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My first days with ROG Ally X

pasterpl

Member
So I have finally purchased ROG Ally X being tired of my steam deck.

First impressions

+everything works (gamepass, Ubisoft connect, steam etc.)
+all my games works
+brand new games like black myth wukong can achieve 60 fps
+so far no issues with any games
+screen is great even if it is not oled
+decent battery life
+better CPU and more RAM is doing its job

- means that I will be selling my launch day steam deck 1TB
- bit heavier than steam deck
- screen not as vibrant as steam deck Oled

More to come as I keep using it.
 

Mr Hyde

Member
Very tempted to buy one but can't justify the cost since I bought an ROG Ally just last year. The upgrades on X are great, especially the battery life, but I'm not too miffed about it since I have a power bank when I travel (which extends battery life with ca 90 minutes) and I keep it plugged in when I'm at home. But I am getting an X when it comes down in price and I will install a 4tb SSD right from the get go. Feels like a premium device. But it's going to be a pain setting everything up again. Launchers. Emulators. Apps. Very time consuming.
 

Ammogeddon

Member
Get mine delivered tomorrow. It’s my first PC handheld.

Have you got a docking station for hooking it up to the TV and/or 100 w charger. I’d be interested to know your thoughts?
 

kubricks

Member
I am planning to buy one, and perhaps get rid of the windows and install SteamOS because of possible performance improvement; I use Steam as a purchase platform almost exclusively anyway.

A consistant 45fps+ Elden Ring experience will be great!
 

rodrigolfp

Haptic Gamepads 4 Life
Haters gonna say it suck, Windows suck, etc.

I am planning to buy one, and perhaps get rid of the windows and install SteamOS because of possible performance improvement; I use Steam as a purchase platform almost exclusively anyway.

A consistant 45fps+ Elden Ring experience will be great!

Is it possible already?
 
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kubricks

Member
Haters gonna say it suck, Windows suck, etc.
Is it possible already?

But my dude windows really slow things down lol. If I have a choice I'd get rid of our windows system at work hahaha.
And I believe SteamOS does instant pause / sleep much better? This function is important to me.

I think Valve provide official support for installing SteamOS now? Haven't done my research yet.

EDIT: This looks kinda promising

PvqNmXE.png
PvqNmXE.png
 
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Gamezone

Gold Member
But my dude windows really slow things down lol. If I have a choice I'd get rid of our windows system at work hahaha.
And I believe SteamOS does instant pause / sleep much better? This function is important to me.

I think Valve provide official support for installing SteamOS now? Haven't done my research yet.

EDIT: This looks kinda promising

PvqNmXE.png
PvqNmXE.png

There are no official SteamOS support on the Rog Ally from Valve.

SteamOS also don't support RSS, AFMF or Lossless Scaling like Windows does, which is crucial on these handhelds in my opinion.
 
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kikkis

Member
I have considered handheld, but I doubt I would be that mobile. For my bed end I have also considered TV, but frankly I don't play that many games these days. So I guess I will keep playing on monitor.
 

rodrigolfp

Haptic Gamepads 4 Life
But my dude windows really slow things down lol. If I have a choice I'd get rid of our windows system at work hahaha.
And I believe SteamOS does instant pause / sleep much better? This function is important to me.

I think Valve provide official support for installing SteamOS now? Haven't done my research yet.

EDIT: This looks kinda promising

PvqNmXE.png
PvqNmXE.png
This is not even Steam OS, it's Bazzite. And it's mixed numbers depending on the games and linux distro you use.

On my Deck I get better boot times on Windows and several of my non Steam games don't work. I bet it's the same on Ally.
 
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Calverz

Member
Congrats Man. I sold my steam deck beginning of this year and got an ally. Never looked back. Its so freeing to basically just play whatever you want. I spent a lot of time playing cod for example.
 

pasterpl

Member
Considering how bad the Xbox GamePass app is on PC, I absolutely believe this.
Yes, it was one of the reasons why I have purchase it. Windows doesn’t bother me.
Get mine delivered tomorrow. It’s my first PC handheld.

Have you got a docking station for hooking it up to the TV and/or 100 w charger. I’d be interested to know your thoughts?
No docking station yet, but I am using my laptop 100w charger. Just got it delivered from currys yesterday.
Do you find yourself missing the track pads? I use them a ton for m+kb games.
Not at all, not in the games I have played, left thumbs stick works as mouse in windows mode. Can imagine you can connect any Bluetooth mouse if needed.
 

pasterpl

Member
For wukong to get to close to 60 fps have to change some settings but the game still look awesome. Latest games can run and look great on handhelds. No compatibility issues.
 

Hohenheim

Member
I'm gonna wait for the next version (proably next year) with a new processor. I liked my OG ally a lot, but have such a huge baclog of older steam games, so the Steam Deck will be more then enough for a while.
Very cool that they go all in on these handhelds.
 
My launch Steamdeck just keeps on keeping on.
I've held the ROG ally at Bestbuy in my hands, the impulse to just buy it right then and there, then my wife smacks the back of my head, and I put it back.

Can't hold a brand new Steamdeck in a store, but it can be traded in.
 

//DEVIL//

Member
There are no official SteamOS support on the Rog Ally from Valve.

SteamOS also don't support RSS, AFMF or Lossless Scaling like Windows does, which is crucial on these handhelds in my opinion.

steam OS will come to Rog Ally from Valve.

with that being said. I run games like Yakuza Zero on my Rog ally with 100 frames thanks to the AFMF. I can also run Call of Duty on my ally. I am not sure I want to switch to Steam OS outside of the experiment when it's released.

will see.
 
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pasterpl

Member

steam OS will come to Rog Ally from Valve.

with that being said. I run games like Yakuza Zero on my Rog ally with 100 frames thanks to the AFMF. I can also run Call of Duty on my ally. I am not sure I want to switch to Steam OS outside of the experiment when it's released.

will see.
Exactly, what is the point, steam os is one of the reasons why I quit stem deck.
 

Comandr

Member
Are there anymore powerful ones due soon?
The next closest thing to any kind of release is something using AMD's new HX 370 with 890m iGPU.

The ROG Ally and many current handhelds use some variant of AMD's 7840u APU with its built in 780m iGPU.

The jump between the 780m and the 890m seem to be pretty minimal so far. Only about 20ish percent depending on the game. ETA Prime has a recent video comparing them. Furthermore, the HX 370 seems pretty power hungry, performing best at high TPD like 25+

The 890m is effectively the PS4/PS5 Pro of the generation, and I don't expect a major improvement until next year or perhaps the year after that.
Exactly, what is the point, steam os is one of the reasons why I quit stem deck.
I love my steam deck; but I installed windows on it and never looked back. You linux nerds can scream and cry all you want but setting everything up on windows is just objectively easier. Yes, there are a lot of nice features I enjoy about SteamOS, like TPD control, CPU and GPU clock speed controls, etc; but many of those can be done in windows as well. Steam Deck Tools says hello.

Try running a game with Lossless Scaling in SteamOS. You just can't. Want to play a game with mods? You can probably forget that. Want to install literally anything that doesn't come from Steam itself? Gets complicated fast.

The negligible gain you might get from using a lighter weight OS like SteamOS could easily get eaten up by a proton compatibility layer. For me, the absurd amount of control you get from switching to windows is worth far more than the meager offset of a few extra frames.

SteamOS can be a beautiful experience. It's a very tailored, console-like experience, and I think if you just want to play Steam only games, it can be a wonderful time. The moment you start to complicate the process at all it falls apart very quickly, and if you're not familiar with Linux, it can be an ugly mess.
 
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Topher

Gold Member

steam OS will come to Rog Ally from Valve.

with that being said. I run games like Yakuza Zero on my Rog ally with 100 frames thanks to the AFMF. I can also run Call of Duty on my ally. I am not sure I want to switch to Steam OS outside of the experiment when it's released.

will see.

I prefer Steam OS, but of all the Windows handhelds, I've liked Armoury Crate the best as far as the software goes. Really does a good job.
 

Dr.D00p

Member
Everytime I go to the edge of clicking on 'buy', then add all the extras like bigger SSD, 1.5Tb SD card, docking station it comes to something like $1200

...and I think to myself I'd just rather put that $1200 towards a proper 4080/4090 equipped gaming Laptop.

Especially since the new Arrow Lake, 5080/90 equipped laptops are only a few months away from being unveiled at CES 2025 in January.
 

DenchDeckard

Moderated wildly
I really want to upgrade to one of these from my classic Ally but I'm trying my best to hold out for the next revision.

If this goes on sale over black Friday....my wallet is in trouble.
 

cyberheater

PS4 PS4 PS4 PS4 PS4 PS4 PS4 PS4 PS4 PS4 PS4 PS4 PS4 PS4 PS4 PS4 PS4 Xbone PS4 PS4
I heard that Black Myth Wokong runs acceptably on Steam Deck. Around 30-45 fps.
Obviously the ROG is more powerful but given that games still run okay on Steam Deck I’m struggling to see the advantages relative to the ROG given how gorgeous that SD OLED screen is?

On the other hand I’m glad more manufacturers are coming out with these devices. Competition is always good.
 
So I have finally purchased ROG Ally X being tired of my steam deck.

First impressions

+everything works (gamepass, Ubisoft connect, steam etc.)
+all my games works
+brand new games like black myth wukong can achieve 60 fps
+so far no issues with any games
+screen is great even if it is not oled
+decent battery life
+better CPU and more RAM is doing its job

- means that I will be selling my launch day steam deck 1TB
- bit heavier than steam deck
- screen not as vibrant as steam deck Oled

More to come as I keep using it.
Rog Ally 2 is going to be pretty great I Imagine, shame MS is so slow at updating windows for handheld use unlike valve.
 
I wish they would have included an OLED upgrade. Without that, I can't justify upgrading my OG Ally. Much sad. Very cry.

It's the most requested upgrade for the ROG Ally 2. I'm sure they will have one of their insane OLED Nebula displays on next year's model. Nice thing about thier OLED tech is that it can still do VRR.
 
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Diseased Yak

Gold Member
I bought an Ally X recently as well, and absolutely love it. Upgraded it to 4 TB a couple days ago. I brought the thing to work and after showing it around two of my coworkers went to Best Buy that night and bought themselves one. It really is an amazing machine.

I also have a LCD Steam Deck and a Legion Go. The Steam Deck has been gathering dust for months now since I bought the Go. I do still use the Go though, as primarily a portable FFXIV machine and using it for TATE mode shmups. Still, can't beat the Ally X, it's so well designed.
 

rodrigolfp

Haptic Gamepads 4 Life
Can run PS3 games?


I heard that Black Myth Wokong runs acceptably on Steam Deck. Around 30-45 fps.
Obviously the ROG is more powerful but given that games still run okay on Steam Deck I’m struggling to see the advantages relative to the ROG given how gorgeous that SD OLED screen is?

On the other hand I’m glad more manufacturers are coming out with these devices. Competition is always good.

Higher resolutions, performances, graphics settings.
 
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Cyberpunkd

Member
I love the Steamdeck OLED but it's good to have competition. I cannot live without touchpads so it's going to be SD2 for me most likely. Next year I might grab the LCD one for kids. After playing games on the SD there is no way I can accept underpowered handheld ever again (looking at you Nintendo...).
 
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drotahorror

Member
I love the Steamdeck OLED but it's good to have competition. I cannot live without touchpads so it's going to be SD2 for me most likely. Next year I might grab the LCD one for kids. After playing games on the SD there is no way I can accept underpowered handheld ever again (looking at you Nintendo...).

SD2 is going to be godly
 

Komatsu

Member
So I have finally purchased ROG Ally X being tired of my steam deck.

First impressions

+everything works (gamepass, Ubisoft connect, steam etc.)
+all my games works
+brand new games like black myth wukong can achieve 60 fps
+so far no issues with any games
+screen is great even if it is not oled
+decent battery life
+better CPU and more RAM is doing its job

- means that I will be selling my launch day steam deck 1TB
- bit heavier than steam deck
- screen not as vibrant as steam deck Oled

More to come as I keep using it.

Wait until it destroys whatever microsd card you have in there because the geniuses at ASUS put it right next to a heat vent. I own and like my ASUS ROG but had to manually update the ssd as I could no longer use SD cards. Keep your Steam Deck as a backup, that would be my suggestion.
 

pasterpl

Member
Wait until it destroys whatever microsd card you have in there because the geniuses at ASUS put it right next to a heat vent. I own and like my ASUS ROG but had to manually update the ssd as I could no longer use SD cards. Keep your Steam Deck as a backup, that would be my suggestion.
Before the purchase I have read that melting SD cards problem is fixed in Ally X - but we shall see. ;) Already rocking 1 GB micro SD, but defo will upgrade it to 4TB.
 
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pasterpl

Member
I heard that Black Myth Wokong runs acceptably on Steam Deck. Around 30-45 fps.
Obviously the ROG is more powerful but given that games still run okay on Steam Deck I’m struggling to see the advantages relative to the ROG given how gorgeous that SD OLED screen is?

On the other hand I’m glad more manufacturers are coming out with these devices. Competition is always good.
With the right settings (mix of high/medium/low) I am getting around 60fps in black myth wukong and game stil looks great on my ROG ally x. So 2x steam deck performance.
 
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