The ASUS ROG Ally has had a bit of a rocky launch to say the least. With claims of SD cards being fried by internal heat, joystick deadzones, and performance degradation following the latest update, things have been rough.
Now, speaking on the ROG Discord, ASUS has offered an update on the current woes. On the subject of performance degradation, ASUS says following its own testing things have actually improved.
“When fully updated, including with the latest BIOS 319 and the latest AMD graphics drivers (downloadable in MyASUS), we are seeing performance on par with the launch BIOS version 3.17,” says senior manager of content marketing at ASUS ROG, Whitson Gordon.
According to Gordon, ASUS performed some tests on Cyberpunk 2077 and found the game ran at 38.44 frames per second on the 3.17 BIOS and 39.95 frames on the 3.19 BIOS when running the game on medium settings at 1080p with FSR set to auto.
“If you repeat these benchmarks but get drastically different results with a fully up-to-date system, please reach out to customer support at asus.com for help. These results were obtained with the Ally in Turbo mode, unplugged, and with VRAM set to the default 4G.”
On the subject of joystick deadzone, Gordon had the following to say.
“[…] we are still investigating reports about the joystick deadzones. There are multiple variables that contribute to the deadzone you experience, such as the game being played, the launcher and its controller layer, and of course Armoury Crate SE.
“Each of these factors can stack on top of each other — and since we know this is a big concern for many of you, we want to make sure we address it with the thoroughness it deserves. Stay tuned for more updates as we are still testing.”
On the big one, SD cards getting fried from the heat coming from the Ally, Gordon says if you suffer any issues to contact ASUS directly here in the US or here in the UK.
“We take user reports very seriously, but we would like to collect more data, because at this moment all of our test devices are performing within specifications.
“So if you do RMA your device, be as specific as possible about the conditions that led to the problem, including what operating mode you were in, what model microSD card was in use, and what the microSD card was doing at the time.”
Any data collected will be used to identify whether the issue is real and what’s causing it. In the meantime, a future update will be released that increases the ROG Ally’s fan speeds just to be safe.
“We hear your concerns loud and clear. We want to be precise, and these issues take time to diagnose properly. Rest assured we are continuing to work to get to the bottom of all your concerns.”
As always, I’ll be keeping an eye on this as it continues and will update everyone as soon as I hear anything.
If you want to take some precautions, I’d recommend setting a custom fan curve in Armoury Crate so your device stays extra cool, and it may be worth running the device without an SD card inserted until more info comes to light or a patch arrives.