Valve Goes Hard: Steam Deck OLED Review & Benchmarks vs. ASUS ROG Ally Z1 Extreme, Deck LCD
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Date: 2024-02-24
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Comments and reviews: 20
oo--7714
I’m sorta surprised with the results but you do know you do can run the ally at 18-20 wats for more performance with a small hit to battery life, they have added a custom tdp slider in armoury crate in the newer update. You can still get sorta ok battery life.
Thanks for the review anyway, I wanted to see the difference, I’m guessing if the game is more gpu heavy the ally will come out on top when it comes to frame rates at 15 watts.
Overall it just seeems if you want battery life go with the steam deck, if you want power go with the ally.
I thought the oled had a better fan noise compared to the ally, I guess not, must be due to the fact the ally has two fans.
Also surprised with the video playback. And surprised that the ally beats the lcd steam deck in battery life in some cases.
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I’m sorta surprised with the results but you do know you do can run the ally at 18-20 wats for more performance with a small hit to battery life, they have added a custom tdp slider in armoury crate in the newer update. You can still get sorta ok battery life.
Thanks for the review anyway, I wanted to see the difference, I’m guessing if the game is more gpu heavy the ally will come out on top when it comes to frame rates at 15 watts.
Overall it just seeems if you want battery life go with the steam deck, if you want power go with the ally.
I thought the oled had a better fan noise compared to the ally, I guess not, must be due to the fact the ally has two fans.
Also surprised with the video playback. And surprised that the ally beats the lcd steam deck in battery life in some cases.
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Brandonhatesmayo
If it had 2 more cores I would forgive that 800p screen even if the OLED looks nice. No vrr, using Linux and still being pretty underpowered isn't as great as I'd like but I have no doubt that SD2 isn't gonna be just wild beyond belief.
The Ally definitely is nowhere near perfect but I really do enjoy it and if it had double the battery life I don't think I'd ever use anything else unless I had to. The screen is really pretty, vrr is awesome and it's still the only device handheld with it and I can play all of my games. I mean if you really want to add on anything it's the only device that actually play 16 by 9 and you don't have to do any funny shit with it like you do with the legion go or the steam deck.
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If it had 2 more cores I would forgive that 800p screen even if the OLED looks nice. No vrr, using Linux and still being pretty underpowered isn't as great as I'd like but I have no doubt that SD2 isn't gonna be just wild beyond belief.
The Ally definitely is nowhere near perfect but I really do enjoy it and if it had double the battery life I don't think I'd ever use anything else unless I had to. The screen is really pretty, vrr is awesome and it's still the only device handheld with it and I can play all of my games. I mean if you really want to add on anything it's the only device that actually play 16 by 9 and you don't have to do any funny shit with it like you do with the legion go or the steam deck.
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ryanhamstra49
I love my steam deck OLED. I haven’t used my PC in a month now. A few games I used to play that I haven’t been able to but broke out some of the older games I loved and haven’t played in a few years and they run amazing. Locked at 60 fps high graphics in MCC, only game that’s been annoying is BL2, something in its online connection is super slow and cuts out from time to time and crashes the game. BL1 and Pre-Sequel run flawlessly, haven’t booted BL3 yet. Other games have worked but games like timberborn and factorio that need a mouse get annoying fast trying to use the track pad. It’s good for short use but after half an hour my thumb starts to cramp
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I love my steam deck OLED. I haven’t used my PC in a month now. A few games I used to play that I haven’t been able to but broke out some of the older games I loved and haven’t played in a few years and they run amazing. Locked at 60 fps high graphics in MCC, only game that’s been annoying is BL2, something in its online connection is super slow and cuts out from time to time and crashes the game. BL1 and Pre-Sequel run flawlessly, haven’t booted BL3 yet. Other games have worked but games like timberborn and factorio that need a mouse get annoying fast trying to use the track pad. It’s good for short use but after half an hour my thumb starts to cramp
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recycledsoldier
Thanks for the review! I've owned the OG Deck and currently own the Ally and I love my Ally. I just upgraded to a new cooling backplate and swapped out the joysticks for hall effect sticks and it just feels so good. I ended up sticking with the Ally overall because of Windows. In a pinch, I have VS Code on it and can do light work if I'm out and about and don't want to take my laptop with me. Both are great devices. What a wonderful time to be a PC gamer.
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Thanks for the review! I've owned the OG Deck and currently own the Ally and I love my Ally. I just upgraded to a new cooling backplate and swapped out the joysticks for hall effect sticks and it just feels so good. I ended up sticking with the Ally overall because of Windows. In a pinch, I have VS Code on it and can do light work if I'm out and about and don't want to take my laptop with me. Both are great devices. What a wonderful time to be a PC gamer.
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ChrispyNut
Long-Term, hands-on review Uh huh, I know the type.
Steve: Hey, Patrick. Where's the benchmarking sheets for XXXX
Patrick: Oh, I've not done them, I've been working on the Steam Deck review
Steve: You mean, you've been playing video games, rather than working, thinking I'm dumb enough to believe that excuse
Patrick: Yep, now, go away, I'm approaching the final boss.
Steve: Well, at least the company culture of honesty is alive and well.
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Long-Term, hands-on review Uh huh, I know the type.
Steve: Hey, Patrick. Where's the benchmarking sheets for XXXX
Patrick: Oh, I've not done them, I've been working on the Steam Deck review
Steve: You mean, you've been playing video games, rather than working, thinking I'm dumb enough to believe that excuse
Patrick: Yep, now, go away, I'm approaching the final boss.
Steve: Well, at least the company culture of honesty is alive and well.
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JureRepinc
What I love about Steam Deck is that it runs an opensource and lean and privacy respecting GNU/Linux OS, and none of that bloated spyware from Miicrosoft. And it is nice how it by default functions like a real console a la Playstation and then you can switch to a powerful proper desktop environment provided by KDE Plasma. Simply amazing and it is about time we see MS OS monopoly broken. Hopefully Steam Deck can help with that.
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What I love about Steam Deck is that it runs an opensource and lean and privacy respecting GNU/Linux OS, and none of that bloated spyware from Miicrosoft. And it is nice how it by default functions like a real console a la Playstation and then you can switch to a powerful proper desktop environment provided by KDE Plasma. Simply amazing and it is about time we see MS OS monopoly broken. Hopefully Steam Deck can help with that.
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chrisfratz
I've been personally enjoying my deck OLED although I'm honestly disappointed that it doesn't have support for VRR. Especially considering you can change the frame rate cap and refresh rate of the display to whatever you want, it honestly makes me hope that VRR can be implemented in a software / firmware update in the future. But overall I am really happy with the deck OLED. The screen looks nice for both games and even movies.
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I've been personally enjoying my deck OLED although I'm honestly disappointed that it doesn't have support for VRR. Especially considering you can change the frame rate cap and refresh rate of the display to whatever you want, it honestly makes me hope that VRR can be implemented in a software / firmware update in the future. But overall I am really happy with the deck OLED. The screen looks nice for both games and even movies.
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PokeComm
I would have liked to see an extra test where the ASUS is ran at the same refresh rate and resolution as the steam deck on dead cells. It's good to know that the default settings of the steam deck last considerably longer, but how much of that is a constant cost for running the system and how much comes from the extra hz and pixels pushed Also, just for fun, what if you connected the steamdeck to a 120 hz, 1080p monitior
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I would have liked to see an extra test where the ASUS is ran at the same refresh rate and resolution as the steam deck on dead cells. It's good to know that the default settings of the steam deck last considerably longer, but how much of that is a constant cost for running the system and how much comes from the extra hz and pixels pushed Also, just for fun, what if you connected the steamdeck to a 120 hz, 1080p monitior
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LeMat_njx
Hey, team. Quick question on battery testing. I know that it can take many charge cycles to see a noticeable change, but given how much testing you do on these devices, do you think there is any value in accounting for degradation of the battery That is assuming your current testing methods don't already account for this. I think about this especially as you run tests with the older devices against newer models.
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Hey, team. Quick question on battery testing. I know that it can take many charge cycles to see a noticeable change, but given how much testing you do on these devices, do you think there is any value in accounting for degradation of the battery That is assuming your current testing methods don't already account for this. I think about this especially as you run tests with the older devices against newer models.
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prrocker9637
Ngl I really want to get myself a steamdeck OLED but I'm waiting for specific games to be compatible and hopefully eventually a Spec bump even if that means it's battery life ends up like the OG model because I'm definitely gonna undervolt and overclock it because it's fun to tinker and have had good experiences with a laptop and gpus in the past
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Ngl I really want to get myself a steamdeck OLED but I'm waiting for specific games to be compatible and hopefully eventually a Spec bump even if that means it's battery life ends up like the OG model because I'm definitely gonna undervolt and overclock it because it's fun to tinker and have had good experiences with a laptop and gpus in the past
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Winnetou17
The better framerates from the OLED version can also be from the APU itself. Using a smaller manufacturing node makes is use less energy. Which, in some scenarios, means it can reach higher clock rates. That is, at, say 12W, the 7nm one in the LCD version might run at 2.8GHz, while the 6nm one in the OLED might, at the same 12W, go to 3.1GHz.
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The better framerates from the OLED version can also be from the APU itself. Using a smaller manufacturing node makes is use less energy. Which, in some scenarios, means it can reach higher clock rates. That is, at, say 12W, the 7nm one in the LCD version might run at 2.8GHz, while the 6nm one in the OLED might, at the same 12W, go to 3.1GHz.
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zanderman2009
I was excited for the ally thinking it would use a vanilla steamOS but after it came out with windows, it was a definite no, mainly because I love frame fluidity even over FPS.
A blipless 46-50 FPS is 95% of what I'd feel at a locked 60 with higher graphics settings
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I was excited for the ally thinking it would use a vanilla steamOS but after it came out with windows, it was a definite no, mainly because I love frame fluidity even over FPS.
A blipless 46-50 FPS is 95% of what I'd feel at a locked 60 with higher graphics settings
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Mr.2GD
I love Steam Deck, but I have a lot of games in Epic, want to try Game Pass, and have a lot of quacked games I want to play. By that, I'd choose Ally. It's too hassle for me to config Steam Deck just to satisfy what I need. Linux is too limiting for what I want right now.
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I love Steam Deck, but I have a lot of games in Epic, want to try Game Pass, and have a lot of quacked games I want to play. By that, I'd choose Ally. It's too hassle for me to config Steam Deck just to satisfy what I need. Linux is too limiting for what I want right now.
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evilpotatoman9436
IMO for handhelds battery is king as long as performance is good enough, and therefore... long live the steamdeck.
If you have to connect during a game session its no longer portable... just use a laptop.
If performance is awful then just use a phone.
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IMO for handhelds battery is king as long as performance is good enough, and therefore... long live the steamdeck.
If you have to connect during a game session its no longer portable... just use a laptop.
If performance is awful then just use a phone.
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StrikeWarlock
I disagree abour the weight reduction not being that meaningful, i took it out of the box and the weight loss was actually noticeable. I asked my hoss to lift both and he also said it is noticeable.
So I'd say, albeit anecdotally, it is meaningful.
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I disagree abour the weight reduction not being that meaningful, i took it out of the box and the weight loss was actually noticeable. I asked my hoss to lift both and he also said it is noticeable.
So I'd say, albeit anecdotally, it is meaningful.
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HoundNL
While the SD OLED doesn't perform as well as it's competition, what really do it for me is the OS and the almost console-like experience, the dual trackpad and steam imput (especially on the trackpads), there's just no equal when it comes to features
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While the SD OLED doesn't perform as well as it's competition, what really do it for me is the OS and the almost console-like experience, the dual trackpad and steam imput (especially on the trackpads), there's just no equal when it comes to features
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PAcifisti
Still no idea why they put a 1080p screen in the Ally Z1. It never had the power to run that big resolution, especially at 120hz. I'll much rather have a sharp 1280x800 than pixelated mess of 1080p with lower rendering resolution.
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Still no idea why they put a 1080p screen in the Ally Z1. It never had the power to run that big resolution, especially at 120hz. I'll much rather have a sharp 1280x800 than pixelated mess of 1080p with lower rendering resolution.
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UnityGuy
I knew I wouldn't end up using it much but for $400 I'm really happy to support the start of this arms race for an incredibly cool form factor of pc's. Never thought so many companies would make competitors so fast.
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I knew I wouldn't end up using it much but for $400 I'm really happy to support the start of this arms race for an incredibly cool form factor of pc's. Never thought so many companies would make competitors so fast.
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James_Darin
The ROG is such a beast! If I'm playing where I don't have access to a power supply or power bank. I shouldn't be playing anyway. It also works great with the 4090 XG mobile as a secondary portable gaming PC.
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The ROG is such a beast! If I'm playing where I don't have access to a power supply or power bank. I shouldn't be playing anyway. It also works great with the 4090 XG mobile as a secondary portable gaming PC.
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victorreyes4212
Thanks for the amazing work! I set up a recurring donation to st jude research hospital ( employer match) in your name. I've been watching for years now and the coverage you provide is invaluable.
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Thanks for the amazing work! I set up a recurring donation to st jude research hospital ( employer match) in your name. I've been watching for years now and the coverage you provide is invaluable.
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