Asus ROG Ally

Done it early days of launch when I was swapping out the SSD.
Went fine.

Done it again there recent enough after my Steam folder decided to effectively delete itself - don't ask ! Just one of the far too many issues I've had with the Ally - and it was an absolute chore.
Servers looked to be down worldwide so it wanted to connect to the China servers. Took about 4hrs to download and go through setup which failed. Tried again and it wouldn't recognise the serial number, tried a couple days later and it got through after a few attempts. Took a couple hours and I've been installing stuff again over the last day or two.

Can only assume a server availability issue was in play over the weekend, but I'd certainly be cloning the drive than relying on ASUS' cloud. Sure we'll have to once warranty is up etc
 
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Leak: ROG Ally BIOS 323 & Other Updates Incoming (July 21, 2023)

Changelog:

MCU 310 on 7/21/23 through MyASUS

* New feature: added Hold to repeat (Turbo) support for ABXY, joystick click, LB, RB, M1, M2 and the D-Pad in the GameProfile.
* UX improvement: Assigned the LB key to navigate tabs in the BIOS.
* UX improvement: Default deadzone has been changed to 6% in Desktop mode when the joystick is used as a mouse pointer.
* Bug fix: Fixed a bug where in Gamepad mode and the device is on battery, the joystick RGB lighting won't resume after 1 minute idle.
* Bug fix: Fixed a bug where pressing M1 or M2 would cancel inputs from any other buttons if pressed together.

BIOS 323 on 7/21/23 through MyASUS

* UX improvement: Added 30W support when plugging in 65W or higher wattage adapters.
* UX improvement: Update PD charger pop-up notification message (Requires Throttle Monitor Merge Module plugin update available through Armoury Crate SE).
* UX improvement: Modified minimum backlight value from 25nits to 10nits.
* UX improvement: After updating the BIOS, the VRAM setting will keep its previous value.
* UX improvement: Eliminated the performance gap between AC and DC in Performance mode.
 
My Ally arrived Saturday, what a device.

Been perfect so far, the screen is gorgeous compared to my Deck and feels a lot lighter (Even though I know its barely any different) due to the size difference.

Been running MW2 which has been smooth, Ori looks fantastic on the screen, Time for the Deck to be sold for me.
 
Defy Belief said:
My Ally arrived Saturday, what a device.

Been perfect so far, the screen is gorgeous compared to my Deck and feels a lot lighter (Even though I know its barely any different) due to the size difference.

Been running MW2 which has been smooth, Ori looks fantastic on the screen, Time for the Deck to be sold for me.
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Just don't use the microSD card slot for now as there are confirmed issues.
 
kakarott said:
Just don't use the microSD card slot for now as there are confirmed issues.
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Yeah I've heard about those, tbf I've installed a load of games so far and still a lot of room. Only real big hog of storage is mw2.

I often play a game then uninstall when done so 512gb will be plenty, just been testing more than anything as its a new toy :p

If it ever gets to the point of being nearly full I'll just buy a bigger 2230 nvme I think.
 
Been doing some testing of the new bios in Generation Zero (really picked this game up again now I can play it mobile without needing Xcloud - SD just didn't have the grunt for it).

So far the Performance profile starts off well but once it drops to the 15w envelope (from 19w) the GPU also drops to 800Mhz which makes FPS go from ~55-60 to ~40. Turbo brings this right back up to ~60 locked outside of a few dips (GPU at ~2200Mhz). G:Z does seem to hit the CPU quite hard so I guess 15w is just on the cusp on not being enough to give the GPU anything whereas 19w is sufficient. I think a manual profile with custom fan curve will be able to maintain the performance of 60 with the power consumption of the performance profile @ ~19w :)

Setting VRAM allocation to auto also seems a much, at least for this game. Initially I had forgotten it reset to 4G and couldn't work out where 20 FPS had gone... Judging by the reddit this has apparently been "fixed" (as in it just moves dynamically above 4G when needed), but this has not been my experience, at least not in G:Z.
 
@oweneades

Can power profiles be shared? Assuming you make a 19W?

I've found some games don't like "Auto" for VRAM also, biomutant or whatecver it was on XBGP crashed when enabling FSR.

Does it defenitly increase past the allocated 4gb if need be (assuming you set to 4gb?) As 4gb seems like the safe initial level to me
 
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willhub said:
@oweneades

Can power profiles be shared? Assuming you make a 19W?

I've found some games don't like "Auto" for VRAM also, biomutant or whatecver it was on XBGP crashed when enabling FSR.

Does it defenitly increase past the allocated 4gb if need be (assuming you set to 4gb?) As 4gb seems like the safe initial level to me
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In theory it does increase past 4GB when it needs to (well according to reddit) but I have not been able to test properly yet with MSI Afterburner.

Auto is a bit off sometimes as the game will see your VRAM level as "512MB" by default. Could be crashing because it thinks this isn't enough. Could also be some random driver / Armory crate conflict somewhere.

Not sure if they can be shared (can't remember seeing a export option tbh but not on my Ally atm) but ultimately I will just be setting the power limits to be 19w for all options. Essentially locking the Ally at 19w under the Manual profile. You can tweak it to your hearts content up to the max limits enforced.

EDIT: Just thought that I can screenshot the profile so it can be copied (after I have tested it working). :)
 
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I have been playing with these 19W profile manually and from what I can see, excluding battery life and some heat (which is still within operational limits) there is no benefit. Whilst playing at 19W, the fan on manual power modes is extremely loud, sure it runs at around 60 degrees, but the performance is also about (in my case forza horizon 5) 4-6fps lower, when playing at "high fidelity" level, those 6fps matter, so just sticking it to 25W it's quieter and faster. win/win?
 
willhub said:
I have been playing with these 19W profile manually and from what I can see, excluding battery life and some heat (which is still within operational limits) there is no benefit. Whilst playing at 19W, the fan on manual power modes is extremely loud, sure it runs at around 60 degrees, but the performance is also about (in my case forza horizon 5) 4-6fps lower, when playing at "high fidelity" level, those 6fps matter, so just sticking it to 25W it's quieter and faster. win/win?
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It will very much depend on the game. I haven't tried Horizon but it may just need that extra clock speed that the 25w "Turbo" profile can offer up. :)

Testing around with a custom 19-20w profile in G:Z yields around Turbo like performance (maybe 1-3 FPS lower on average) but with ~7-10w less overall power draw.

However, and this aligns with what you mention above, there is clearly a bug when it comes to the custom fan profiles. If you try and set it manually it just shoots straight up to 80% and you can't pull it back down. I didn't experience this before so not sure what has changed (not sure if this is Armoury crate or controlled via the bios).

Turbo profile is quieter... :cry:
 
Someone spent sometime testing 5gb vs 8gb vram in Ally, some useful insights here, does seem there is still benefit to reserving on APUs so long as you're not starving the system.


youtu.be

ROG Ally | 4GB vs 8GB VRAM

Hey guys, comparing 16 games with 4GB vs 8GB VRAM. I personally use 8GB, however, I think Asus should give us more options, like 5GB, 6GB & 7GB. 0:00 - Res...
youtu.be youtu.be
 
Defy Belief said:
Took the plunge and bought an XG Mobile 3080 to pair with my Ally yesterday, anyone else here doing this?
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Thought about that but they seem extortionate? I could pay less for a 4080 and just put that in my desktop, when I'm at home I'm streaming my desktop with no real latency issues or degradation in IQ. I get you can take the 3080 around, but at this point it makes a 3080 powered laptop more convenient.
 
willhub said:
Thought about that but they seem extortionate? I could pay less for a 4080 and just put that in my desktop, when I'm at home I'm streaming my desktop with no real latency issues or degradation in IQ. I get you can take the 3080 around, but at this point it makes a 3080 powered laptop more convenient.
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I didn't pay much in the grand scheme of things compared to how much some are, or how much they were new (No way near a 4080 :p )

My main issue is desk space, I don't have a dedicated desktop, so use mouse and keyboard games on dining room table etc, so if I can just have small kit in there which is easy to setup it's a bonus for me :)

Will also likely connect it to my TV in living room to run some stuff in 4K with controller too
 
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