ROG Ally X review: The superfan model

If you were wondering who the ROG Ally X is for, ask no longer. It was made for hardcore gamers like me, nerds who demand absolute perfection from their gaming hardware. There is no denying that Asus’s first foray into the PC gaming handheld market was somewhat flawed, thanks to things like SD slots that fried cards and bios changes that weren’t always for the better (especially if loud fans annoy you).

Asus learned along the way, while sometimes tripping. The ROG Ally X is here to fix all of that. Still, I’ve spent plenty of time over the last year dreaming about what the perfect device would look like, and today, I’m glad to report Asus has gotten closer than anyone else with the new ROG Ally X, even beating the Steam Deck.

Price, availability, and specs

The ROG Ally X retails for $800 and can be purchased at Best Buy and the Asus website. So far, it does not look like Best Buy has sold out, and since we are a few days away from launch, ideally, the stock will last for those who want one. The first ROG Ally was easy enough to snag, and it’s looking like Asus has done a good job stocking BB for the launch of the X.

What’s good about the Asus ROG Ally X

A whole heck of a lot, I’ll tell ya

Asus isn’t kidding when it says this is a device for enthusiasts. Since I am an admitted handheld enthusiast, I absolutely had to take the review for the ROG Ally X, as I was curious if Asus could deliver. It has; I’m a happy camper, so let’s dig into why that is.

The first thing on people’s minds will likely be whether Asus fixed the SD card slot that was eating cards in the previous model. Thanks to the extra thickness of the new X model, the fan exhaust ports are now behind the SD slot, not beside it. With some heavy testing, I can confirm that games play from the card without dying, which sure is a welcome change.

I am also a fan of this extra thickness. I do not like how thin the original model is, which may sound silly, but these devices aren’t small by any stretch, so I’d rather have bigger batteries and better cooling that result in a chunkier feel in the hand. And since Asus revisited the shape of the grips for the launch of the X, it sits in my hands better than the previous model ever could, even with the added thickness and heft.

Something else I love is the extra RAM. While I can’t say the OG model’s RAM bothered me since the X offers more, the default setting is now 8GB, which means less fiddling with changing this setting per game since the amount is higher.

So games like Diablo 4 that work better when changing the RAM settings in the OG model to something higher now don’t have to change the system’s RAM setting to play smoothly on the X. This basically goes for all games you used to have to dial the RAM up for; it’s not a problem with the X and really puts the excellent Steam Deck and its 16GB to shame.

It may sound shocking, but I like how Asus handles the device drivers, especially the graphics driver. You see, Asus takes the drivers from AMD and tweaks them so they work better on the ROG Ally. After testing my share of PC handhelds, I can say Asus offers the best game performance out of the lot, and I definitely believe this is thanks to those driver tweaks that go the extra mile.

Also, the fan noise is noticeably much quieter. I’ve spent a lot of time testing games on the original ROG Ally, from 720p upscaled to native 1080p games, and I prefer to upscale with the screen locked to 60Hz. A few titles that can hold 60FPS stable ramp up the fan in the original model quite a bit to a noticeable pitch.

With the X, we get quieter fan speeds now that there are two fans. Couple this with the thicker chassis that places the fan vents further away from the player, and the noise, even when going hard, is plenty tolerable. Trust me; this is a huge nitpick for the OG. I hate fan noise, and so far, I’ve yet to test a game that makes the noise intolerable, like the previous model.

Then there are the thumbsticks. The originals are weak and ineffectual; they feel awful, thanks to how loose they are. The new sticks in the ROG Ally X are sublime. Well, maybe that’s overstating things, but they feel nice and comparable to an Xbox controller, which is perfectly fine with me. I no longer feel like I’m swinging my gun wildly in shooters; with the tighter controls comes finer movement. So that’s another issue fixed.

And as ridiculous as it will sound, I love the new color. It’s boring old black, just like the Steam Deck and every other handheld. But you know what? The ROG Ally X wears it well, and now I don’t have to worry about staining my expensive handheld with my greasy Cheeto fingers.

What’s bad about the Asus ROG Ally X

There are a couple of pain points worth highlighting

Drivers are a double-edged sword. Yes, Asus is doing a remarkable job with its drivers, but since we don’t get them straight from AMD (there are ways to sideload, but this tends to cause other issues), there is a delay.

So, say you want to play Ghost of Tsushima, a recent release. Well, the current ROG Ally and ROG Ally X drivers aren’t the latest from AMD, so you get a warning the game may not play correctly, and this is all thanks to the delay caused by Asus needing to tweak drivers before releasing them, which means there are issues playing the game on the Ally, like artifacts and pixelation in the wind animations.

Small issues, sure, but I have also played the game with AMD’s latest drivers on an Ayaneo Geek 1S, and there I get no such warning the drivers are out of date since those are direct from AMD and newer, and I don’t see any artifacts or pixelation in the wind. So there is a price to be paid for being behind, and that’s new games that may not work correctly.

The plastic the ROG Ally and ROG Ally X use for their shells feels cheap.

Regarding aesthetics, I definitely enjoy the new color, but I would also love to see a new plastic shell come along with it. The original’s plastic feels brittle and cheap, as does the shell for the X. Think about how good an original Game Boy feels, the thick, hard plastic, how it felt indestructible but also pleasing to the touch. Many manufacturers get this right. I like the plastic Nintendo uses for the Joycons and its official controller.

Heck, Ayaneo, a company that prides itself on creating high-end hardware, uses phenomenal, super-premium-feeling plastic for its handheld shells. The plastic the ROG Ally and ROG Ally X use for their shells feels cheap, thin, unpleasant to touch, and grainy, almost like the plastic you’d snip away building a cheap model.

I don’t like it, and I certainly think we deserve something more premium-feeling for our $800. Of course, you can always go with a cheaper, though less powerful non-PC option in the Ayaneo Pocket S or the Pocket Air, but there are also a few things to consider with those models, considering you get much more oomph with the X.

I’ve also found the LED settings on the ROG Ally X to be a little wonky. Perhaps it’s just my unit possibly rushed out the door for testing, but I continually change the LED color, only to see it revert later. It’s not a huge issue, and I could turn them off if it really bothered me, but it is something my up-to-date original has no problem with.

Should you buy it?

Yes, yes, and yes. I have the original and plan to buy the X now that I’ve had a week to test the handheld properly. By and large, it offers plenty of improvements that make the cost worth it for me. Just about every issue with the original is now fixed; loose thumb sticks now feel great, and as far as frying SD cards, there are no fires here. Not enough room, pain to mod, now it’s easy to add storage and plenty comes with it. Only one charge port, now there are two. And I can keep going; there’s a lot more. Asus isn’t joking when it says it made this device for enthusiasts, so if you are one, boy, can I say this one’s for you.

Yes, some things still need to be addressed; there is no perfect handheld, at least not yet. Despite more heft that feels beefy in the hand, the plastic still feels cheap and thin. And out-of-date drivers can be a pain, but at the very least, this is why the ROG Ally is the most performant handheld in the market.

And now that we have more RAM, storage, and battery life, you can play more of your games more often and a little more smoothly; Asus is showcasing its know-how in the gaming industry. Sure, Asus has had its fair share of snafus, but one thing is for sure: it got the ROG Ally right, and the ROG Ally X is a more polished version that easily delivers on the promises of the original and then some.