More ASUS ROG Ally Details Revealed in Prototype Video

[GFreeman]

As it turned out that ASUS ROG Ally handheld console is not actually an April Fools' Day prank, more details have started to appear about this Steam Deck competitor, and these first details look pretty promising. According to the Dave2D video, showing the prototype unit in full details, the ASUS ROG Ally will indeed be based on a 4 nm custom AMD APU, featuring Zen 4 CPU and RDNA3 iGPU, so we are most likely looking at a custom AMD Phoenix APU.

The video had a few nice pictures of the pre-production PCB as well as the cooling setup as well as details on the screen, and some performance of the ASUS ROG Ally. The ROG Ally measures at 280 x 133 x 39 mm and weighing 608 grams. This makes it shorter, narrower, thinner, as well as lighter, compared to the Steam Deck. It also comes with 7-inch display, but this time around, it is a 500 nits, 1920x1080 resolution, 16:9 aspect ratio, display with a 120 Hz refresh rate and 5 ms response time, which makes it much better compared to the Steam Deck.

Update: LinusTechTips is the second one to get access to ASUS ROG Ally prototype and has provided a bit more details on specifications, performance, and other things about the upcoming handheld console.



ASUS was also keen to note that it poured its extensive cooling experience into the ROG Ally, so it will feature a dual-fan cooling solution which is significantly quieter than the Steam Deck, even on a prototype unit. It peaks at 20 dB of noise compared to 37 dB on the Steam Deck. The video also shows the dedicated PCIE Gen 3 x8 XG connector, meant to connect the ROG Ally to ASUS' recently launched XG Mobile GPU, an external RTX 4090 GPU which retails at $1999.99 in the US.



Unfortunately, ASUS is pretty tight-lipped about the precise specifications and further details of the ROG Ally handheld console, but the video shows some impressive performance for this Windows-based console. ASUS is also not giving out any specific launch date, but the Dave2D confirms that the console will have a global launch and have a "competitive" price.

According to LinusTechTips, the ASUS ROG Ally is now confirmed to indeed come with a some type of AMD Phoenix APU, based on Zen 4 CPU and RDNA3 GPU architecture. It is likely to come with 16 GB of memory.

Linus also gave a bit more information on the actual performance, saying it will offer 50 percent higher performance at 15 W and twice the performance at 35 W, compared to the Steam Deck. He also fiddled with the ASUS Command Center, showing options to change the resolution, refresh rate, and enable AMD Radeon Super Resolution, which is an in-driver upscaling feature that uses the same algorithm as the AMD FSR, and can be used in games where FSR is not supported.

Linus also said that the ASUS ROG Ally will be coming to the market in next few months, and while ASUS is still keeping the price under tight wraps, some rumors suggest it could come at around $680, which is close to the $649.99 price of the top Steam Deck 512 GB version.

View at TechPowerUp Main Site | Source

 

[oxrufiioxo]

I wonder what's the point of the 120hz screen..... 2d games maybe lol.

oh I forgot you can plug in a mobile 4090 into it lol because that's what's important in a handheld being tethered to the wall lol.

Ok this looks way more impressive than I was expecting....

 

[playerlorenzo]

Wouldn't battery life be a concern, especially with the 120hz display?

 

[oxrufiioxo]

Wouldn't battery life be a concern, especially with the 120hz display?

Smart phones have 120hz displays so why not. I think it's good that it's an option I'm sure there is some sort of eco mode that locks it to 60hz. Also with the ability to plug in much higher end gpu's it's a nice feature to have.

 

[Nephilim666]

What we really need is IGZO+LTPO AMOLED displays in these things with fully variable refresh matched to FPS. That will lower power consumption and maximise smoothness.

 

[darakian]

Wouldn't battery life be a concern, especially with the 120hz display?

that's what I'm thinking too. This thing looks like it uses a higher wattage chip, more power hunger screen and looks like it has a smaller battery than the steam deck.

 

[konga]

that's what I'm thinking too. This thing looks like it uses a higher wattage chip, more power hunger screen and looks like it has a smaller battery than the steam deck.

I don't know if it is a smaller battery. It seems to be separated into three parts and there might be more total battery volume here than on the steam deck. The steam deck also uses a pretty mediocre battery with not the best power density, so that's another area that Asus could improve on.

The LTT video suggests a 35W max TDP for the SoC, and the Ally will almost certainly have much worse battery life than the Deck at that power level. But at 15W, it could have better battery life actually.

 

[Karti]

I wonder what's the point of the 120hz screen..... 2d games maybe lol.

oh I forgot you can plug in a mobile 4090 into it lol because that's what's important in a handheld being tethered to the wall lol.

Ok this looks way more impressive than I was expecting....

Yes, it does look impressive

but the first point is more fitting - ASUS is advertising it as a powerhouse to which you can plug in their own mobile gpu package (I am sick they did not use Thunderbolt interface to simply alowe for ANY eGPU, and i am not going to believe any crap that ASUS will try to say trying to run from it)

It is an good looking handheld, that will be overpriced like crazy and advertised bad


I really gonna just wait for Steam Deck 2 :/

 

[watzupken]

I don't know if it is a smaller battery. It seems to be separated into three parts and there might be more total battery volume here than on the steam deck. The steam deck also uses a pretty mediocre battery with not the best power density, so that's another area that Asus could improve on.

The LTT video suggests a 35W max TDP for the SoC, and the Ally will almost certainly have much worse battery life than the Deck at that power level. But at 15W, it could have better battery life actually.

If you refer to the review of the AyaNeo 2 by Eurogamer, Steam deck is very hard to beat given a 15W power limit. The hardware is certainly more impressive on the Aya, but it is too power starved to deliver. Moreover, it is bogged down heavily by the fat and bloated Windows. With Asus, the same problem will persist if not worst because you will need to have more Asus bloatware installed, i.e. Armory Crate, which will drain more processing power. You can increase the power limit, but that means you are pretty much stuck to the power point, which kind of defeats the purpose of a handheld console.

AyaNeo 2/ AyaNeo Geek review: handheld performance reaches the next level | Eurogamer.net

 

[R0H1T]

Anyone plugging this into a 4090 has way too much time/money on their hands, what an effin ripoff!

 

[konga]

If you refer to the review of the AyaNeo 2 by Eurogamer, Steam deck is very hard to beat given a 15W power limit. The hardware is certainly more impressive on the Aya, but it is too power starved to deliver. Moreover, it is bogged down heavily by the fat and bloated Windows. With Asus, the same problem will persist if not worst because you will need to have more Asus bloatware installed, i.e. Armory Crate, which will drain more processing power. You can increase the power limit, but that means you are pretty much stuck to the power point, which kind of defeats the purpose of a handheld console.

AyaNeo 2/ AyaNeo Geek review: handheld performance reaches the next level | Eurogamer.net

This review does not compare these devices' battery to the Steam Deck's when they're running at 15W TDP. Obviously with just a 25% bigger battery but 67% higher TDP, the AN2 will drain faster when running flat-out. But when constrained to the same level of power consumption, I'd reckon that there's a decent chance the Ally will have better battery life.

Restricting the TDP to a specific level accounts for all of the variables you bring up. A 15W power limit means the chip will consume 15W no matter what background services are running. Windows, Armory Crate, a million google chrome tabs, it doesn't matter as long as the limit is adhered to. What will change instead is performance, but Asus claims that when the Ally is running at 15W, it's 50% faster than the Steam Deck. Obviously that remains to be proven, but if that pans out, then it would show that the chip won't be overly burdened by these background services.

 

[Raendor]

I wonder what's the point of the 120hz screen..... 2d games maybe lol.

oh I forgot you can plug in a mobile 4090 into it lol because that's what's important in a handheld being tethered to the wall lol.

Ok this looks way more impressive than I was expecting....

The point is 40 fps at 120Hz instead of 40 fps at 40Hz. Steam deck shines at 40fps, but PWM-flickering can be noticeable when refresh rate is lowered to 40Hz for 1:1 ratio.

 

[Godrilla]

Anyone plugging this into a 4090 has way too much time/money on their hands, what an effin ripoff!

I believe this is a mobile 4090 so double rip off. Also the Sony Expria was capable of 4k 120hz oled for years now fyi and this is full HD at 120hz non oled display. Also isn't there a 4080 in the cloud at a rate of $20 a month that is capable of 240 hz gaming and what happened to the middle ground for 1080p 120hz gaming like rtx 3060 and Radeon 6650. Ah yes this uses a priority good for nothing technology.

 

[TheinsanegamerN]

Yes, it does look impressive

but the first point is more fitting - ASUS is advertising it as a powerhouse to which you can plug in their own mobile gpu package (I am sick they did not use Thunderbolt interface to simply alowe for ANY eGPU, and i am not going to believe any crap that ASUS will try to say trying to run from it)

It is an good looking handheld, that will be overpriced like crazy and advertised bad


I really gonna just wait for Steam Deck 2 :/

Feel free to ignore issues with 40Gbps thunderbolt. Doesnt make you any less wrong of course.

 

[JimmyDoogs]

Feel free to ignore issues with 40Gbps thunderbolt. Doesnt make you any less wrong of course.

This is using PCIe 3x8. Wish there was GPU enclosures that did PCIe 4, even if it is just x4. I would like the option of using MUCH cheaper GPUs. 2000 for a 4090? That seems a bit over kill too. I would HAPPILY use a 3070 instead and save some money.

 

[TheinsanegamerN]

This is using PCIe 3x8.

Yes, I know. Thunderbolt 4 is 3.0x4. That is why asus is using this connector, bandwidth limitations of thunderbolt.

Wish there was GPU enclosures that did PCIe 4, even if it is just x4.

There is no tunderbolt connector that fast yet. TB5 is 4.0x4/3.0x8, but when it comes out is a mystery.

I would like the option of using MUCH cheaper GPUs. 2000 for a 4090? That seems a bit over kill too. I would HAPPILY use a 3070 instead and save some money.

Then get one of their other docks? There are several XG mobile docks, one with a 6850m xt that is less then half the price.

 

[Imouto]

I don't know if it is a smaller battery. It seems to be separated into three parts and there might be more total battery volume here than on the steam deck. The steam deck also uses a pretty mediocre battery with not the best power density, so that's another area that Asus could improve on.

The LTT video suggests a 35W max TDP for the SoC, and the Ally will almost certainly have much worse battery life than the Deck at that power level. But at 15W, it could have better battery life actually.

It can't have a better battery life with a lower weight.

 

[Mindweaver]

The point is 40 fps at 120Hz instead of 40 fps at 40Hz. Steam deck shines at 40fps, but PWM-flickering can be noticeable when refresh rate is lowered to 40Hz for 1:1 ratio.

Yeah, 40 works great. I can even drop it to 20 fps to save battery and make the fan silent playing Elden Ring. I'm sure games will vary at 20 fps.

It also comes with 7-inch display, but this time around, it is a 500 nits, 1920x1080 resolution, 16:9 aspect ratio, display with a 120 Hz refresh rate and 5 ms response time

This will never game at 120hz with out some kind of future frame generation, but even then what kind of battery life can we expect? if this is 680 then it will not be a Steam Deck competitor. Everyone will just buy the 399 steam deck. It's insanely easy to upgrade the M.2 drive. Now if this guy I'm linking below is right and Sony is jumping back into portable gaming then that's a whole new ball game. I just don't trust Asus software which is the biggest selling point of the Steam Deck for me. Imagine if Sony can create a new PSP that will power it's new PSVR 2 HMD?

https://twitter.com/i/web/status/1642767667542016003

 

[IceShroom]

A ASUS product with out built-in Nvidia GPU?? Couldn't fit a MX550?? Low quality engineering.

 

[TechLurker]

Yeah, 40 works great. I can even drop it to 20 fps to save battery and make the fan silent playing Elden Ring. I'm sure games will vary at 20 fps.


This will never game at 120hz with out some kind of future frame generation, but even then what kind of battery life can we expect? if this is 680 then it will not be a Steam Deck competitor. Everyone will just buy the 399 steam deck. It's insanely easy to upgrade the M.2 drive. Now if this guy I'm linking below is right and Sony is jumping back into portable gaming then that's a whole new ball game. I just don't trust Asus software which is the biggest selling point of the Steam Deck for me. Imagine if Sony can create a new PSP that will power it's new PSVR 2 HMD?

https://twitter.com/i/web/status/1642767667542016003

If the "PSP3" is an actual product, I just hope they include the ability to have Linux as an accessible OS, much like the PS3 did for the early part of its life. It would give it a lot more value aside from gaming, and even potentially allow for triple-OS by adding Steam OS to play the games that aren't available on the PS platform natively. I know Sony now has their higher-end subscription allowing older emulated PS games, but that catalog alone isn't enough.

 

[Upgrayedd]

Man idk. I think if I just really really wanted to mobile game I'd just get a laptop and carry a controller or just find something entertaining on my phone. The slight size difference for the big performance difference isn't really worth it in my eyes.

 

[Gooigi's Ex]

Ok Asus, you my attention. I was gonna wait out a bit to see what GPD has in store and you brought this out on a terrible day. I feel a bit more comfortable(even more comfortable than Valve to be honest) that a reputable manufacturer is getting into the handheld PC market, especially that has experience in hardware. If it’s priced at $679.99 as rumored, I’ll bet getting this day one. It has a lot of things that the Steam Deck doesn’t have

 

[kapone32]

Man idk. I think if I just really really wanted to mobile game I'd just get a laptop and carry a controller or just find something entertaining on my phone. The slight size difference for the big performance difference isn't really worth it in my eyes.

Steam Deck all the way for me. A proper Gaming laptop is too heavy.

 

[JimmyDoogs]

Yes, I know. Thunderbolt 4 is 3.0x4. That is why asus is using this connector, bandwidth limitations of thunderbolt.

There is no tunderbolt connector that fast yet. TB5 is 4.0x4/3.0x8, but when it comes out is a mystery.

Then get one of their other docks? There are several XG mobile docks, one with a 6850m xt that is less then half the price.

Ohhhh didn't know that. I mistook TB3 for PCIe 3.0 and TB4 for PCI 4.0. Thanks for clarifying that.

 

[enb141]

Ok Asus, you my attention. I was gonna wait out a bit to see what GPD has in store and you brought this out on a terrible day. I feel a bit more comfortable(even more comfortable than Valve to be honest) that a reputable manufacturer is getting into the handheld PC market, especially that has experience in hardware. If it’s priced at $679.99 as rumored, I’ll bet getting this day one. It has a lot of things that the Steam Deck doesn’t have

At that price ($680) then all AYANEO are so overpriced.