When Valve launched the original Steam Deck, it changed the gaming handheld landscape forever. Now, Asus is back with another premium handheld rival, the ROG Ally X.
In 2023, the Steam Deck received a major upgrade in the form of the Steam Deck OLED model. This has become the definitive version of the Steam Deck, featuring a newly improved battery life and a major display upgrade.
With Valve hitting it out of the park a second time, it was only a matter of time before Asus followed suit, and created a new version of its own handheld with the Asus ROG Ally X.
The Steam Deck OLED and the Asus ROG Ally X are both high-powered in their own right, however, their Linux and Windows operating systems make them ideal for a different subset of those who want to game on the go.
Specs
| Spec | Asus ROG Ally X | Steam Deck OLED |
|---|---|---|
| APU | AMD Ryzen Z1 Extreme | Custom AMD Van Gogh Sephiroth |
| Process | 4 nm | 6 nm |
| CPU architecture | AMD Zen 4 | AMD Zen 2 |
| CPU clock speed | up to 5.10 GHz boost | 2.4 – 3.5GHz |
| Cores | Threads | 3 | 12 | 4 | 8 |
| GPU architecture | AMD RDNA 3 | AMD RDNA 2 |
| GPU clock speed | up to 2.7 GHz | 1 – 1.6GHz |
| RAM | 24 GB LPDDR5X on board (7500 MHz dual channel) | 16GB quad-channel LPDDR5 @ 6,400MT/s |
| Storage | Up to 1 TB M.2 2280 NVMe PCIe G4x4 Value SSD | 512GB/1TB NVMe SSD |
| Display | 7-inch screen | 7.4-inch OLED touchscreen |
| Native resolution | 1920 x 1080 | 1280 x 800 |
| Refresh rate | 120Hz | 90 Hz |
| Audio | 1 x USB-C® supports USB 3.2 Gen 2 (DisplayPort™ 1.4 with FreeSync support, Power Delivery 3.0 (Input: 20V/5A, Output 5V/1.5A))1 x USB4® (Thunderbolt 4 compliance, DisplayPort 1.4 with FreeSyncsupport, Power Delivery 3.0 (Input: 20V/5A, output:5V/3A) | Stereo speakers, 3.5mm jack, dual mics |
| Connectivity | 1 x USB-C supports USB 3.2 Gen 2 (DisplayPort™ 1.4 with FreeSync support, Power Delivery 3.0 (Input: 20V/5A, Output 5V/1.5A)1 x USB4 (Thunderbolt 4 compliance, DisplayPort 1.4 with FreeSyncsupport, Power Delivery 3.0 (Input: 20V/5A, output:5V/3A)Wi-Fi, Bluetooth | Wi-Fi 6e, Bluetooth, 1x USB Type-C with DisplayPort 1.4 support |
| Battery | 80 Wh | 50 Wh |
| Weight | 678g | 640g |
Price
With the ROG Ally X and the Steam Deck OLED both being upgraded versions of their original models, it could come as no surprise that their price reflects that. The Steam Deck OLED is available in both a 512 GB and 1TB model, which cost $549 and $649 respectively.
The ROG Ally X has a launch price of $799. At that MSRP, that’s an entire $100 more than the current ROG Ally model, and $150 more than the 1TB Steam Deck.
If you’re on a tight budget, either the 512GB or the 1TB version of the Steam Deck OLED would better suit your handheld gaming needs.
The Steam Deck as a whole best suits those who already have pre-existing game libraries on the Steam platform. While you can play games through Xbox Game Pass on the Valve handheld (via streaming), the nature of it being a Linux-based device does require a little extra know-how to get things running on the handheld.
Where you’d want to consider the ROG Ally X is if you’re super into the bleeding edge, and want no limitations for what you can play. While Windows can be installed on the Steam Deck, it’s rarely worth the effort.
The ROG Ally X, as it just runs Windows, can access multiplayer and single-player games that don’t work via Proton or other translation layers for Linux.
Either way, adding any PC gaming handheld to your gaming setup is an expensive endeavor. However, in this case, the Steam Deck OLED is a much cheaper option, and with it, you still won’t lose out on the high-powered performance you’d expect.
Design
When the original Steam Deck was released on February 25, 2022, it set a precedent for all PC gaming handhelds to come. In its wake, the original Asus ROG Ally, Lenovo Legion GO, and MSI Claw all adopted a similar form factor – with their displays being centralized, and their buttons and joysticks remaining on the other side.
In design, the Steam Deck and the Asus ROG Ally X don’t differ that much. The ROG Ally X looks even more like the Steam Deck OLED than its predecessor, thanks to its new black color scheme.
The black look is new for the ROG Ally X, as both the Z1 Extreme and Z1 previous ROG Ally handhelds were white, which made them stand out from the LCD Steam Deck.
We still find the friendly curves of the Steam Deck OLED to be a much more comfortable experience than the ROG Ally X. This isn’t to put down Asus’s overall design. The ROG Ally X does still feel comfortable in our hands, it’s just the same as the original device.
Display
Both the ROG Ally X and the Steam Deck OLED have similarly sized touch-screen displays, located between their button setup. However, while they may look similar at a glance, the Steam Deck OLED – as the name suggests – has a 7.4-inch HDR OLED display with a 90 Hz refresh rate.
Meanwhile, the ROG Ally X has a slightly smaller screen, with a 7-inch FD LCD display. To make up for the lack of an OLED display, the ROG Ally X instead has Gorilla Glass-branded DXC coasting, to help prevent unwanted glare and reflections.
Like the ROG Ally before it, the display also boasts a 120Hz refresh rate. While great for older titles, newer, more demanding games will never hit the 120Hz.
Even then, the display of the Steam Deck OLED shines over the ROG Ally X, especially with its HDR support.
Buttons
For its upgraded model, Valve opted to still go without RGB light effects for the Steam Deck OLED. However, Asus has given the ROG Ally X the same RGB halos around the thumbsticks as the previous ROG Ally model.Both handhelds feature two sticks, ABXY buttons, a d-pad, and two sets of trigger buttons. This time around, Asus opted to upgrade the d-pad on the Ally X to more accurately input intercardinal directions.
Where Valve’s Steam Deck has the upper hand is in its trackpads. Like the original, the Steam Deck OLED has two trackpads on either side of its display, which is great for playing mouse-only games or navigating through desktop mode on the handheld.
The other upside to the Steam Deck is the recessed back paddles. Asus’s ROG Ally X still feels weak in comparison, almost like it was an afterthought. Valve’s back paddles not only feel comfortable but ergonomically make sense too.
Battery life
One of the biggest improvements the ROG Ally X has over not just the previous ROG Ally handheld, but a myriad of other handhelds on the market, is its 80Wh battery. The new handheld has double that of the 40Wh of the ROG Ally Z1 Extreme. Additionally, it’s also bigger than the 50Wh of the Steam Deck OLED.
While the battery is much bigger, in more demanding games we found it was still getting sapped fast. Gears of War: Ultimate Edition at 720p, 30FPS, ate 20% of the battery in 58 minutes (80 to 60). Smaller titles like our top Steam Deck game, Balatro, kept the battery going for a good few hours.
With the Steam Deck OLED, we were able to have at least four hours of gameplay on its 50 Wh battery. With that in mind, we can confirm that doubling the battery power on the ROG Ally X makes it the best for longer portable gaming sessions.
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Software: Windows vs SteamOS
The key difference between the Asus ROG Ally X and the Steam Deck OLED comes down to their operating systems. The Steam Deck is Linux-based handheld and runs on Valve’s custom Steam operating system, SteamOS.
Whereas, the ROG Ally X is a Windows handheld and runs Windows 11. It uses myAsus and Armory Crate to offset the lack of cohesion between multiple launchers and device settings. Neither is particularly very good.
With SteamOS’ Gaming Mode, the Steam Deck is focused on games. This side of the operating system acts similarly to Steam’s Big Picture Mode on desktop computers. It also makes navigating through Steam a straightforward process. The major caveat with SteamOS, however, is that not every game on the Steam platform is compatible with it.
The Steam Deck cleverly uses Proton, a compatibility layer between Linux and the software. This layer emulates a Windows environment for games and apps to run. However, some multiplayer titles, like Valorant and Fortnite, are blocked from running on Linux.
With the ROG Ally X, having a version of Windows 11 right out of the box makes running games from Xbox Game Pass and other stores a lot easier. Asus has also integrated a quick-access game launcher via Armory Crate, which streamlines the process of navigating through the handheld’s OS.
However, Armory Crate isn’t perfect. Its quick menu is super helpful, but the full software suite still needs a polish.
Armory Crate is also unable to remap its dedicated launch button to a more useful feature. With enough tinkering of the official layout, you can remap the Steam Deck to almost any control scheme you like.
While full access to nearly everything thanks to Windows is great, the overall experience is still poorer on Microsoft’s OS. Valve masking a lot of the desktop environments with its Gaming Mode is ingenious.
It’s a fork of Arch Linux, but it allows you to make it one of the simplest, most cohesive devices in gaming to date. Or, you can get as complex as you’d like in the desktop mode.
Either way, it all works far better on the Steam Deck OLED. The way the device can slink between modes, and the added built-in trackpads make it a much smoother experience.
Additionally, while playing the likes of Xbox Game Pass on the Steam Deck isn’t as straightforward as on the ROG Ally X, the community has been diligent. Installing non-Steam games on the Deck is extremely easy, and it doesn’t even have to take you into desktop mode.
Performance
With the Asus ROG Ally X now released, we’ve tested the new handheld. It’s super powerful in this market, not only thanks to a boost in RAM but also the optimized Z1 Extreme.
The ROG Ally X comes packed with the same Z1 Extreme processor as the previous ROG Ally handheld. This Z1 Extreme processor has 8 cores and 16 threads and is powered by RDNA 3 Radeon graphics, which beats out Valve’s RDNA 2-based APU.
Both chips are optimized to get the most out of gaming, but the ROG Ally X bests the Steam Deck OLED purely through brute force. The Ally X even beat the 32GB Ayaneo 2S in our Cyberpunk 2077 benchmarks, showing just how good the Z1 Extreme is.
| Cyberpunk 2077 (30W, 60Hz) | Asus ROG Ally X | Ayaneo 2S (32GB) |
|---|---|---|
| Steam Deck Preset (1080p) | 46 | 48 |
| Steam Deck Preset (720p) | 83 | 59 |
| Low (1080p) | 42 | 26 |
| Low (1080p, FSR Quality) | 51 | 41 |
| Med (1080p, FSR Quality) | 44 | 40 |
| Low (720p) | 58 | 56 |
| Low (720p, FSR Quality) | 79 | 60 |
| Med (720p) | 56 | 55 |
| Med (720p, FSR Quality) | 70 | 60 |
The handheld is also packed with 24 GB of LPDDR5X memory, which is a huge step up from the original Ally and the Steam Deck OLED. This makes the Asus ROG Ally X more powerful than the Steam Deck OLED.
The Steam Deck didn’t receive a big RAM boost for its OLED model and instead has 16GB of quad-channel LPDDR5 RAM. Despite that, it’s still capable of playing plenty of AAA games, and even graphically intense games like Baldur’s Gate 3 on the go.
But, it’s tough to compete with the processing brunt offered by the Ryzen Z1 Extreme, as it excels in both CPU and GPU-bound tasks when compared to the Steam Deck OLED.
While you’ll have smoother gameplay in newer titles on the ROG Ally X, you still need to factor in the usability of the device. We’ve also enjoyed plenty of titles on the Steam Deck’s lesser hardware, even with access to beefier devices.
What should you buy?
Picking between the Steam Deck OLED and the ROG Ally X comes down to preference.
There are some key differences between the high-powered gaming handhelds which make them more suitable for different needs. The Steam Deck OLED is a cheaper option, fitting those with a budget in mind.
Additionally, if you already have a vast Steam library of games, it makes sense to pick up Valve’s handheld.
It’s an instant gateway to get through that huge backlog. Despite being a gaming handheld, you still need to set the ROG Ally X up like a Windows device. That includes the tedious task of thumbing through Microsoft Edge to download all those launchers.
There’s more access, though, on the Ally X. If you’re desperate for Destiny on the go, or are tied up in one of dozens of RPGs on Game Pass, then yes, the Ally X might be for you.
If you want a more complete experience – a fully realized handheld PC experience – the Steam Deck is the way to go. It removes so many of the headaches of using Windows, while also still being flexible enough to be a tinkerer’s dream.
