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[Gamezone]

What about getting a used Steam Deck? Or have someone in Sweden order one and send it to you? I know the Ally is absolutely ludicrously priced in Sweden. It's almost 900€. But maybe that's a decent price for someone in Norway.

I could. But repair would still be difficult, right? I don't understand why it's avaliable in Sweden, but not in Norway.

 

[DenchDeckard]

Well. My sabrent drive turned up....and its a set of wall screws and a wall bracket...thanks amazon lol

Not bad for 110 pounds

 

[ToTTenTranz]

a larger capacity battery would be better to offset reduced playtime as a result of that power.

From the tech-critter article it looks like changing the two batteries should be a quite easy task, probably easier than changing the M.2 on the Steam Deck.
We might eventually have someone selling thicker batteries, together with a replacement backplate to house those.

 

[Klosshufvud]

I could. But repair would still be difficult, right? I don't understand why it's avaliable in Sweden, but not in Norway.

Yeah repairs would be difficult, since RMAs are account tied. It's weird oversight by Valve to forget about Norway. Maybe ROG Ally is the best option for you after all, if you don't mind the heftier pricing.

 

[DenchDeckard]

From the tech-critter article it looks like changing the two batteries should be a quite easy task, probably easier than changing the M.2 on the Steam Deck.
We might eventually have someone selling thicker batteries, together with a replacement backplate to house those.

I read a review where it said Asus are looking into providing uprated power supply's for those that want it...that would be awesome.

Can they get higher capacity battery's at the the same size though? I don't really understand the tech.

 

[kuncol02]

I could. But repair would still be difficult, right? I don't understand why it's avaliable in Sweden, but not in Norway.

It's very easy. One of these countries is in EU and other is not.

 

[Gamezone]

Can anyone be done with the software in order to get better battery life out of this? Linux is apparently a very big deal when it comes to great battery life on the Steam Deck. An hour of AAA gaming on the ROG Ally makes it almost useless on the go, which should be the main purpose of buying it.

 

[Ozriel]

Can anyone be done with the software in order to get better battery life out of this? Linux is apparently a very big deal when it comes to great battery life on the Steam Deck. An hour of AAA gaming on the ROG Ally makes it almost useless on the go, which should be the main purpose of buying it.

For the umpteenth time, people get the same battery life with Windows on SteamDeck as they get in SteamOS

It’s not a scientific comparison to compare two devices, one with a brighter, higher resolution display and a more power hungry chipset and declare that the difference in battery life is due to the OS.

Asus should have gone with a bigger battery.

 

[Ozriel]

I read a review where it said Asus are looking into providing uprated power supply's for those that want it...that would be awesome.

Can they get higher capacity battery's at the the same size though? I don't really understand the tech.

I wouldn’t be surprised. You can buy aftermarket, higher capacity batteries for the Wii U gamepad on AliExpress for example. I’ve done that before. Same housing.

 

[ToTTenTranz]

I wonder if we'll be able to overclock the LPDDR5. There shouldn't be any problems on the SoC side, considering it officially supports speeds up to 7500MT/s.
On the Deck they were able to overclock the LPDDR5 to 6400MT/s very easily and it only consumed 0.5W more. In this case they're probably using 6400MT/s memory, so an overclock would be out of spec.

I read a review where it said Asus are looking into providing uprated power supply's for those that want it...that would be awesome.

Where did you read that? They're already bundling a 65W supply. Their power supply upgrade is the one with the HDMI out, but are the giving it away for free?

Can they get higher capacity battery's at the the same size though? I don't really understand the tech.

The batteries are Li-Ion and there isn't really any tech out there with substantially better energy density. What we could get are thicker batteries though that would probably result in them not fitting the back plate. On the other hand, the back plate is easily removable to replacing it with a 3rd party plate that houses the bigger batteries.

I'd much rather have a slightly thicker and heavy handheld with e.g. a 75W.h than the weird fixation they showed about not going over 600g.

 

[Gamezone]

For the umpteenth time, people get the same battery life with Windows on SteamDeck as they get in SteamOS

It’s not a scientific comparison to compare two devices, one with a brighter, higher resolution display and a more power hungry chipset and declare that the difference in battery life is due to the OS.

Asus should have gone with a bigger battery.

You can still lock games to 720p and 60 FPS, and the Steam Deck will still use less power, and therefor last longer when playing low demanding indie titles.

 

[FingerBang]

Interesting video by The Phawx



It seems like updates can make a good difference and we can expect more moving forward, but there's a chance the 7840U chips are overall the best chips from the factory

 

[Gamezone]

What would be a decent powerbank for this? Something that can charge at 65w?

 

[FingerBang]

What would be a decent powerbank for this? Something that can charge at 65w?

Anker has some pretty sturdy ones, though they're not on the cheap side or very portable. That said, can work great on a long plane flight or on the train.

 

[ToTTenTranz]

What would be a decent powerbank for this? Something that can charge at 65w?

I use the 65W Baseus 20 000mA.h powerbank with the Deck and my laptop, works like a charm.
It's 74 W.h so you'll get around 1.5 whole charges of this.

 

[DenchDeckard]

I wonder if we'll be able to overclock the LPDDR5. There shouldn't be any problems on the SoC side, considering it officially supports speeds up to 7500MT/s.
On the Deck they were able to overclock the LPDDR5 to 6400MT/s very easily and it only consumed 0.5W more. In this case they're probably using 6400MT/s memory, so an overclock would be out of spec.



Where did you read that? They're already bundling a 65W supply. Their power supply upgrade is the one with the HDMI out, but are the giving it away for free?




The batteries are Li-Ion and there isn't really any tech out there with substantially better energy density. What we could get are thicker batteries though that would probably result in them not fitting the back plate. On the other hand, the back plate is easily removable to replacing it with a 3rd party plate that houses the bigger batteries.

I'd much rather have a slightly thicker and heavy handheld with e.g. a 75W.h than the weird fixation they showed about not going over 600g.

There was a review I read that mentioned Asus had commented to them that they are looking into after market battery upgrades. Hat would be cool. Not heard anything about free PSUs.

Interesting video by The Phawx



It seems like updates can make a good difference and we can expect more moving forward, but there's a chance the 7840U chips are overall the best chips from the factory

This is fascinating. Is the Z1 extreme a 7840U the same cpu....I'm confused. So there's potentially a lot of performance left on the table for the Ally....fingers crossed.

 

[FingerBang]

Just noticed ASUS did a live stream answering questions about the ROG a few hours ago. This is the link:



These were the most interesting updates:

The sticky button issue has been fixed
They are still optimizing performance and expect gains at lower wattages
You can stream and capture with it easily using an external USB type C hub with an HDMI out or even via WIFI
There will be third-party accessories
You can install any OS you want on the device, including Steam OS, though they won't be able to support it and it will be up to Valve. Dual booting should work, but they don't know how it works (these guys aren't tech people)
If you reinstall Windows, you'll get all the drivers and software (Armory Crate for the ROG Ally) from ASUS
They plan to give it robust support and plan to support it for years to come
Bios uses secure boot, can be turned off. Has plenty of features.
Can upgrade the SSD easily! Very accessible, very easy to reach! There will be a teardown video soon.
Gyro support at the moment is not built into the software, needs to be supported by the game by they're working on it to make it global
Possible to disable multi-threading and cores (not at the moment, they're working on it)
Will support VR
Support up to 4 controllers
Has game profiles, and you can customize performance individually
Armory Crate can be disabled at boot if you wish
The screen can't be set at 40hz but can be run at 40hz with frame limiting (and it has VRR)

They are taking the feedback from the reviews very seriously and improvements are coming.

 

[DenchDeckard]

Well amazon messed up my sabrent order so I just binned them off and grabbed a 2tb wd drive. So I'm ready for launch day.

Hopefully my steam deck glass screen protector will fit this as they are both 7 inch screens

 

[ToTTenTranz]

This is fascinating. Is the Z1 extreme a 7840U the same cpu....

The 7840U and the Z1 Extreme are the same AMD Phoenix chip. The only differences should be the Z1 having the AI engine disabled and getting a different voltage/clocks setting (which is apparently not working at all, for the moment).


However, be aware that the 7840U that he's using belongs to his Win Max 2 which is using faster memory, so that was always going to run faster in games.

 

[FingerBang]

Linux gaming on ROG Ally.



Not Steam OS, ChimeraOS (also based on Arch)
Not possible to set TDP but from the bios
Framerate control, system wide FSR and so on work.
Tried several games and they work fine, though the lack of power control means they don't always perform as well as on Windows.
Freesync works.

Really promising.

 

[Gamezone]

Linux gaming on ROG Ally.



Not Steam OS, ChimeraOS (also based on Arch)
Not possible to set TDP but from the bios
Framerate control, system wide FSR and so on work.
Tried several games and they work fine, though the lack of power control means they don't always perform as well as on Windows.
Freesync works.

Really promising.

Are there any benefits to Linux and Steam OS? One of Steam Deck's biggest drawbacks is that you can't run everything, which the Ally will be able to.

 

[Minsc]

Are there any benefits to Linux and Steam OS? One of Steam Deck's biggest drawbacks is that you can't run everything, which the Ally will be able to.

Being able to put the running game to sleep reliably (people live and die by this on a handheld) and pre-compiled shaders so no stutter in games, which is like the single biggest issue in Windows.

You'd think with how game suspending works so great on XSX we'd have it on Windows in some form, but nope.

 

[M1chl]

Being able to put the running game to sleep reliably (people live and die by this on a handheld) and pre-compiled shaders so no stutter in games, which is like the single biggest issue in Windows.

You'd think with how game suspending works so great on XSX we'd have it on Windows in some form, but nope.

Well because conteinerizing games with all of that MS balast, isn't the best idea, to be quite honest.

 

[FingerBang]

Are there any benefits to Linux and Steam OS? One of Steam Deck's biggest drawbacks is that you can't run everything, which the Ally will be able to.

The advantage is basically having a proper console experience on a PC. The cons are what was mentioned above. At the moment there really isn't a middle ground.

I don't have a strong preference between Windows and Linux, but the way non steam games are handled on Steam OS are a pain in the ass. We need either a customized version of Steam OS with support for all the other stores and a workaround for games with anti-piracy) or we need a proper handheld/gaming version of Windows that is usable with a controller and will reduce some overhead.

 

[winjer]

 

[DaGwaphics]

Well. My sabrent drive turned up....and its a set of wall screws and a wall bracket...thanks amazon lol

Not bad for 110 pounds

Once I tried to buy a set of the Netgear powerline adapters (for a room that seemed to be a black hole for Wi-Fi) and got a transparent vinyl shower curtain. May your refund be processed quickly.

 

[Dream-Knife]

Does this actually have 8tf like the title says? So this thing is half as powerful as a 6800 non-xt?

 

[Trogdor1123]

Does this actually have 8tf like the title says? So this thing is half as powerful as a 6800 non-xt?

I asked this too earlier. Apparently it has something to do with the way it is calculated and the ram speed is big deal on them too.

Coles notes are that it’s not that powerful, apparently closer to a series s, which is still very impressive

 

[Klosshufvud]

Does this actually have 8tf like the title says? So this thing is half as powerful as a 6800 non-xt?

Those numbers are fake. Both AMD and Nvidia sneakily changed how TFs are calculated by applying a 2x model. So with no power restraints, Rog Ally is a 4TF chip. But in the 15W range, you should expect about half of that. It's about 20-40% faster than a Steam Deck at 15W. The latter has a 1.6TF GPU.

 

[Dream-Knife]

Those numbers are fake. Both AMD and Nvidia sneakily changed how TFs are calculated by applying a 2x model. So with no power restraints, Rog Ally is a 4TF chip. But in the 15W range, you should expect about half of that. It's about 20-40% faster than a Steam Deck at 15W. The latter has a 1.6TF GPU.

How is it fake?

I know with Ampere shaders can do int or fp calcs.

 

[Klosshufvud]

How is it fake?

I know with Ampere shaders can do int or fp calcs.

It's not technically fake. Only extremely misleading. They switched reporting TF in FP32 to FP16. Teraflops is already a pretty clumsy and difficult way to compare GPUs. But 1TF FP16 generally does translate to 2TF FP32. Rog Ally is not an 8TF chip, which would put it just 10% lower than the PS5 GPU. That's just insanity to think such numbers would be accurate.

 

[winjer]

It's not technically fake. Only extremely misleading. They switched reporting TF in FP32 to FP16. Teraflops is already a pretty clumsy and difficult way to compare GPUs. But 1TF FP16 generally does translate to 2TF FP32. Rog Ally is not an 8TF chip, which would put it just 10% lower than the PS5 GPU. That's just insanity to think such numbers would be accurate.

They are still reporting FP32.

 

[Zathalus]

It's RDNA3 dual issue which is kind of useless for games. The boost is also unrealistic it usually hovers around 2150Mhz or so (30w), which translates to 6.6 TFLOPs. But since that is calculated via dual issue it would actually perform like a 3.3 TFLOPs RDNA2 (perhaps a touch better). It's also hamstrung by rather mediocre GPU bandwidth.

So yeah, better then PS4, worse then PS4 Pro in pure GPU terms. More memory, SSD, and vastly better CPU though.

 

[Reallink]

In practice its performance falls somewhere between a 1050ti and 1060, perhaps closest to a 1650 (which is generally around 30% slower than a 1060). In other words its still weaker than a budget desktop from 2016.

 

[winjer]

It's RDNA3 dual issue which is kind of useless for games. The boost is also unrealistic it usually hovers around 2150Mhz or so (30w), which translates to 6.6 TFLOPs. But since that is calculated via dual issue it would actually perform like a 3.3 TFLOPs RDNA2 (perhaps a touch better). It's also hamstrung by rather mediocre GPU bandwidth.

So yeah, better then PS4, worse then PS4 Pro in pure GPU terms. More memory, SSD, and vastly better CPU though.

Ada Lovelace also uses dual issue. But compilers still don't use this tech. Especially for games.
So there is a lot of untapped potential in Ada Lovelace and RDNA3.
Maybe if consoles get a "Pro" version with dual issue, this will start to change a bit faster.

 

[Zathalus]

Ada Lovelace also uses dual issue. But compilers still don't use this tech. Especially for games.
So there is a lot of untapped potential in Ada Lovelace and RDNA3.
Maybe if consoles get a "Pro" version with dual issue, this will start to change a bit faster.

Ampere and Ada Lovelace dual issue actually works though. Ampere with similar specs to Turing is faster by almost 40%. Just compare the 2080ti to the 3080. It's 4352 vs 4352 (8704 dual). Sure, a bit more bandwidth, but even then it is quite a bit faster. RDNA3 vs RDNA2 perform very similar to each other. Nvidia has worked since day one, no changes needed to games to take advantage of it.

 

[winjer]

Ampere and Ada Lovelace dual issue actually works though. Ampere with similar specs to Turing is faster by almost 40%. Just compare the 2080ti to the 3080. It's 4352 vs 4352 (8704 dual). Sure, a bit more bandwidth, but even then it is quite a bit faster. RDNA3 vs RDNA2 perform very similar to each other. Nvidia has worked since day one, no changes needed to games to take advantage of it.

Ampere replaced the Int units for more FP. Ada Lovelace added dual issue units.
But consider that the 3090 has 36TFLOPs, while the 4090 has 90 TFLOPs.
But the 4090 is only 65% faster than the 3090.