The Official ROG Ally Thread (SteamDeck too)

[-GD-X★ 7,761]

3 hours ago, TLHBO said:

Well at least you concede they all have the same downsides.

 

I wouldnt look too into the lack of attention. Steamdeck is niche, and the Ally even far more niche. Also Steamdeck came first and was from Valve, it was always going to get more attention than the Ally. I don't think anybody is ignoring the Ally on purpose  it's fine for what it is it's probably just not getting the clicks they want.

 

The fanboying over all these devices is ridiculous imo.

It’s the potential that’s exciting. 

[Twinblade★ 3,937]

I just tried Trepang2

 

It doesn't have FSR, but all of the settings defaulted to high and I was able to get a consistent 45-60FPS in the 15w mode. Even in intense firefights where there were particles and debris flying all over the place, it would rarely drop below that. The game isn't winning any graphics awards but I still found that impressive.

 

Im starting to think this could be the best option nowadays even for someone who wants a budget gaming desktop. Combine the Ally with the dock and a 1080p monitor and with the unit permanently in the 30w turbo mode you can probably play most modern PC games at medium/high settings between 30-60 FPS and with enough flexibility to tweak that depending on whether you want better visuals or performance.

 

Maybe someone else will do the research but given how expensive everything is nowadays that could be a better option than trying to build a budget tier gaming desktop for the same price. And of course because it has windows you can also plug in a keyboard and mouse and use it for everything you'd use a regular Windows desktop for (outside of gaming).

[Hot Sauce 2,734]

2 hours ago, Twinblade said:

Im starting to think this could be the best option nowadays even for someone who wants a budget gaming desktop. Combine the Ally with the dock and a 1080p monitor and with the unit permanently in the 30w turbo mode you can probably play most modern PC games at medium/high settings between 30-60 FPS and with enough flexibility to tweak that depending on whether you want better visuals or performance.

 

Maybe someone else will do the research but given how expensive everything is nowadays that could be a better option than trying to build a budget tier gaming desktop for the same price.

 

lmao a $700 PC would blow the fucking doors off this thing, dude. Best Buy and Amazon had the 13100F for $65 last week and a $230 6600XT/5700XT can be had at multiple stores right now, so you've got $400 for RAM+MOBO+SSD+PSU+Case

 

https://pcpartpicker.com/list/NXrLv3

 

Full price 13100F, 32GB of DDR4-3600, twice the storage of the Ally, 750W B-tier PSU, and well reviewed case

 

In 2-3 years when you want to upgrade, how much of the Ally can you take with you? Terrible choice for a budget PC build at $700.

[Twinblade★ 3,937]

4 minutes ago, Hot Sauce said:

 

lmao a $700 PC would blow the fucking doors off this thing, dude. Best Buy and Amazon had the 13100F for $65 last week and a $230 6600XT/5700XT can be had at multiple stores right now, so you've got $400 for RAM+MOBO+SSD+PSU+Case

 

https://pcpartpicker.com/list/NXrLv3

 

Full price 13100F, 32GB of DDR4-3600, twice the storage of the Ally, 750W B-tier PSU, and well reviewed case

 

In 2-3 years when you want to upgrade, how much of the Ally can you take with you? Terrible choice for a budget PC build at $700.

 

Yeah if you shop around and find stuff on sale sure. And you also have to be the kind who wants to actually put together a PC yourself, because finding a pre-built PC for that much is going to make that effort much harder.

 

Also, as a desktop PC the Ally is technically upgradeable as well, since you can just buy one of the external GPUs down the line if you feel like you want more power.

 

And throughout all this, you still have a portable gaming handheld that you can undock at any time. Anyone who gets a desktop PC but is interested in eventually trying a Deck or Ally is going to end up splurging on 2 different devices.

 

So yeah, I still think depending on someon's situation an Ally could be the preferable choice.

[Hot Sauce 2,734]

2 minutes ago, Twinblade said:

Yeah if you shop around and find stuff on sale sure.

 

It's not like I had to visit a dozen websites to build that PC or wait weeks for huge discounts. I built that in 5 minutes on a single website with links to buy each part.

 

21 minutes ago, Twinblade said:

And you also have to be the kind who wants to actually put together a PC yourself, because finding a pre-built PC for that much is going to make that effort much harder.

 

https://www.bestbuy.com/site/hp-victus-gaming-desktop-intel-core-i3-12100f-8gb-memory-nvidia-geforce-gtx-1650-512gb-ssd-mica-silver/6504334.p?skuId=6504334

 

8GB of RAM is not nearly enough, but it's the easiest part to replace so I don't think you have to be the type of person that wants to build a PC to swap out some RAM sticks.

 

Quote

Also, as a desktop PC the Ally is technically upgradeable as well, since you can just buy one of the external GPUs down the line if you feel like you want more power.

 

The proprietary laptop GPUs that start at $800 for sub-6700XT performance (a $330 desktop card) and go up to $2000 for sub-7900XT performance (a $700 desktop card)?

 

45 minutes ago, Twinblade said:

And throughout all this, you still have a portable gaming handheld that you can undock at any time. Anyone who gets a desktop PC but is interested in eventually trying a Deck or Ally is going to end up splurging on 2 different devices.

 

So yeah, I still think depending on someon's situation an Ally could be the preferable choice.

 

If somebody wants a gaming handheld, knows nothing about PCs, and has no desire to do that research, then the Ally is a fantastic choice.

 

I think the best part about fixed spec, single manufacturer devices like consoles and the Ally is that you can just Google its performance in the stuff you care about, decide if that's worth it, and get that advertised performance short of a manufacturing defect. You buy a pre-built and you never know if you're going to get a thermal throttling nightmare (a 12100/13100 probably isn't going to be hitting any temperature limits, but still). GamersNexus buys pre-builts all the time and it is astonishing the garbage that companies send out. Even with laptops the wattage of the GPU can have huge differences in performance for the "same" card and there's still the obvious throttling concerns there, too.

 

I don't disagree with you on there being a case where the Ally is a much better buy than a desktop PC at all, but I didn't really take your post as including the caveats you've expanded on.

[jehurey 3,273]

On 2023-06-20 at 8:10 PM, Twinblade said:

 

Im not sure if you still post on gaf but I noticed in the Ally thread everyone who has both devices pretty much agrees that the Ally shits on the Deck  

and mind you, Asus is......................ASUS, for godsakes.

They're not even the best tiered PC hardware maker in that industry.

 

They do deserve credit because they really seem to make some surprising cheap laptops that have decent specs.

 

But, there's gotta be companies, better companies that put more effort in higher quality design, like eVGA and Gigabyte looking at the ROG Ally and thinking that they can improve upon it even more.

 

At the end of the day, this is also cannibalizing people who are existing PC gamers, or would-be PC gamers. Because..........its not like there's anything in the future that's making people think "gee, I need to get a beefy gaming PC", and the PCVR space is clearly not progressing, so the need for a DESKTOP PC is dwindling.

 

So instead of upgrading your PC with a $700 video card and $300 CPU, why not just buy a $700-$900 handheld to play those "viral" Steam Early Access games that clearly do not push the GPU all that much.

[Twinblade★ 3,937]

8 hours ago, Hot Sauce said:

 

It's not like I had to visit a dozen websites to build that PC or wait weeks for huge discounts. I built that in 5 minutes on a single website with links to buy each part.

 

 

https://www.bestbuy.com/site/hp-victus-gaming-desktop-intel-core-i3-12100f-8gb-memory-nvidia-geforce-gtx-1650-512gb-ssd-mica-silver/6504334.p?skuId=6504334

 

8GB of RAM is not nearly enough, but it's the easiest part to replace so I don't think you have to be the type of person that wants to build a PC to swap out some RAM sticks.

 

 

The proprietary laptop GPUs that start at $800 for sub-6700XT performance (a $330 desktop card) and go up to $2000 for sub-7900XT performance (a $700 desktop card)?

 

 

If somebody wants a gaming handheld, knows nothing about PCs, and has no desire to do that research, then the Ally is a fantastic choice.

 

I think the best part about fixed spec, single manufacturer devices like consoles and the Ally is that you can just Google its performance in the stuff you care about, decide if that's worth it, and get that advertised performance short of a manufacturing defect. You buy a pre-built and you never know if you're going to get a thermal throttling nightmare (a 12100/13100 probably isn't going to be hitting any temperature limits, but still). GamersNexus buys pre-builts all the time and it is astonishing the garbage that companies send out. Even with laptops the wattage of the GPU can have huge differences in performance for the "same" card and there's still the obvious throttling concerns there, too.

 

I don't disagree with you on there being a case where the Ally is a much better buy than a desktop PC at all, but I didn't really take your post as including the caveats you've expanded on.

 

I guess Im just kind of bitter because of all the VRAM issues i've had with PC games nowadays. I spent $2000 on a PC that keeps on letting me down, meanwhile nowadays you can get a Ally + the add-on 12gb 6850XT for less than $1500 and it will likely run modern games better than my own PC.

[Hot Sauce 2,734]

3 hours ago, Twinblade said:

 

I guess Im just kind of bitter because of all the VRAM issues i've had with PC games nowadays. I spent $2000 on a PC that keeps on letting me down, meanwhile nowadays you can get a Ally + the add-on 12gb 6850XT for less than $1500 and it will likely run modern games better than my own PC.

 

You definitely got the short end of the stick, but getting an XG would just be doubling down on paying way too much for what you get.

[JonDnD 2,648]

I just cant see plunking down money for an underpowered throwaway device. These things wont stand the test of time like a gaming pc and dont compare to current gen consoles (minus switch)

 

And thats the thing, look at switch and how many 3rd party games it misses out on because its a weak pos.

 

These things are also a weak POS (especially SteamDeck) but you can still buy games that probably wont run on them. At least Nintendo provides you with not getting the game at all.

 

Realistically, probably by this time next year the SteamDeck will just be an indie and old game machine. If thats what you want fine but unlike nintendo devs arent going to give a fuck about these. They dont even care about PC games in general.

 

Maybe the Ally will hold up better than the steamdeck but its still going to be just a matter of time before games just wont work on it. Thats not something I would buy but then again i also dont see the point of playing compromised games on weak portable hardware when you have a PC or console in the same room.

 

And lets be real, these things arent portable with the battery life they give.

[Remij 4,690]

3 minutes ago, JonbX said:

I just cant see plunking down money for an underpowered throwaway device. These things wont stand the test of time like a gaming pc and dont compare to current gen consoles (minus switch)

 

And thats the thing, look at switch and how many 3rd party games it misses out on because its a weak pos.

 

These things are also a weak POS (especially SteamDeck) but you can still buy games that probably wont run on them. At least Nintendo provides you with not getting the game at all.

 

Realistically, probably by this time next year the SteamDeck will just be an indie and old game machine. If thats what you want fine but unlike nintendo devs arent going to give a fuck about these. They dont even care about PC games in general.

 

Maybe the Ally will hold up better than the steamdeck but its still going to be just a matter of time before games just wont work on it. Thats not something I would buy but then again i also dont see the point of playing compromised games on weak portable hardware when you have a PC or console in the same room.

 

And lets be real, these things arent portable with the battery life they give.

You're simply wrong.  These things will stand the test of time just as good as anything else...  There will always be new games released on PC which will work on these devices.. and by the time it can't play relevant games anymore, if you're into these devices, you'll have upgraded to the next one.

[JonDnD 2,648]

30 minutes ago, Remij said:

You're simply wrong.  These things will stand the test of time just as good as anything else...  There will always be new games released on PC which will work on these devices.. and by the time it can't play relevant games anymore, if you're into these devices, you'll have upgraded to the next one.

What is the test of time iyo? 2 years? Cause thats about all the SD will give you if you want to play current games. Covid and cross gen are the only reason they exist. Thats done now.

 

You are treating these like smartphones when people will upgrade every year or 2. Doubt thats the case. Sales show it. Nobody outside of steamnerds will buy these things anyway.

[Remij 4,690]

23 minutes ago, JonbX said:

What is the test of time iyo? 2 years? Cause thats about all the SD will give you if you want to play current games. Covid and cross gen are the only reason they exist. Thats done now.

 

You are treating these like smartphones when people will upgrade every year or 2. Doubt thats the case. Sales show it. Nobody outside of steamnerds will buy these things anyway.

Like 5+

 

You'll be able to play games for years and years on these things.  Obviously not the latest AAA games at full quality... but AA and indie, which comprise most of the best games out there IMO, will continue to release.. none of that is going away.

 

And dude, you'd be floored seeing an Ally or Deck in person when it's on the screen in front of you.

[TLHBO 2,162]

If it ends up with no games then its no worse than xbox But you love that pile of shit.

 

At least handheld pc's have decades of games to go back through.

[JonDnD 2,648]

7 minutes ago, Remij said:

Like 5+

 

You'll be able to play games for years and years on these things.  Obviously not the latest AAA games at full quality... but AA and indie, which comprise most of the best games out there IMO, will continue to release.. none of that is going away.

 

And dude, you'd be floored seeing an Ally or Deck in person when it's on the screen in front of you.

My point exactly. 

 

I can play new games on a console that is the same money or cheaper, and the AAs and indies on those consoles or PC.

 

Like where are you even playing steamdeck? Most likely on your couch or in bed. So why not just use the other, superior methods.

[JonDnD 2,648]

9 minutes ago, TLHBO said:

If it ends up with no games then its no worse than xbox But you love that pile of shit.

 

At least handheld pc's have decades of games to go back through.

Or i could just go play those decades old games on my PC if i wanted to. 

[TLHBO 2,162]

7 minutes ago, JonbX said:

Or i could just go play those decades old games on my PC if i wanted to. 

You've been able to play all those xflop games on PC for decades too but that never stopped you from shilling for that pile of shit.

[JonDnD 2,648]

10 minutes ago, TLHBO said:

You've been able to play all those xflop games on PC for decades too but that never stopped you from shilling for that pile of shit.

I think the Switch is the only major game platform i skipped in the last decade or so?

 

I have no clue why you are so obsessed w MS and why you just make up stories, decades later.

[Remij 4,690]

52 minutes ago, JonbX said:

My point exactly. 

 

I can play new games on a console that is the same money or cheaper, and the AAs and indies on those consoles or PC.

 

Like where are you even playing steamdeck? Most likely on your couch or in bed. So why not just use the other, superior methods.

Anywhere.  Couch, bed, on the TV, in the bathroom, out on a trip.  AA and indies are the perfect kinds of games for that... and these things are still powerful enough for AAA games at 720p 30/40/60.. which on the devices themselves looks excellent.  

 

Will be interesting to see how Ratchet and Clank runs on these devices.

Edited June 22, 2023 by Remij

[JonDnD 2,648]

At that point you may as well get a Switch which gets most of the good indie games and the nintendo games too. For a lot less money.

 

Switch 2 i will at least understand the appeal to people that want a handheld console. SD and these other ones i just dont see it.

 

Different strokes

[Remij 4,690]

4 minutes ago, JonbX said:

At that point you may as well get a Switch which gets most of the good indie games and the nintendo games too. For a lot less money.

 

Switch 2 i will at least understand the appeal to people that want a handheld console. SD and these other ones i just dont see it.

 

Different strokes

Well that's one way of looking at it.  On the other hand if you're a PC gamer with a big library already it makes even more sense.