DF Weekly: Asus ROG Companion hands-on edition

Today we have a massive 105 minute week of DF Direct, with me, Jon and Alex discussing reactions to The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom, as well as some insight into Jon’s service from last week. We also discuss the fact that Sharp will be providing a new display for an unannounced console (Switch 2?) and a preview of sorts of A Plague Tale: Requiem, the new 60fps mode. How did Asobo come up with it and to what extent does it actually shoot at 60 frames per second? We’ll learn more at the end of the week, but remember: there’s no such thing as a free lunch when it comes to real-time rendering, and we No Regarding the reduction in render resolution only. Either way, 60fps was a primary request of many console gamers and it’s nice to see that the developer has responded.

The focus of this post is on the Asus ROG Companion and why we didn’t do the restricted review last week. Basically, there seems to be a problem with my unit – 15W performance mode runs very slowly when plugged in. As I finished my review, several Ryzen 7840U benchmarks emerged that seemed somewhat out of whack with my results, which shouldn’t be due to the ROG Companion Z1 Extreme being on par or better than the results I was getting.

Through a process of trial and error, I eventually discovered that, on my unit at least, running from mains in 15W mode hindered performance, while immediately removing the power cord resulted in around 18- 20% met, making the results too imprecise and requiring a complete retest of the 15W performance preset. This is all the more strange because in high-power turbo mode, plugging the unit into the mains boosts performance as it should. I’ve talked to Asus about this and hope to get a new unit, but the 3DMark results look pretty close to the reviewer’s guide, so I’m pretty confident that my new 15W “on battery” benchmark is accurate.

• 00:00:00 Introduction
• 00:01:04 News 01: Tier of the Kingdom Launched!
• 00:26:05 News 02: Sharp Making LCDs for Next-Gen Switch?
• 00:34:49 News Story 03: ASUS ROG Ally Reviews + Our Impressions
• 00:50:20 News 04: Plague Story: Requiem gets 60fps patch
• 00:56:36 News 05: John gets new CRT!
• 01:02:53 Supporter Q1: With low sales and little software support, where will the PS VR2 go?
• 01:07:36 Supporter Q2: Can DF please review some recent buggy PC ports and see how they work now after the patch?
• 01:11:23 Supporter Q3: Why does DLSS 3 provide a smooth experience in games with high CPU load?
• 01:15:47 Pro Q4: Developers like to blame specific PC configuration for user problems. Can DF explain why PC performance issues are often common in all setups?

I’ll test my new results with a second unit, but it seems to me that the pre-launch claims of a 50 percentage point performance improvement over 15W and double the performance at max power aren’t entirely accurate. In fact, different games give different results, as you might expect. Below, you’ll see the best scaling I found compared to Steam decks in Forza Horizon 5. Performance is increased by about 29-33 percent over the Steam Deck at 15W, but the Turbo modes bring this up to a top level, albeit with a tremendous impact on battery life that essentially limits the Ally as a livable portable machine. controls in

And that’s where I see the key difference between this new type of Windows laptop and the Steam Deck. Valve has invested time, effort, and money in not only making a good handheld, but backing it up with software that allows it to function like a laptop. portable game machine

Compared to a laptop, which is the way I’d like to describe the Aly and products like the AyaNeo 2. From a usability perspective, there’s a gulf between the SteamOS experience and Windows 11, with front-end software on top. It’s simple things, like the machine not returning to the desktop screen that tells you to plug in your PC when it reaches five percent battery life. Or the ability to access all Steam features without having to alt-tab in Windows to go offline. Or using a frame rate limiter that works!

It’s still early days for ROG Aly, and as other reviews suggest, there are bugs to be worked out, but Aly will eventually find an audience for hardcore PC enthusiasts. The 1080p, 120Hz VRR screen is much better than the deck’s counterpart. The cooling package is state-of-the-art and very quiet, even in turbo mode at 25W – it really is amazing. And yes, even in 15W performance mode, there’s an extra layer of performance that brings back the ability to play “too big for a Steam deck” games.

forza horizon 5, alto, taa

However, as with the IonOio 2 – also running Windows 11 – the fact is that to harness the chip’s full potential, battery life will have to be significantly reduced. It reminds us of what the Core architecture was designed for – laptops – and why Valve appears to be happy with the performance profile of its Steam Deck APUs. However, take a look at the benchmarks above – at its best, it’s a force to be reckoned with and I’m sure it will do very well indeed. I’ll post a full review as soon as I’m sure my sample doesn’t have any issues.

Other topics in this week’s Direct? John recently picked up an old Bang & Olufsen CRT which is quite heavy in its own right, but has a motorized rotating base which adds to its back-breaking mass – but why did he get it? Also, a question from one backer simply asks: Remember PlayStation VR2? where were you We’ve had multiple requests to review all the PC ports we’ve reviewed this year, which have launched in such poor shape, while we stand by from publishers to social media trying to blame poor performance on users’ hardware . Also: why does DLSS 3 manage markedly better performance in CPU-heavy PC titles? We have a few theories about this, and it’s due to the fact that limiting frame-rates on high refresh rate displays produces an unexpected, but rather welcome, fluidity improvement in some games.

That’s our schedule for this week, but I thought I’d take this opportunity to remind you all of the many benefits of a DF supporter program, at least the ability to watch or listen to the program before its public release, in the making Ability to help and, of course, get a variety of bonus content, early access and much more. Membership has its privileges, as stated in American Express’s advertising. join us!