BraveDemon
Well-Known Member
Iām an ASUS Rog fan (have had numerous top end laptops/tablets, ROG phones before I went over to Apple for good) currently use a ROG Zflow 13 I got last fall as my main PCā¦ But either:
(a) buy and only keep ASUS Rog products during their warranty period; or
(b) continue to extend the warranty on their products.
Just about every ROG product Iāve owned, I have had to RMA at least once. The ZFlow 13 went in already once for a mobo replacement). They make cool products but they are prone to break in my experience.
To ASUS credit though, their RMA process is pretty quick and painless. Think it was 4 b-days turn around to get back the Zflow 13 when I sent it in a few weeks ago.
(a) buy and only keep ASUS Rog products during their warranty period; or
(b) continue to extend the warranty on their products.
Just about every ROG product Iāve owned, I have had to RMA at least once. The ZFlow 13 went in already once for a mobo replacement). They make cool products but they are prone to break in my experience.
To ASUS credit though, their RMA process is pretty quick and painless. Think it was 4 b-days turn around to get back the Zflow 13 when I sent it in a few weeks ago.
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SuupYota
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- Thread starter
- #3
Awesome, good to know. I pulled the trigger, gonna get it tonight. Ordered through best buy and got the 2 yr accidental replacement plan. If I "drop" it once every year for 2 yrs, I get a new one lol. Super stoked, haven't been able to play my pc games or much of my new console games since we had kids. Being able to puck up and play here and there, is much more doable for me.
BraveDemon
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JTN
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I've got a Steam Deck and while I like the form factor I don't find myself using it for it's designed purpose that often (of playing Steam games). Most of the time I use it I'm playing emulated games. I imagine the ROG Ally will have simialr capabilities.
I also have a lot of Asus PC hardware items and I've actually been shifting away from Asus lately for pretty much the same reasons BraveDemon mentions. Their stuff works great when new, but starts to get weird as it ages. I'm trying to get to the bottom of a video dropout issue on an Asus ROG 2080ti video card right now and all signs point to the ports. Card is out of warranty so its kind of become a deathwatch more or less. That said, this is a fairly recent phenomenon as I have old Asus stuff that still works very well to this day. My mom is using my old Asus motherboard and GPU as a hand-me-down and that thing is still kicking.
I also have a lot of Asus PC hardware items and I've actually been shifting away from Asus lately for pretty much the same reasons BraveDemon mentions. Their stuff works great when new, but starts to get weird as it ages. I'm trying to get to the bottom of a video dropout issue on an Asus ROG 2080ti video card right now and all signs point to the ports. Card is out of warranty so its kind of become a deathwatch more or less. That said, this is a fairly recent phenomenon as I have old Asus stuff that still works very well to this day. My mom is using my old Asus motherboard and GPU as a hand-me-down and that thing is still kicking.
Thraxbert
Well-Known Member
Video dropout on GeForce is probably a shoddy DisplayPort cable, especially if it's variable refresh rate. There was also a hotfix driver released recently to address intermittent display blanking on DisplayPort Adative-Sync panels.
It's probably not the card. GeForce just isn't very good at standards-based display compatibility.
It's probably not the card. GeForce just isn't very good at standards-based display compatibility.
JTN
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Running current drivers (536.40) and have switched ports (problem exists on all video output ports on the card), switched cables (current cable is brand new out of the package displayport 1.4) and even switched monitors... the problem persists. The "problem" is that every now and then the monitor will go black for several seconds before recovering, and at least once a day the monitor will go black as if it went into sleep mode but will not wake. Only way to recover the monitor image is to unplug its cable and re-plug it, then the picture returns.
Thraxbert
Well-Known Member
Try 539.06. Also make sure you're buying cables that are specifically certified and listed on the VESA DisplayPort website. These cables sustain an insanely high data rate over (electrically speaking) very long lengths, and most non-cert cables can't hack it.
Source: I spent 12 years working at a PC hardware manufacturer and frequently dealt with display TCON and GPU display controllers.
Janice
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Had both a steamdeck and an ally and even though the steamdeck is heavy and underpowered in comparison, I liked the steam os interface enough that I rarely used my ally and returned it a few days ago. If you donāt already have a handheld, then ally 100%, but if you already have another handheld, then I would not say itās a good upgrade.
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SuupYota
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@BraveDemon, I have spent some time with the Ally. I will say it's definitely a beast of a handheld. I also might add, my wifi is top tier. One of the reasons I bought the Ally was to stream all my systems to other rooms in the house. With a kid, I find it hard to go to my console location and play. I have better luck with a handheld that I can pick up and play sporadically as I have dow time with kids.
That out of the way, you will have to do a bit up tweaks to make it "fit" you and also to make it more efficient out of the box. Initial setup was fairly straightforward. Immediately you want to update everything and download yr preferred launchers etc. After all that, I had to find this website as a way to use PS5 remote play. It worked flawlessly following steps. All other aps/launchers worked flawlessly, ie xbox, steam, etc.
https://rogallylife.com/2023/06/16/playstation-remote-play-rog-ally-chiaki/
After having all that setup, I have played a few xbox, ps5 and some steam games. Everything works well, a few older titles on steam have some weird issues with controller support. This seems to be remedied by messing with the steam controller inputs or downloading custom setups. All newer steam games that say controller enabled and steamdeck playable work well for the Ally as well. With the positives out of the way, there have been some minor issues. One, a few times the drivers didnt update properly using the built-in downloader. One time, I had to uninstall the "Armour crate", and reinstall. One time my audio driver just stopped and I had to go to windows and had to do an update. These are the typical Windows quarks, just exacerbated by a small screen tbh. You will need to go to the Asus builtin ap to check for updates frequently. Asus seems to be pushing out new BIOs and updates a lot, since machine is new. This is good and shows they are on top of resolving issues. It also, can be a pain if you expect a plug and play experience, which this is not. It really is a micro pc and will come with all the baggage of a pc. If that doesn't bother you, and you are used to pc woes, no problem. Second, and the biggest issue so far is battery life. It will only last on a 80% charge(to keep battery life, changeable to 100 in Asus ap) for an hour or so at most with default settings. I 100% recommend going here and doing these things to maximize battery life. Not all games require 120hz, 1080p, etc. Also, to adjust hz and resolution via armor crate shortcut button, you have to "add" the shortcut in setup within the ap. It doesn't tell you this in any of these tutorials. Here is a good tutorial to do prior to starting use as well.
https://www.windowscentral.com/gaming/pc-gaming/ways-to-improve-rog-ally-battery-life
Good tips and shortcuts
https://rog.asus.com/articles/guides/15-tips--shortcuts-to-set-up-and-optimize-your-rog-ally/
In conclusion, I'd recommend, with a lot of caveats. Powerful portable gaming pc, IF yr up to the upkeep a pc entails AND the initial setup process. Definitely not a plug and play device. Definitely not a device someone who isn't computer savvy would enjoy. Hope this helps anyone on the fence.
Tom
*update* Doing all the above instructions, and I've been using my Ally for about 20 min at a constant 99% battery life, playing Darkest Dungeon 2.
That out of the way, you will have to do a bit up tweaks to make it "fit" you and also to make it more efficient out of the box. Initial setup was fairly straightforward. Immediately you want to update everything and download yr preferred launchers etc. After all that, I had to find this website as a way to use PS5 remote play. It worked flawlessly following steps. All other aps/launchers worked flawlessly, ie xbox, steam, etc.
https://rogallylife.com/2023/06/16/playstation-remote-play-rog-ally-chiaki/
After having all that setup, I have played a few xbox, ps5 and some steam games. Everything works well, a few older titles on steam have some weird issues with controller support. This seems to be remedied by messing with the steam controller inputs or downloading custom setups. All newer steam games that say controller enabled and steamdeck playable work well for the Ally as well. With the positives out of the way, there have been some minor issues. One, a few times the drivers didnt update properly using the built-in downloader. One time, I had to uninstall the "Armour crate", and reinstall. One time my audio driver just stopped and I had to go to windows and had to do an update. These are the typical Windows quarks, just exacerbated by a small screen tbh. You will need to go to the Asus builtin ap to check for updates frequently. Asus seems to be pushing out new BIOs and updates a lot, since machine is new. This is good and shows they are on top of resolving issues. It also, can be a pain if you expect a plug and play experience, which this is not. It really is a micro pc and will come with all the baggage of a pc. If that doesn't bother you, and you are used to pc woes, no problem. Second, and the biggest issue so far is battery life. It will only last on a 80% charge(to keep battery life, changeable to 100 in Asus ap) for an hour or so at most with default settings. I 100% recommend going here and doing these things to maximize battery life. Not all games require 120hz, 1080p, etc. Also, to adjust hz and resolution via armor crate shortcut button, you have to "add" the shortcut in setup within the ap. It doesn't tell you this in any of these tutorials. Here is a good tutorial to do prior to starting use as well.
https://www.windowscentral.com/gaming/pc-gaming/ways-to-improve-rog-ally-battery-life
Good tips and shortcuts
https://rog.asus.com/articles/guides/15-tips--shortcuts-to-set-up-and-optimize-your-rog-ally/
In conclusion, I'd recommend, with a lot of caveats. Powerful portable gaming pc, IF yr up to the upkeep a pc entails AND the initial setup process. Definitely not a plug and play device. Definitely not a device someone who isn't computer savvy would enjoy. Hope this helps anyone on the fence.
Tom
*update* Doing all the above instructions, and I've been using my Ally for about 20 min at a constant 99% battery life, playing Darkest Dungeon 2.
Last edited:
BraveDemon
Well-Known Member
@SuupYota thanks man, appreciate the update.
And yeah, battery life I expected to be average at best if playing max settings since the Zflow 13 is the same - if I play Elden Ring or Forza Horizon on default settings unplugged, with a BT xbox controller, I get maybe 35-40 minutes max of battery life.
And you answered one of the questions I had: you got Ps5 remote play to work, so thatās a huge plus.
And yeah, battery life I expected to be average at best if playing max settings since the Zflow 13 is the same - if I play Elden Ring or Forza Horizon on default settings unplugged, with a BT xbox controller, I get maybe 35-40 minutes max of battery life.
And you answered one of the questions I had: you got Ps5 remote play to work, so thatās a huge plus.
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