Asus ROG Ally vs Steam Deck: can powerful new tech deliver a game-changing handheld?

Out-specs Steam Deck - but battery life and bugs are problematic.

Review by Richard Leadbetter Technology Editor, Digital Foundry

Updated on May 20, 2023

On the first page of our benchmarks, we took a look at scalability from Steam Deck with the Asus ROG Ally tested out on games that have traditionally performed rather well on the Valve handheld. On this page, we're moving onto games that either challenge the Steam Deck to the point where low settings and upscaling are required for a decent 720p experience. Or alternatively, we look at titles that simply don't run well at all in order to see if the Ally is literally game-changing.

So yes, we'll be running Cyberpunk 2077 on its bespoke Steam Deck setting, while analysing heavy hitters such as A Plague Tale: Requiem and Returnal. Both of the latter games may indeed be 'too big for Steam Deck'. If you're interested in seeing how they perform on the Ryzen 7 6800U, our video review for the AyaNeo 2 is worth a look.

We'll round off with a look at Metro Exodus Enhanced Edition, which doesn't run under Steam OS (but will run on the Deck under Windows) owing to its reliance on hardware-accelerated ray tracing. There, we'll be using the AyaNeo Air Plus as the comparison point because in theory we should be seeing architectural improvements in RT performance from the RDNA 2 of the 6800U to the RDNA 3 of the Z1 Extreme.

Cyberpunk 2077

Some strange and curious results here in Cyberpunk 2077 that were re-tested and verified before publication. Unless the 'Steam Deck' quality preset in the game is uniquely tailored to the Valve handheld, there seems to be question marks as to why the Asus ROG Ally performs as poorly it does here. What's clear is that the story isn't really in the average performance figures posted here, but rather on the lowest one percent scores - an average of the worst frame-times converted into frame-rate. Those results are significantly lower on the Ally - and when you see the video breakdown, that translates into noticeably more severe stuttering problems.

When you compare Steam Deck at 720p to the Ally in its matching 15W performance mode, you can see that while frame-rate is similar, those lowest one percent scores are much lower on the Asus handheld - explaining to a certain extent the meagre seven percentage point lead. It's noticeably jerkier in motion. Even so, raw performance numbers are still significantly higher in the turbo modes - a 49 percent boost in handheld turbo configuration.

At 1080p, neither of the handhelds perform well - and to be clear, you shouldn't be playing Cyberpunk 2077 on these devices at native 1080p - but all three Ally configurations post lower one percent scores than the Deck and not even the two turbo options present meaningful improvements to the Steam Deck experience. Remarkably, Deck beats Ally in the 15W head-to-head.

Cyberpunk 2077, Steam Deck Settings, TAA

A Plague Tale: Requiem

An excellent PC port of a modern game (for once!), we tested A Plague Tale: Requiem up against the Steam Deck and - at 720p at least - the AyaNeo Air Plus. Our Deck results here are a touch limited as our v-sync off tracking system used for benching didn't work, we used v-sync instead.

At the 15W level at 720p, the Ally is around 14 percentage points ahead of Steam Deck and 15 points ahead of the Ryzen 7 6800U in the AyaNeo Air Plus. Turbo portable mode is 42 percent ahead of the Deck, and 15 percent ahead of the Air Plus's matching 25W mode. Once again though, despite the extra power, the mains turbo mode offers nothing more than the portable equivalent.

It's not a good idea to run this at native 1080p, but as you might expect, the Ally pulls ahead of the Steam Deck results - it's a 25 percentage point lead at the matching 15W preset, rising to 60percent with the portable turbo mode at 25W stacked up against the Deck. There are big gains for the Ally too up against the AyaNeo Air Plus - 24 percent faster in 15W mode, and 21 percentage points to the better at 25W. Unfortunately, the result is a moot point really - with sub-30fps performance, it's essentially unplayable - but an intriguing 'synthetic' result nonetheless.

A Plague Tale Requiem, 720p, Medium, TAA

Returnal

A notorious banana skin game for the Steam Deck in that even with upscaling and a 30fps cap, it's not possible to get a consistent gameplay experience on the Valve handheld - it's just too demanding. We had better results on the AyaNeo 2 owing to its superior graphics and CPU horsepower and so it's no surprise to see even better results from the Asus ROG Ally

At 15W, there's a 15 percentage point advantage for the new machine, rising to 20 percent at full HD - not that 1080p is seriously an option for this title on any handheld. There's a 52 and 56 point lead for the Ally when boosting to 25W portable turbo mode and mains turbo respectively, solidifying the Ally's performance credentials. Interestingly though, the gains drop at native 1080p.

I should point out that the results here are largely academic. While the benchmark is largely stutter-free, the hitching and stutter in actual gameplay makes it mostly unplayable on every handheld PC I've tested to date - including the Ally.

Returnal, Low Settings, TAA

Metro Exodus Enhanced Edition

Our final benchmark does not include Steam Deck at all, because we're looking into a game that's reliant on hardware-accelerated ray tracing. Metro Exodus Enhanced Edition will run on Steam Deck, but you need to have Windows installed to do so, which we don't recommend. We're still waiting for Valve to roll out full RT compatibility in Steam OS.

Therefore it's the Asus ROG Ally with 12 RDNA 3 compute units vs the AyaNeo Air Plus's 6800U with 12 RDNA 2 CUs in an RT shoot-out for the ages. A five percent point lead for the Ally (with lower one percent scores) at 15W is hardly a ringing endorsement for the new Z1 Extreme, but at 25W, performance is markedly improved: there's a more compelling 16 percentage point lead.

While a native 720p at 30fps locked throughout the demanding Taiga stage is not possible on the Ally, a 0.8 resolution scale at high settings with high RT and 2x VRS does get the job done. I'm still surprised that RT on a handheld is doable at all to be honest - but here it is. Nice!