I bet it's set up by Asus/Microsoft and they thought those settings would be best to show off the device.

B-but look at the RT!
 
Last edited:
Wait.....so Phawx is saying the fullscreen mode in this isn't like Steam OS. It has full Windows running in the background? Is that what he is saying here?

"another question that I had was if we were thinking about it uh through Gamescope. Gamecope is a fantastic micro compositor for Steam OS and has there been any improvements or is there a different compositor that Microsoft is using for Windows in the Xbox full screen experience? And the answer is no.
It is the exact same desktop Windows manager that Windows already uses. But whatever features and functionality that has is the exact same that is going to be happening for the Xbox full screen experience which I feel is a little unfortunate because I feel like this would have been a perfect opportunity to incorporate some game scope like functionality in another compositor but at the moment that's what we have so it is what it is"

I thought that was supposed to be the big selling feature here. What am I missing?
 
Wait.....so Phawx is saying the fullscreen mode in this isn't like Steam OS. It has full Windows running in the background? Is that what he is saying here?

"another question that I had was if we were thinking about it uh through Gamescope. Gamecope is a fantastic micro compositor for Steam OS and has there been any improvements or is there a different compositor that Microsoft is using for Windows in the Xbox full screen experience? And the answer is no.
It is the exact same desktop Windows manager that Windows already uses. But whatever features and functionality that has is the exact same that is going to be happening for the Xbox full screen experience which I feel is a little unfortunate because I feel like this would have been a perfect opportunity to incorporate some game scope like functionality in another compositor but at the moment that's what we have so it is what it is"

I thought that was supposed to be the big selling feature here. What am I missing?
From what I've seen so far it seems the only thing that they confirmed as an "optimization" is unloading the task bar (requires restart) that saves ≈ 2GB of memory. I hope they've got more tricks up their sleeve, if not SteamOS will dominate them in benchmarks.
 
Wait.....so Phawx is saying the fullscreen mode in this isn't like Steam OS. It has full Windows running in the background? Is that what he is saying here?

"another question that I had was if we were thinking about it uh through Gamescope. Gamecope is a fantastic micro compositor for Steam OS and has there been any improvements or is there a different compositor that Microsoft is using for Windows in the Xbox full screen experience? And the answer is no.
It is the exact same desktop Windows manager that Windows already uses. But whatever features and functionality that has is the exact same that is going to be happening for the Xbox full screen experience which I feel is a little unfortunate because I feel like this would have been a perfect opportunity to incorporate some game scope like functionality in another compositor but at the moment that's what we have so it is what it is"

I thought that was supposed to be the big selling feature here. What am I missing?
As far as I'm aware that's what they've always said it was. It runs full windows in the background but kills some of the processes that are productivity focused.

It's essentially BPM versus SteamOS.
 
Wait.....so Phawx is saying the fullscreen mode in this isn't like Steam OS. It has full Windows running in the background? Is that what he is saying here?

"another question that I had was if we were thinking about it uh through Gamescope. Gamecope is a fantastic micro compositor for Steam OS and has there been any improvements or is there a different compositor that Microsoft is using for Windows in the Xbox full screen experience? And the answer is no.
It is the exact same desktop Windows manager that Windows already uses. But whatever features and functionality that has is the exact same that is going to be happening for the Xbox full screen experience which I feel is a little unfortunate because I feel like this would have been a perfect opportunity to incorporate some game scope like functionality in another compositor but at the moment that's what we have so it is what it is"

I thought that was supposed to be the big selling feature here. What am I missing?

The big selling feature was never that it wouldn't be Windows. It's Win 11, but They're disabling quite a number of background processes which don't really have anything to do with gaming and which should help with battery life and free up RAM for gaming.
 
Last edited:
From what I've seen so far it seems the only thing that they confirmed as an "optimization" is unloading the task bar (requires restart) that saves ≈ 2GB of memory. I hope they've got more tricks up their sleeve, if not SteamOS will dominate them in benchmarks.

As far as I'm aware that's what they've always said it was. It runs full windows in the background but kills some of the processes that are productivity focused.

It's essentially BPM versus SteamOS.

The big selling feature was never that it wouldn't be Windows. It's Win 11, but They're disabling quite a number of background processes which don't really have anything to do with gaming and which should help with battery life and free up RAM for gaming.

Hmm, alright. I guess I misunderstood. Thanks
 
Hmm, alright. I guess I misunderstood. Thanks
With the amount of obfuscated messages that's come out of team green lately I think some of us were expecting a lot more out of this gaming "optimization". I for one was sure that they would take the threat of SteamOS serious and deliver something leaner/more efficient. But not extremly suprised, MS is MS after all.

Could be that they've got some suprises under the hood that we won't get info about until closer to release. But I'm keeping my expectations in check.
 
Took a few notes from Phawk's video...

-Xbox button works as an Alt tab

-Nice swipe gestures. Swiping left brings up Game Bar. From bottom is Alt tab. From right notification tab

-Multimonitor does not work in full screen mode.

-Z2A supports S3 sleep (?). Z2E is just normal standby.

-Cannot wake from sleep while docked(?) Also cannot wake from sleep using Bluetooth controller like you would on console. Requires Xbox One adapter

-No mouse emulation with thumbsticks via Windows. Requires third party software like Armoury Crate

I'm not sure what this means....

"Another question I asked is some PC games anticipate this actually operating like a PC. So it should see that there's a mouse connected and a keyboard connected.
Unfortunately, it doesn't look like from a launch that Microsoft has any means of combating this in a desktop console-like experience. So if you don't have a keyboard or mouse plugged in and games like Near Automata or Maxpane 3 which require some type of keyboard or mouse input plugged in from that game's perspective, there is nothing that will satisfy that requirement and you will not be able to continue that game unless you install some third party app that is outside of what Microsoft is going to be providing. So unfortunately that doesn't look like that's a there's a solve for that at the current moment either."

-Uses same scheduler as regular Windows.

-Third party software like Riva Tuner will not work in fullscreen mode

-Cannot install games from other stores from within Xbox app. Have to leave the app, install games, come back to app

-VR works

-No plans on the full screen experience to come to PC
 
Last edited:
You wanna compare the game in your avatar? Or Hogwarts Legacy? Or Yakuza? Or many other games?


I have no horse in the race and I'm primarily a PC gamer, but Switch 2 has been really impressive thus far.
It also heavily depends on developers and the engine of course. Elden Ring still stutters on my 5080 😅.
 
I wouldn't consider a 10fps advantage insignificant if I were shopping for one of these PC handhelds. 30fps vs 40fps, 50fps vs 60fps.
I agree as long as you are not upgrading from a previous one and buying new. If it's $700 for the Ally or $900 for the Xbox Ally X then yeah I'd say it's worth it even if it's only like 10 fps difference but if it's oh I already have a Ally and I'm looking at upgrading to the Xbox Ally X I don't think its worth $600 (Ally's go for $300-350 everyday on ebay last I checked).

Then when you take that same used price and you go oh do I buy a used Ally for $300 or a Xbox Ally X for $900 those 10 frames are not worth 3x the cost.

Took a few notes from Phawk's video...

-No plans on the full screen experience to come to PC
Ugh. But why?
 
I agree as long as you are not upgrading from a previous one and buying new. If it's $700 for the Ally or $900 for the Xbox Ally X then yeah I'd say it's worth it even if it's only like 10 fps difference but if it's oh I already have a Ally and I'm looking at upgrading to the Xbox Ally X I don't think its worth $600 (Ally's go for $300-350 everyday on ebay last I checked).

Then when you take that same used price and you go oh do I buy a used Ally for $300 or a Xbox Ally X for $900 those 10 frames are not worth 3x the cost.

Price/performance should be a prime consideration. Folks need to ask themselves what kind of games they will be playing on these things as well. I'll play indie games, emulation and some JRPGs like Octopath Traveler. But if Mister Wolf Mister Wolf is going to play games like Rogue Trader on these handhelds then he will want a beefier version. RT on my Z2 Go ain't great.

But to your point, the question is really is this worth paying more than the og Ally. Or even upgrading? And you get the same screen? Nope. Not worth it, imo.

Ugh. But why?

Steve Martin Idk GIF
 
Price/performance should be a prime consideration. Folks need to ask themselves what kind of games they will be playing on these things as well. I'll play indie games, emulation and some JRPGs like Octopath Traveler. But if Mister Wolf Mister Wolf is going to play games like Rogue Trader on these handhelds then he will want a beefier version. RT on my Z2 Go ain't great.

But to your point, the question is really is this worth paying more than the og Ally. Or even upgrading? And you get the same screen? Nope. Not worth it, imo.



Steve Martin Idk GIF

Yeah even this Legion Go Z1 Extreme SteamOs I was only getting around 40 - 45fps(sometimes dropping lower) at 1080p using highest quality FSR and not at max settings with Rogue Trader. The final boss fight really tanked the framerate. I expect Dark Heresy to be even more demanding:


 
Last edited:
Took a few notes from Phawk's video...

-Xbox button works as an Alt tab

-Nice swipe gestures. Swiping left brings up Game Bar. From bottom is Alt tab. From right notification tab

-Multimonitor does not work in full screen mode.

-Z2A supports S3 sleep (?). Z2E is just normal standby.

-Cannot wake from sleep while docked(?) Also cannot wake from sleep using Bluetooth controller like you would on console. Requires Xbox One adapter

-No mouse emulation with thumbsticks via Windows. Requires third party software like Armoury Crate


I'm not sure what this means....

"Another question I asked is some PC games anticipate this actually operating like a PC. So it should see that there's a mouse connected and a keyboard connected.
Unfortunately, it doesn't look like from a launch that Microsoft has any means of combating this in a desktop console-like experience. So if you don't have a keyboard or mouse plugged in and games like Near Automata or Maxpane 3 which require some type of keyboard or mouse input plugged in from that game's perspective, there is nothing that will satisfy that requirement and you will not be able to continue that game unless you install some third party app that is outside of what Microsoft is going to be providing. So unfortunately that doesn't look like that's a there's a solve for that at the current moment either."


-Uses same scheduler as regular Windows.

-Third party software like Riva Tuner will not work in desktop mode

-Cannot install games from other stores from within Xbox app. Have to leave the app, install games, come back to app

-VR works

-No plans on the full screen experience to come to PC
Oof. A couple of big misses in this list IMO. I was hyped thinking that you would be able to install games from other launchers in the background. It looks like you are still going to have to launch those launchers at least to install games. If they can squeeze performance out of the OS maybe this is going to be worth it. They have left a lot of room for improvement.
 
It doesn't have an OLED screen right?

I want to upgrade my Steam Deck OLED, but doesn't feel like Valve is gonna release an upgrade for some time yet. Love Steam OS but could probably adapt.

I would like an OLED screen above all else.

Lenovo is also releasing a new one right. With a big screen? The Steam Deck OLED was a welcome upgrade on the LCD, but I would like to go even bigger.

Yes, and from what I've read it will have the best of both worlds with a 8.8" OLED screen. The Xbox Ally X generally interests me but 7" feels too small (that's what she said!!) coming off the Legion Go. If the Go 2 can improve on its battery life, I'm more inclined towards that than the Xbox Ally just on account of the screen features.
 
It doesn't have an OLED screen right?

I want to upgrade my Steam Deck OLED, but doesn't feel like Valve is gonna release an upgrade for some time yet. Love Steam OS but could probably adapt.

I would like an OLED screen above all else.

Lenovo is also releasing a new one right. With a big screen? The Steam Deck OLED was a welcome upgrade on the LCD, but I would like to go even bigger.

does the new Lenovo handheld have VRR? it seems like theres some sort of issue sourcing 120hz VRR OLED screens.
every 120hz VRR screen on any handheld I know of is LCD, and all the ones with an OLED screen have no VRR.
 
I'm not sure what this means....

"Another question I asked is some PC games anticipate this actually operating like a PC. So it should see that there's a mouse connected and a keyboard connected.
Unfortunately, it doesn't look like from a launch that Microsoft has any means of combating this in a desktop console-like experience. So if you don't have a keyboard or mouse plugged in and games like Near Automata or Maxpane 3 which require some type of keyboard or mouse input plugged in from that game's perspective, there is nothing that will satisfy that requirement and you will not be able to continue that game unless you install some third party app that is outside of what Microsoft is going to be providing. So unfortunately that doesn't look like that's a there's a solve for that at the current moment."
Is this just an issue when the device is docked with a separate controller or is it also an issue when using as a handheld?

Surely they can make the touchscreen emulate a keyboard and mouse for these games in handheld mode…
 
Is this just an issue when the device is docked with a separate controller or is it also an issue when using as a handheld?

Surely they can make the touchscreen emulate a keyboard and mouse for these games in handheld mode…

yeah, I'm still confused by this. This seems like basic functionality for a PC handheld. That's how it works for current Rog Ally, right?
 
The standard Xbox Ally is a poor value proposition, and I maintain it's a foolish decision by MS to ship that device as compromised as it is.
MS aren't shipping anything, it's ASUS. There's two versions of Ally that you can buy right now. The new ones are their replacements.
 
Is this just an issue when the device is docked with a separate controller or is it also an issue when using as a handheld?

Surely they can make the touchscreen emulate a keyboard and mouse for these games in handheld mode…
MS would never offer such sloppy input methods.

Asus can do it, then blame it on OS.

From MS POV, they would rather player use actual mouse if they need that input.
 
Top Bottom