Handheld gaming PCs are on the rise. Following the Steam Deck, more and more hardware manufacturers are venturing into their own model. Despite the stiff competition, the ASUS ROG Ally remains one of the most powerful and versatile options, even six months after its release. Thanks to the AMD Ryzen Z1 processor and the 1080p 120Hz screen, you can play almost every PC game imaginable with the necessary graphical splendor.
In our review at the time, we cited the Ally’s battery life as the only major drawback. With intensive use, you may sometimes have to look for the nearest socket after less than an hour. Over the past few months, we have extensively searched for all possible ways to get the most out of your ASUS ROG Ally, and with success. Thanks to these five simple tips, you can boost the battery life of your mobile ally to three or even five hours and still enjoy your game library.
Tip 1: make smart use of the ROG Ally’s operating modes
The ROG Ally has a built-in 40 watt-hour battery. The Operating Mode then determines how many watts the handheld uses per hour. When the Ally is not connected to the power cable, you can choose between three different options. In theory, Silent Mode limits the wattage to 10W. Performance Mode increases this to 15W, while Turbo Mode consumes even 25W per hour. That Turbo Mode may seem tempting to put the hardware of your ROG Ally to maximum use, but a quick calculation shows that you use up the battery after less than two hours. In practice, this often happens a lot faster, since the peak consumption of the ROG Ally in demanding games is much higher than 25W.
If you want to game for as long as possible without a power cable, Silent Mode is your best friend. Even in that mode, the consumption sometimes exceeds the theoretical 10W, but you still get at least three hours of mobile gaming fun from the ROG Ally. Of course, this is at the expense of the performance of your handheld PC. The following four tips are mainly intended to still show a decent frame rate with sufficient graphic beauty in Silent Mode.
Tip 2: Adjust the resolution of the ROG Ally to 720p
The ROG Ally has a 7-inch screen with a resolution of 1920 x 1080 pixels, which provides a sharp and clear image. To save battery life, you can limit the resolution to 720p in the Command Center. This way, the handheld only has to generate half the number of pixels, so that in most games you still have a frame rate between 30 and 60 fps, even in Silent Mode. Since the screen of the ROG Ally is a lot smaller than that of a traditional PC, you will not notice much of the lower resolution in practice. Save your battery and still play the latest games while traveling, without a major impact on your experience: ideal!
Tip 3: Use upscaling to game in 1080p on the ROG Ally
Do you refuse to lower the resolution of your ROG Ally? Then you can also use upscaling. This is a technique in which a lower resolution is enlarged to a higher resolution. Many modern games support one or more upscaling techniques by default, so you can play a game at 720p and then scale it up to 1080p. You often have the choice between different quality modes, ranging from Ultra Quality to Performance. For games that do not offer this themselves, the ROG Ally also offers the option to activate AMD RSR (Radeon Super Resolution) in the Command Center. As soon as you lower the resolution in a game, AMD RSR automatically provides a sharper image.
Tip 4: Stream games instead of installing them on ROG Ally
The most drastic measure to save energy is to stream games and thus relieve the burden on your ROG Ally’s hardware. After all, you play games that run on an external server that is sent to your screen via the internet. The easiest way to do that is with an Xbox Game Pass Ultimate subscription, which allows you to stream hundreds of games in the meantime. To do that, you need a stable internet connection at all times. If that is the case, you can play modern games such as Far Cry 6 or Forza Horizon 5 without any problems. During streaming, the energy consumption rarely peaks above 8W, so you are good for sessions of five to six hours.
If you play at home on the ROG Ally, you can go one step further. The PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X/S and Steam allow you to stream games to another device on the same WiFi network. This way, you can play games with the best possible graphics settings on your ROG Ally with minimal burden on the battery.
Tip 5: Use a power bank to game on the ROG Ally for longer
Finally, you can also take a power bank with you when using the ROG Ally on location. Given the size of this handheld gaming PC, you will probably put it in a backpack anyway, so you can still carry the power bank there. You can connect any power bank via the ROG Ally’s USB-C port, but we recommend that you choose a model with sufficient battery capacity.
In addition, the speed of loading is also important. A power bank with a charging speed of at least 65W not only ensures that you always charge energy faster than you use, you can also activate the 30W Turbo Mode of the ROG Ally. Maybe not the smartest move if you want to save battery life, but it’s always nice to have options.
It is also important to pay attention to the capacity of the power bank, which is expressed in milliampere hours (mAh). The higher the capacity, the longer you can game without charging the power bank. We will spare you the scientific conversion from mAh to watt-hour, but keep in mind that with a power bank of at least 15000 mAh you can fully charge your ROG Ally one or two times.
In addition to these five tips, you can take many actions to limit the battery consumption of your ROG Ally, although the impact will be more limited. For example, you can turn off the RGB lighting around the thumbsticks, lower the screen brightness and use the ROG Ally in airplane mode as much as possible. By combining all the above tips, you can quickly play your favorite games for several hours longer without having to frantically look for the nearest socket. Happy mobile gaming!
2023-12-28 16:57:47
#tips #ASUS #ROG #Ally
