Nick Fernandez / Android Authority
TL;DR
- The cheaper ASUS ROG Ally reportedly has inferior efficiency to the Steam Deck.
- A assessment famous that the ROG Ally Z1 lagged behind the Deck in a wide range of video games.
- It appears to be like like battery life isn’t a lot better than the ROG Ally Z1 Excessive mannequin, both.
ASUS launched the ROG Ally earlier this 12 months, coming as the primary Home windows handheld from a significant PC model. This mannequin shipped with an AMD Z1 Excessive chip, with the Taiwanese model saying a less expensive mannequin powered by a normal Z1 chip will launch later this 12 months.
Now, Digital Traits has reviewed this cheaper ROG Ally mannequin, and there’s unhealthy information for efficiency.
The outlet reported that the ROG Ally Z1 lags behind the Steam Deck, citing benchmarks for video games like Cyberpunk 2077, Horizon Zero Daybreak, Unusual Brigade, and Dying Mild 2. The take a look at was run at 15W utilizing 720p or 800p decision. Take a look at the publication’s graph beneath.
Whereas the ROG Ally Z1 chip incorporates a newer, extra highly effective CPU and a extra fashionable GPU, the Steam Deck’s semi-custom Aerith processor brings eight RDNA 2 graphics cores versus the Z1’s 4 RDNA 3 cores. So we’re guessing this GPU disparity is a minimum of partly in charge for the Steam Deck’s superior efficiency.
Both means, the graph reveals that whereas there isn’t a large efficiency disparity at 15W, it may be the distinction between a playable and unplayable expertise. That is notably notable in gentle of video games like Starfield and Baldur’s Gate 3 pushing the Steam Deck onerous. In saying so, the ASUS handheld can ship increased wattages (30W) for improved efficiency, however this clearly comes on the expense of battery life.
Sadly, Digital Traits stories that they didn’t see “any main variations in battery life” in comparison with the ROG Ally Z1 Excessive mannequin. Meaning roughly 4 hours of juice for light-weight indie video games, two hours of endurance for a triple-A title at 30fps, and simply an hour in Turbo Mode.
So that you may wish to get the ROG Ally Z1 Excessive mannequin or Steam Deck as an alternative. The highest-end ASUS system brings superior efficiency whereas the Steam Deck brings respectable battery life with out compromising efficiency.
