ROG ALLY

[extermist]

I've got a ROG ALLY but it came with Windows 11 pre-installed.
I tried a few workarounds to uninatall stuff like the firewall, copilot, disable updates etc. but the same workarounds that worked for my laptop aren't working for this thing.
I'm aware that certain parts of W11 are inherently awful and will continue to drain battery life.
I already downloaded the windows version of several games and don't want to have to re-download 300+ gb installers, games or emulators.
I also VERY hesitant to try changing the OS due to fear that I might encounter driver incompatibility.

For context, I don't use steam or any legal distribution services and I have 0.000000% interest in online play. So I keep the thing on airplane mode and keep it the hell away from internet connection.

The main reason I'm posting this is, is there any way I can improve the battery life and performance of this thing?

Thank you.

 

[AtomBlue]

I feel like the thing is doing its best for what it is. Batteries arent great with gaming, it heavily depends on the game you play. Other than that there is little that can be done, maybe any program that disables secondary tasks and programs while gaming can help, Nvidia has one, it may come with some Asus,tool pre installed that does that. Also lowering the voltage in the Asus menu affects battery and performance but you have to choose one or the other.

 

[Rocket2049]

I already downloaded the windows version of several games and don't want to have to re-download 300+ gb installers, games or emulators.

why would you need to redownload anything? put it all on a seperate drive or cheap 1TB HDD from anywhere before doing anything else.
you can obviously limit the GPU or CPU usage somehow this would just make games run worse.

you've gone through all the windows "services" and disabled everything you don't need
you tried lowering the resolution to like 720 or refresh rate to 60hz? or even lower if you can tolerate it
used absolutely all power saver options windows 11 has built in, energy saver stuff, all that?

i googled up other suggestions, idk how you do any of this so consult google if needed
limit it to 20w or lower in armoury crate TDP settings
turning off CPU boost (idk what this is)
change maximum processor usage down on battery (win11 power options) see below (lol 3% cpu)

https://www.reddit.com/r/ROGAlly/comments/1bg3rpl/you_can_get_5_hours_of_battery_life_on_the_rog/

the absolute other thing you should do is invest in a large portable power bank. look for one thats good for a ROG ally specifically

 

[nobitakun]

I've got a ROG ALLY but it came with Windows 11 pre-installed.
I tried a few workarounds to uninatall stuff like the firewall, copilot, disable updates etc. but the same workarounds that worked for my laptop aren't working for this thing.
I'm aware that certain parts of W11 are inherently awful and will continue to drain battery life.
I already downloaded the windows version of several games and don't want to have to re-download 300+ gb installers, games or emulators.
I also VERY hesitant to try changing the OS due to fear that I might encounter driver incompatibility.

For context, I don't use steam or any legal distribution services and I have 0.000000% interest in online play. So I keep the thing on airplane mode and keep it the hell away from internet connection.

The main reason I'm posting this is, is there any way I can improve the battery life and performance of this thing?

Thank you.

So, these expensive things come with bloatware OS? I would suggest to be a little adventurous and install Linux + Proton / Wine. Driver incompatibility should be well documented everywhere, and since that device is kind of old it is supposed to be well supported by mainline kernel. I believe Bazzite has full compatibility with it.

Just give it a try if you fancy these things :)

 

[extermist]

I feel like the thing is doing its best for what it is. Batteries arent great with gaming, it heavily depends on the game you play. Other than that there is little that can be done, maybe any program that disables secondary tasks and programs while gaming can help, Nvidia has one, it may come with some Asus,tool pre installed that does that. Also lowering the voltage in the Asus menu affects battery and performance but you have to choose one or the other.

why would you need to redownload anything? put it all on a seperate drive or cheap 1TB HDD from anywhere before doing anything else.
you can obviously limit the GPU or CPU usage somehow this would just make games run worse.

you've gone through all the windows "services" and disabled everything you don't need
you tried lowering the resolution to like 720 or refresh rate to 60hz? or even lower if you can tolerate it
used absolutely all power saver options windows 11 has built in, energy saver stuff, all that?

i googled up other suggestions, idk how you do any of this so consult google if needed
limit it to 20w or lower in armoury crate TDP settings
turning off CPU boost (idk what this is)
change maximum processor usage down on battery (win11 power options) see below (lol 3% cpu)

https://www.reddit.com/r/ROGAlly/comments/1bg3rpl/you_can_get_5_hours_of_battery_life_on_the_rog/

the absolute other thing you should do is invest in a large portable power bank. look for one thats good for a ROG ally specifically

Thank you, I feel that I'm cause of my own problems.
I mainly play Retroarch, RPCS3, Xenia then come the PC native games.
Lowering the power consumption gets in the way of performance and overall experience in a way that ticks me off, so that's more of a me problem (and I accept that).

I should have specified it earlier but when I say re-download, I mainly meant getting Linux versions of the games (should any of them have one) because I was under the presumption that the first advices I'd get is to install Linux to save on battery life.

Thank you for the advices.
I can't recall all the steps I've taken, so I'm unable to list them here, but I am considering checking out Tiny11, the only issues I have would be driver compatibilities..

 

[cornpops]

Well, I mean, what'd you expect?

Real talk though: I've found 11 LTSC to be a pleasant enough experience, and aside from needing to regedit the GameDVR feature off (because LTSC doesn't have a gamebar implementation out of the box, but Windows absolutely need-needs to start one the moment a DX/OpenGL/Vulkan context opens up) it fairs well enough.

Spoiler: Game DVR Thingie

There are a number of places which document this tweak (in case you don't trust a random like me). For instance:

https://www.reddit.com/r/WindowsHelp/comments/1ogh5uo/the_game_bar_it_sucks_lets_disable_it_mostly/

reg add HKEY_CURRENT_USER\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\GameDVR /f /t REG_DWORD /v "AppCaptureEnabled" /d 0
reg add HKEY_CURRENT_USER\System\GameConfigStore /f /t REG_DWORD /v "GameDVR_Enabled" /d 0

But the real meta is to run Bazzite or SteamOS on your Ally. People six months ago seemed to be having a blast with it, anyways.

Get yourself a nice little loader to handle your wine wrappers (I use Lutris, but there are plenty of other options (with less controversy)), your preferred emulation station, and roll.

 

[Vreeves]

If you're ever feeling adventurous, do keep in mind that Xenia emulator does not have a native linux build yet. You'd have to run it with Wine without any guarantees of stability. You should be fine with the rest though.

 

[extermist]

Well, I mean, what'd you expect?

Real talk though: I've found 11 LTSC to be a pleasant enough experience, and aside from needing to regedit the GameDVR feature off (because LTSC doesn't have a gamebar implementation out of the box, but Windows absolutely need-needs to start one the moment a DX/OpenGL/Vulkan context opens up) it fairs well enough.

Spoiler: Game DVR Thingie

There are a number of places which document this tweak (in case you don't trust a random like me). For instance:

https://www.reddit.com/r/WindowsHelp/comments/1ogh5uo/the_game_bar_it_sucks_lets_disable_it_mostly/

reg add HKEY_CURRENT_USER\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\GameDVR /f /t REG_DWORD /v "AppCaptureEnabled" /d 0
reg add HKEY_CURRENT_USER\System\GameConfigStore /f /t REG_DWORD /v "GameDVR_Enabled" /d 0

But the real meta is to run Bazzite or SteamOS on your Ally. People six months ago seemed to be having a blast with it, anyways.

Get yourself a nice little loader to handle your wine wrappers (I use Lutris, but there are plenty of other options (with less controversy)), your preferred emulation station, and roll.

I am more likely to trust a random (like yourself, especially here on RGT) than jumping into reddit.

I'm loving the responses here.️

 

[Deleted member 924886]

Guys, don't buy this nonsense from Microsoft.This device is just expensive, and that's the end of the story.I know a few people who bought the expensive version because they thought it would offer more features, but these devices aren't even capable of properly displaying Xbox Game Pass content. It's a complete waste of time and money. Even the Steam Deck is significantly better and doesn't cost too much money.