Really wish they would have just made the USB C port here 4.0 so we had option but these XG Docks do perform better than thunderbolt. Looking into install steamnos 3 now.
@@stfNmfN ofc they want you to buy their stuff thats how companies make money? nobody's making you buy it though and if thats the only reason youre not getting it for youre missing out lol.
The eGPU in the form of a dock (like switch) would be amazing. Just like the switch, we could plug the Ally in the dock and boom you're now gaming on your tv with maxed out settings.
unless Nintendo patented it. I learned its the reason OnexPlayer 2s controllers dont work with out the controller connector which is delayed. Nintendo patented alsp having the controllers give power while disconnected. Unless it has that controller grip.
Yeah the reviewers aren't addressing how quick of a PC the Ally is in general. Those mini PCs ETA tests with Ryzen 6900HX are around the same price as an Ally. I think the Ally is a better buy than any $600 Mini PC without a discrete GPU right now.
For anyone from Sweden. If you buy from Asus store you can get the XG mobile for only 798 euro if you pre order with an Ally! Just did it and can't wait.
I just wanted to say that I love your presentation style. You give all the pertinent facts and focus on the product over making yourself the center of attention, yet still are very entertaining.
I echo that! Looks like I may be selling the steam deck in favour of the Ally and already having a 3080 xgmobile means this could be my only gaming device. The deck is great handheld but isn't powerful enough to dock to my 55in TV so I just use the xbox, but this causes me issues with game saves between different devices. Also the reduced fan noise is a big plus for me, it's the main thing that puts me off using the deck. Thanks for the great content as always, was waiting for this video!
I'd love to see you test the XG Mobile 3080 variant. Another outlet tested it with the ROG Ally and the results they came up with seem terrible compared to the 6850M in a lot of games, and it makes me wonder if they don't have something configured correctly, or if the Ally just isn't tuned for the 3080 version.
I have a 3080 XG Dock from my X13 Flow. I’m salivating for when my Ally preorder arrives. The X13+3080 XG Mobile combo is fantastic, if this gets anywhere near it, I’ll be blown away.
I am personally waiting for the framework laptop with the removable GPU module because while a solution like an eGPU dock is cool, it is still less portable than just a laptop if you want that GPU power on the go.
The Framework Laptop 16 with a comparable dGPU module installed and power brick will in all likelihood be _far less portable_ than the Ally + XG Mobile. What you have to remember is that the XG Mobile _with an integrated 330W power supply_ weighs only 1200g, half the size and weight of an average gaming laptop. It isn't your typical eGPU dock that weights 6000g before you even install the graphics card. Together with the Ally the combination weighs only 1808g, _power supply included._ To put that in perspective, the Lenovo 300W power brick for their 2023 gaming laptops weighs 940g _just by itself._ Your average 15"/16" APU + dGPU gaming laptop weighs around 2500g. The Framework Laptop 16 with a comparable dGPU module installed will probably be even heavier than that, because the dGPU module can't share heatsink/pipe with the CPU module. The Framework Laptop 16 + power brick will about double the weight of the Ally + XG Mobile. That's going to be one chunky boy, cheaper to upgrade, but not nearly as portable.
I just found out a week ago that I am expecting a baby, I will be a father for the first time. Knowing this makes me want to change my set up. I want to get a laptop for work and I’m looking into a steam deck or ally for gaming. I have a 1070 hanging around doing nothing. I can hook it up and probably get a boost on the TV so this hits the spot.
Thanks again for everything you do! Great callout to the fact that the newer model might be a bit of overkill. For the huge increase in price, it just isn't likely to be worth the cost quite yet.
Asus really needs to make one of these with an integrated M.2 port. I'd love to do a 2 in 1 system where I can segregate all of the files I wont ever need in handheld mode so they don't even exist unless I am docked. I'd do this for personal files, work stuff and games that play like crap on a handheld. In terms of security, this would also be a huge plus.
2:20 I think you might be surprised by the 4090 even over the x8 connection. It’s already the mobile variant, and the 4000 series in general has something 10x the cache (64MB on the mobile 4090 vs 6MB on the Desktop 3090 and 4MB on the mobile 3080 Ti). Plus unlike the desktop it’s a 256 bit bus instead of 384. It might really not be held back by that port very much. Plus a ton of VRAM. All of this gives a nice buffer to that half speed connection. There’ll be a difference, but it might not be double-digit percentages in many cases. Would be a really cool thing to investigate. The cache difference and to an extent the bus width actually carry’s over to the desktop 4000s, it would be pretty interesting to see a comparison on how bottlenecked a 3080 vs a 4070 are (comparable overall performance) on various eGPUs. I suspect it might not be unreasonable to go a step higher in the 40 series than you might have in the 30 series, when using an eGPU. It would be tough to compare these XG mobiles to anything since you’d need essentially a laptop with a 4090 but I don’t think any of those have a cpu roughly equivalent to the Ally.
For someone who isn't interested in doing a PC build and/or someone who prefers the flexibility of being mobile, this isn't a bad setup. Pricing seems on par with some of the name brand companies' prebuilt PC's. So, you definitely could do worse.
Hmm. I think this is the future. Granted it maybe will never compare to dedicated CPU PC but. This is maybe my future gaming PC. No BS. Plug n play. It's like switch on steroids
So with the EGPU the timespy score is within 40 points of my Legion 5 Pro with a 3070Ti and AMD 6800H with 32GB of RAM. That's very impressive results. I bought this laptop right as the new 4000 series came out brand new for only $1,400 and I was happy for that price. That's basically the same price here with the handheld and the EGPU while on sale. Seems fair.
Folks, I have been doing a ton of research on this. Given that the CPU of the ally is equivalent to that of a I7 pared with this video card. You will be able play games maxed out at 4k with no issues. Other comparable machines with same or close to are running games at 4k over 60 - 100 FPS.
Looks excellent. Not certain yet but I might get a 4090. I've never really had cutting-edge graphics before. Might not be as powerful as a desktop 4090, but portability is a prerequisite for me. I've seen benchmarks of the XG 4090, absolutely phenomenal, especially with frame gen which really smooths it out.
@@zipperman6045 Can you chuck a tower PC in your backpack and go places? I see this silly point often and it's kind of moot. Desktop and mobile GPUs have always been apples and oranges. I don't think anybody expects desktop performance from a mobile card.
@@zipperman6045 I don't understand your suggestion. I wouldn't be able to get performance from a laptop that's equivalent to the Ally + XG 4090 within the same budget. I figured it was obvious that I wanted a handheld form factor (when not docked) that isn't too bulky to take with me and dock at places, which is why I went for the Ally instead of a laptop. And of course, I was looking for the best laptop-level graphics around, which the XG 4090 more or less delivers.
6850m XT is very interesting choice of GPU thanks for using that really wanted to see That GPUs performance. It's a shame that there is no high end mobile Radeon GPU in 7000 series . (Only 7600M XT) I guess chiplet GPUs weren't ready for mobile GPUs
the chiplet will be bad for battery life. at least 7000 series one, who knows amd might fix it in future generation but even so it still isnt gonna be as good as monolithic for power consumption on the same node.
Great to see the 6850m XT pairing. All other reviews only discuss the $2k RTX4090 eGPU, which is both overkill and absurdly expensive. Every time I saw a reviewer speak only of the 4090 option, I wondered why not at least mention the other, cheaper options (6850 and 3080)?
@@Ridku13 same debate as desktop. Do you want the cheaper card with faster performance or do you want to pay more for slower performance but better ray tracing?
For $1,600 you could definitely build a better system but the fact that this is also portable is a huge selling point I would definitely choose this setup over a stationary setup for the same price
3:51 it looks like you didnt set your iGPU vram to Auto instead of 4G which is the default. This could be done through the Armoury Crate or bios. By doing this it will only allocate 512MB to the iGPU leaving you with a total usable system RAM of around 15.7GB. This will make your performance a lot better on higher demanding titles and settings.
@@R_S4_B5 how so? It says that it uses a gen 4 x4 slot, that's still faster than a thunderbolt connection and it's been shown many times that you can run an egpu though that set up, if you're referring to the OS then yes I can still run it off of either an external drive via either USB C or through the micro SD expansion slot. Could you please elaborate further on any potential technical issues rather than just saying I'm screwed
@@visiblydisturbed1688 never heard what linus said ? You will not get full pcie speed storage and data wise or to be more precise for you, the longer the travel distance for the cpu to get the data is allready a bottle neck what so ever. You will bottleneck the cpu data wise.
@@R_S4_B5 I'm fully aware of the loss in performance, that being said it's still faster than thunderbolt and regardless is a massive improvement of the IGPU regardless of a 10-15% drop in performance, also I'm not intended to run in back into the built-in display, rather I'll be using an external, the purpose fory initial question was just how well it functions using the m.2 for an egpu, this would allow for any GPU to be used rather than be limited to the proprietary ones that Asus sells, not to mention would be considerably cheaper. Besides an egpu in general will always have reduced performance but that isn't really an issue given that basically anything you use would likely be an improvement
Just orded my 6850m off eBay for $700. Honestly, cant wait, and for the price of both, its a very capable gaming PC. I have my big PC in the basement, but having this on my 75" 4K TV in the living room is a game changer. Great video, you earned a follow!
This not being able to support 3rd party eGPUs, plus the only one USB3.2 is the deal breaker to me. I plan to wait for a solid handheld next year that can be my portable workstation as well, not just a portable gaming device which is kind of a waste to the potential of these windows handhelds.
Amazing video, please do a ROG Ally vs AOKZOE A1 Pro comparison, I'm curious to see if there is any difference between Ryzen Z1 Extreme and Ryzen 7 7840U.
The EGPU is a nice feature, but the proprietary connector is the reason I will never support this format. Can't wait for another handheld to release with the same chip, but a non-proprietary port for an EGPU. When that happens, handhelds will be a truly affordable desktop replacement option.
I wonder if ASUS is going to make an Ally + XG Mobile carrying case like they have for the Flow X13 + XG Mobile. The XG Mobile is definitely designed to be carried, coming in at 1.2kg, with probably half that weight going to the integrated 330W power supply. The all-AMD Zephyrus G14, one of the lightest gaming laptops, has a 1.65kg chassis and a 507g 240W power brick for a total of 2.157kg. The Ally + XG Mobile comes in at 1.808kg and sports significantly higher CPU + GPU power.
GPUs are frequently more than the cost of CPU, RAM and Motherboard combined even in desktop systems though. Clearly if you don't intend to play on the move, or have a burning desire for an SFF setup then get a full size desktop. Wish this was less, but also wish pretty much every desktop GPU was less too being honest.
Very minor nitpick, but I would have loved to see a 32gb model. That would've made it perfect for creative work. But honestly I think otherwise asus has done a bang up job with this handheld. I'm very excited to see this since honestly the XG mobile makes alot of sense with a handheld like this. I'm definitely gonna hope they one day make one that just lets you use your own GPU.
@@ericalexander3816 It's actually very profitable to sell large amount of enclosure vs tiny amount of XGM, but nVidia does not allow it, they don't even allow Asus use desktop GPU in XGM.
@@HyperOpticalSaint Yeah besides rumour has is that Nvidia is going to make their own handheld and if that is the case they will def not want others to sell their gpus for a unit that is not nvidia :(
High usage is a good thing. It means that the wattage setting was correct and CPU is nearly maxed in efficiency. Like he said he could always crank wattage up and maybe alleviate a little bit of bottleneck and get more performance if he wanted.
@@AliZurix GPU usage seemed to fluctuate mostly between 85% and 98% (and GPU clocks were all over the place) so yeah I guess it was bottlenecked. GPU clocks and usage stabilized at 4k but oddly CPU usage barely changed staying around 80%. HZD probably needs some driver improvements with the Z1.
USB 4.2 needs to come out sooner (80Gb/s support 100w+ power delivery), as it could open up a whole category of portable eGPU/Docking station devices. Not only could you turn handheld PCs into a more powerful gaming desktop pcs, it could also potentially turn smart phones into desktops as well. Have a Samsung phone running Linux (or Dex) connected to an eGPU/Docking device and bam!! a replacement desktop.
The XG Mobile/eGPU won't be a viable option for the vast majority of owners until Asus offers a much cheaper bare dock option that users can put their own desktop GPU into.
Great to see eGPU support, but not convinced about proprietary dock with baked-in GPU. One of the major advantage of eGPU is flexibility with multiple GPU cards in one case.
On paper the CPU in the Ally looks like a beast and the ram is very fast. Actually this set up looks very comparable to the PC I built with a 5600x and a 6800.
The Phoenix Z1 Extreme cpu is a bit better than the 5600x desktop cpu, since its zen 4 with 8 cores and hits comparable clocks (Even on the ally at just 30-35w). The 6850m is most comparable to the 6700xt in terms of performance, so you have the better gpu. Still its a good combo for the Ally and not terrible pricing (that egpu should be ~$500-600 at most, but atleast its not as egregious as the "4090" egpu at $2k..), although your desktop is one of the best last gen combos for price/performance, with the useful 16gb of vram.
Good thing aout Valve is that if they did introduce eGPU capability, it wouldnt be propriertary. I love Valve's commitment to open source. Hopefully the Steam Deck 2 will have all this
Two things: 1) It's too bad that Thunderbolt 4 kept the bandwidth the same as Thunderbolt 3 at 40 Gbps. 2) I wished that there was a ePCIe standard connector so that Asus didn't have to use a proprietary connector that you won't be able to use it with anything else, 10 years down the road.
I think for anyone who already has a xgmobile this makes for a great pairing and opens up a great way to game on one device at home and away. However not sure i would buy it along with the Ally unless i had money to burn and did more than just game, unless you could 4k video edit on the Ally like this....🤔 now theres a test you could do😊 Great content as always 👏
Hey dude love this video. It's literally exactly what I been wanting to see. I was planning on buying the XG Mobile 4090 for my Ally. I'm waiting for the notification to say it's back in stock. Is it not worth it to buy the 4090 just for use with the Ally in ur opinion? I know u addressed it slightly in the video but u never really gave a 100% answer. I have the money to spend. I'm just curious whether the Ally can use that extra power to run games
Well, as it turns out it might just have happened already. According to leaked DMs from MrBeast, Chris has reportedly been let go. “Yeah, unfortunately we had to kick him out.” Additionally, there is another clip doing the rounds where MrBeast’s official channel commented on a live stream stating, “I know I’m going to get hate, but the truth is we had to get rid of Chris.”
I find it crazy how expensive all egpus seem to be. As a person who just sometimes likes to play a (modern) game on the business laptop, I would like to see an egpu that is in the price range of a PS5 or Xbox...
Price wise this is actually pretty competitive. I mean for 1500$ it's more powerful than my 2000$ ROG Zephyrus G14 from end of 2021 with a mobile RTX 2070.
Pretty much a pure pc replacement, if all you did was buy these 2 things and a monitor, you can have a solid pc experience at home and just bring the Rog with you when you go out. All in all would be a decent alternative to a 2k pc at home and a 1500$ laptop on the go.
I think the biggest problem i have with the egpu is the cable is soo short. You can’t use it in any mode other than docked. I love playing games in bed with the charger plugged in, but you can’t do that with a 30cm / 1ft cable here. Very disappointing…
Anyone else remember when Razer did this with their eGPUs? Custom port etc... Anyone still USING one? Considering they released a few models that supported the interface and then ditched it entirely? Or how about the Alienware Graphics Amplifier? Compatible for ONE LINEUP of laptops/1 year and then ditched. Anyone still using those? Now how about everyone else... Do you expect your GPU to be unusable if you ever upgrade your PC? Or expect it to become unsupported in a year? As much as I love the whole eGPU idea, and even have a pretty decent HP Omen (also abandoned after a year or so by HP) TB3 eGPU enclosure myself, I am averse to buying anything that you can only use with what THEY decide you can. It makes an even more expensive GPU purchase a short-term-only usage purchase. I mean... If you plan to buy a new flagship laptop and GPU every single year and money is not even a factor, maybe... But...
Reminds me of how I found your channel back in the day for the pcie express adapter and I was running a Dell laptop with a full sized GTX 760. I am going to definitely be buying this set up! I already got an Asus ROG build pc.
Man that setup has me seriously thinking about ditching my personal room heater that is my desktop lol. I will need to see what kind of storage(hard drive) solutions pop up for the ally though.. 512 or even 1tb just wont cut it for desktop use especially when modern games are all 100+ gb these days
My last major build was 2014 and I'm right there with you right now. The xg 4090 is what I'm looking at but I'm surprised how good this older model works. My issue is having to transition my m.2 SSDs to an external dock through the USB hub on an XG and likely upgrading the onboard SSD to 2TB. I saw a video on UA-cam about that yesterday.
My question is, if I were to go all the way and get the 4090 XG Mobile, would it be bottlenecked by the Ally’s processor? I know the Z1 Extreme is not a weak processor by any stretch, but the XG Mobiles, especially the 2023 4090 model, were initially marketed for the ROG Flow line, which definitely have stronger processors (i9) than the Ally does.
This is exactly what I'm wondering too. I have the Ally preordered and notifications on for when the 4090 comes back in stock. I'm hoping to find an answer before I drop $2k on the XG Mobile. I really hope we get a video on the 2 paired together soon
Great video! It would be great if you can review the XG Mobile with some other proper laptop (like X13 or Z13). Also what do you think of the XG Mobile 4090? Is it worth it over the one u showed?
Really wish they would have just made the USB C port here 4.0 so we had option but these XG Docks do perform better than thunderbolt. Looking into install steamnos 3 now.
They want us to buy their overpriced XG mobile. I‘ll stick with the Steam Deck then.
Here's a challenge for you; edit your next video with the ROG Ally (with XG Mobile is fine)
you could use your razer TB3 one
@@stfNmfN ofc they want you to buy their stuff thats how companies make money? nobody's making you buy it though and if thats the only reason youre not getting it for youre missing out lol.
@@stfNmfN it's a purely optional peripheral that has no impact on performance when you don't have one.
The eGPU in the form of a dock (like switch) would be amazing. Just like the switch, we could plug the Ally in the dock and boom you're now gaming on your tv with maxed out settings.
Rip PS5
That would be amazing,Hope they makes something like that.
Would require the port to be at the bottom of the device.
unless Nintendo patented it. I learned its the reason OnexPlayer 2s controllers dont work with out the controller connector which is delayed. Nintendo patented alsp having the controllers give power while disconnected. Unless it has that controller grip.
@@ADOS_DSGB plug it in upside down
That CPU score is seriously impressive!
Yeah the reviewers aren't addressing how quick of a PC the Ally is in general. Those mini PCs ETA tests with Ryzen 6900HX are around the same price as an Ally. I think the Ally is a better buy than any $600 Mini PC without a discrete GPU right now.
@@ruzaroos it's priced better than a laptop jus grab a laptop case thing and you got a cheap laptop
@@Prodbytociletrue
I can believe this is happening i do remember when i was a kid and used to Dreaming with a Devices like this. THE FUTURE IS NOW !!!
For anyone from Sweden. If you buy from Asus store you can get the XG mobile for only 798 euro if you pre order with an Ally! Just did it and can't wait.
Those 3dmark scores compares to my desktop 6800xt. The performance he shows is similar to my PC. 😮
What's your CPU?
It is impressive but it should be when your paying 1100$ just for the egpu alone, and another 700$ for the ally
@@chrisr1679 the eGPU is on sale for $799, still expensive. Most of us in the US got the Ally for $629 after BB coupon.
@@brunobsouzac 7700x
@@OaklandTae what coupon?
I just wanted to say that I love your presentation style. You give all the pertinent facts and focus on the product over making yourself the center of attention, yet still are very entertaining.
What matters for me is the GPU utilization at 4k - It seems the Z1 saturates this GPU at 4k, which is nice.
Your review of rog ally is the best. Everything I need or want to know were all covered in great detail. Keep em coming. 👍👍👍
This was the tipping point for me. Already had the 3080 egpu for my x13 so the ally is a no brainer for me
Yeah! Same scenario for me with my z13
Ditto man, ditto. Drooling already. I got that same 3080 XG Mobile and it’s gonna be awesome with the Ally.
How much u bought that 3080 xg mobile?
No BRAINer
I echo that! Looks like I may be selling the steam deck in favour of the Ally and already having a 3080 xgmobile means this could be my only gaming device. The deck is great handheld but isn't powerful enough to dock to my 55in TV so I just use the xbox, but this causes me issues with game saves between different devices.
Also the reduced fan noise is a big plus for me, it's the main thing that puts me off using the deck.
Thanks for the great content as always, was waiting for this video!
Still need to see the 4090 version attached 🙂 Enthusiasts must know! lol
This is exactly what I was looking for! I needed to see the xg mobile performance with the ally
I'd love to see you test the XG Mobile 3080 variant. Another outlet tested it with the ROG Ally and the results they came up with seem terrible compared to the 6850M in a lot of games, and it makes me wonder if they don't have something configured correctly, or if the Ally just isn't tuned for the 3080 version.
I'd like to know as well
I have a 3080 XG Dock from my X13 Flow. I’m salivating for when my Ally preorder arrives. The X13+3080 XG Mobile combo is fantastic, if this gets anywhere near it, I’ll be blown away.
One month after my Ally arrived - I can confirm I have been blown away. I sold my desktop pc and am not touching my PS5. Fr.
@@shonen84 how is the performance now? I just got my rtx 3080 🤤
I am personally waiting for the framework laptop with the removable GPU module because while a solution like an eGPU dock is cool, it is still less portable than just a laptop if you want that GPU power on the go.
The Framework Laptop 16 with a comparable dGPU module installed and power brick will in all likelihood be _far less portable_ than the Ally + XG Mobile.
What you have to remember is that the XG Mobile _with an integrated 330W power supply_ weighs only 1200g, half the size and weight of an average gaming laptop. It isn't your typical eGPU dock that weights 6000g before you even install the graphics card. Together with the Ally the combination weighs only 1808g, _power supply included._ To put that in perspective, the Lenovo 300W power brick for their 2023 gaming laptops weighs 940g _just by itself._ Your average 15"/16" APU + dGPU gaming laptop weighs around 2500g. The Framework Laptop 16 with a comparable dGPU module installed will probably be even heavier than that, because the dGPU module can't share heatsink/pipe with the CPU module.
The Framework Laptop 16 + power brick will about double the weight of the Ally + XG Mobile. That's going to be one chunky boy, cheaper to upgrade, but not nearly as portable.
I just found out a week ago that I am expecting a baby, I will be a father for the first time. Knowing this makes me want to change my set up. I want to get a laptop for work and I’m looking into a steam deck or ally for gaming. I have a 1070 hanging around doing nothing. I can hook it up and probably get a boost on the TV so this hits the spot.
Ally bro :) good to go anytime
Thanks again for everything you do! Great callout to the fact that the newer model might be a bit of overkill. For the huge increase in price, it just isn't likely to be worth the cost quite yet.
Definitely. Not to mention that I'm sure the Z1 won't be able to keep up with even a mobile 4090. Maybe they're the perfect match though...
I’ve decided to sell my desktop and get this exact setup it’s literally my dream gaming setup
I hope you're joking.
*internal worries*
Asus really needs to make one of these with an integrated M.2 port. I'd love to do a 2 in 1 system where I can segregate all of the files I wont ever need in handheld mode so they don't even exist unless I am docked. I'd do this for personal files, work stuff and games that play like crap on a handheld. In terms of security, this would also be a huge plus.
This is a great idea
Thank you for covering that. I just recently sold my x13 flow to switch to the rog ally with my xg mobile. Happy to see I won't be disappointed ❤
2:20 I think you might be surprised by the 4090 even over the x8 connection. It’s already the mobile variant, and the 4000 series in general has something 10x the cache (64MB on the mobile 4090 vs 6MB on the Desktop 3090 and 4MB on the mobile 3080 Ti). Plus unlike the desktop it’s a 256 bit bus instead of 384. It might really not be held back by that port very much. Plus a ton of VRAM. All of this gives a nice buffer to that half speed connection. There’ll be a difference, but it might not be double-digit percentages in many cases. Would be a really cool thing to investigate.
The cache difference and to an extent the bus width actually carry’s over to the desktop 4000s, it would be pretty interesting to see a comparison on how bottlenecked a 3080 vs a 4070 are (comparable overall performance) on various eGPUs. I suspect it might not be unreasonable to go a step higher in the 40 series than you might have in the 30 series, when using an eGPU. It would be tough to compare these XG mobiles to anything since you’d need essentially a laptop with a 4090 but I don’t think any of those have a cpu roughly equivalent to the Ally.
For someone who isn't interested in doing a PC build and/or someone who prefers the flexibility of being mobile, this isn't a bad setup. Pricing seems on par with some of the name brand companies' prebuilt PC's. So, you definitely could do worse.
There’s 3070/3080 XG mobile you can get for a much lower price. I think it’s more than enough for a handheld PC.
its not handheld after... xg mobile is to make your handheld pc a good desktop pc
The only other benefit you're missing out on without the 4090 is the frame generation functions.
Lol
Hmm. I think this is the future. Granted it maybe will never compare to dedicated CPU PC but. This is maybe my future gaming PC. No BS. Plug n play. It's like switch on steroids
Cool factor is off the charts 👍
A touch pricey.
Kindest regards, neighbours and friends.
basically for 1500 usd you get a nice pc setup which you even can use otg. not bad.
So with the EGPU the timespy score is within 40 points of my Legion 5 Pro with a 3070Ti and AMD 6800H with 32GB of RAM. That's very impressive results. I bought this laptop right as the new 4000 series came out brand new for only $1,400 and I was happy for that price. That's basically the same price here with the handheld and the EGPU while on sale. Seems fair.
But isn't real game performance better in your laptop?
@@baskurthakan93No it should be around the same
Folks, I have been doing a ton of research on this. Given that the CPU of the ally is equivalent to that of a I7 pared with this video card. You will be able play games maxed out at 4k with no issues. Other comparable machines with same or close to are running games at 4k over 60 - 100 FPS.
Waiting for video with SteamOS on this device!!!
Me too 😢
I hope it works amazing.
Looks excellent. Not certain yet but I might get a 4090. I've never really had cutting-edge graphics before. Might not be as powerful as a desktop 4090, but portability is a prerequisite for me. I've seen benchmarks of the XG 4090, absolutely phenomenal, especially with frame gen which really smooths it out.
It's 2 grand for basically 4070ti performance
@@zipperman6045 Can you chuck a tower PC in your backpack and go places? I see this silly point often and it's kind of moot. Desktop and mobile GPUs have always been apples and oranges. I don't think anybody expects desktop performance from a mobile card.
@@OutlawMantis so buy a nice laptop and a egpu it would be cheaper than the XG mobile 4090
@John-Paul Hunt That's definitely fair. I'd hope that the Z1 Extreme is up to the task.
@@zipperman6045 I don't understand your suggestion. I wouldn't be able to get performance from a laptop that's equivalent to the Ally + XG 4090 within the same budget. I figured it was obvious that I wanted a handheld form factor (when not docked) that isn't too bulky to take with me and dock at places, which is why I went for the Ally instead of a laptop. And of course, I was looking for the best laptop-level graphics around, which the XG 4090 more or less delivers.
man how did you get over 1 million subs. Congrats. I remember when we were talking about mini consoles a few years ago.
$1999 for the XG Mobile (2023) (4090) 😭
dude this thing is worth more than my whole z1 extreme rog ally
I'm going to have so much fun with this in about 5 years when I can afford it
6850m XT is very interesting choice of GPU thanks for using that really wanted to see That GPUs performance. It's a shame that there is no high end mobile Radeon GPU in 7000 series . (Only 7600M XT) I guess chiplet GPUs weren't ready for mobile GPUs
the chiplet will be bad for battery life. at least 7000 series one, who knows amd might fix it in future generation but even so it still isnt gonna be as good as monolithic for power consumption on the same node.
Navi 31 is too big to go in a laptop, we'll have to wait for Navi 32
Great to see the 6850m XT pairing. All other reviews only discuss the $2k RTX4090 eGPU, which is both overkill and absurdly expensive. Every time I saw a reviewer speak only of the 4090 option, I wondered why not at least mention the other, cheaper options (6850 and 3080)?
Which one is better? 6850 or 3080?
@@Ridku13 same debate as desktop. Do you want the cheaper card with faster performance or do you want to pay more for slower performance but better ray tracing?
Considering the price, I am not sure, if it is cheaper to just build another desktop instead.
Fr
For $1,600 you could definitely build a better system but the fact that this is also portable is a huge selling point I would definitely choose this setup over a stationary setup for the same price
3:51 it looks like you didnt set your iGPU vram to Auto instead of 4G which is the default. This could be done through the Armoury Crate or bios. By doing this it will only allocate 512MB to the iGPU leaving you with a total usable system RAM of around 15.7GB. This will make your performance a lot better on higher demanding titles and settings.
Thanks this is def helpful that’s the first thing I did!
It would be cool to try an run an external GPU through the m.2 slot on the ROG to see how it handles, might try myself when it drops
You can’t, your screwed or you would need a external ssd over usb or thunderbolt which will limit you one way or the other.
@@R_S4_B5 how so? It says that it uses a gen 4 x4 slot, that's still faster than a thunderbolt connection and it's been shown many times that you can run an egpu though that set up, if you're referring to the OS then yes I can still run it off of either an external drive via either USB C or through the micro SD expansion slot. Could you please elaborate further on any potential technical issues rather than just saying I'm screwed
@@visiblydisturbed1688 never heard what linus said ? You will not get full pcie speed storage and data wise or to be more precise for you, the longer the travel distance for the cpu to get the data is allready a bottle neck what so ever. You will bottleneck the cpu data wise.
@@R_S4_B5 I'm fully aware of the loss in performance, that being said it's still faster than thunderbolt and regardless is a massive improvement of the IGPU regardless of a 10-15% drop in performance, also I'm not intended to run in back into the built-in display, rather I'll be using an external, the purpose fory initial question was just how well it functions using the m.2 for an egpu, this would allow for any GPU to be used rather than be limited to the proprietary ones that Asus sells, not to mention would be considerably cheaper. Besides an egpu in general will always have reduced performance but that isn't really an issue given that basically anything you use would likely be an improvement
Just orded my 6850m off eBay for $700. Honestly, cant wait, and for the price of both, its a very capable gaming PC. I have my big PC in the basement, but having this on my 75" 4K TV in the living room is a game changer. Great video, you earned a follow!
I’m scared to order off eBay lol any update ? And who did you order from?
This not being able to support 3rd party eGPUs, plus the only one USB3.2 is the deal breaker to me. I plan to wait for a solid handheld next year that can be my portable workstation as well, not just a portable gaming device which is kind of a waste to the potential of these windows handhelds.
Same for me, GPD is better for me I think.
Apparently the Ally is set up for this GPU to already be plugged in, even if not- in desktop mode. They need to fix that before launch.
Amazing video, please do a ROG Ally vs AOKZOE A1 Pro comparison, I'm curious to see if there is any difference between Ryzen Z1 Extreme and Ryzen 7 7840U.
Yeah, that would be interesting...
Negligible since they're almost the same chip. Better focus on the price and customer service, since I wouldn't trust a Chinese company like AOKZOE
Now it's a full-fledged gaming PC!
Very cool upgrade to graphics. Too bad the external gpu costs so much.
Makes less sense at that price unless you travel alot
The actual cpu cores in that z1 extreme are really good like wow
I need that CPU in the playstation 5 pro
@@SWOTHDRA *PlayStation engineers sweating heavily*
The EGPU is a nice feature, but the proprietary connector is the reason I will never support this format. Can't wait for another handheld to release with the same chip, but a non-proprietary port for an EGPU. When that happens, handhelds will be a truly affordable desktop replacement option.
This is the future of gaming , working , everything
I wonder if ASUS is going to make an Ally + XG Mobile carrying case like they have for the Flow X13 + XG Mobile.
The XG Mobile is definitely designed to be carried, coming in at 1.2kg, with probably half that weight going to the integrated 330W power supply. The all-AMD Zephyrus G14, one of the lightest gaming laptops, has a 1.65kg chassis and a 507g 240W power brick for a total of 2.157kg. The Ally + XG Mobile comes in at 1.808kg and sports significantly higher CPU + GPU power.
A low powered, disposable, mobile gpu for more than the device....brilliant!
GPUs are frequently more than the cost of CPU, RAM and Motherboard combined even in desktop systems though. Clearly if you don't intend to play on the move, or have a burning desire for an SFF setup then get a full size desktop. Wish this was less, but also wish pretty much every desktop GPU was less too being honest.
Very minor nitpick, but I would have loved to see a 32gb model. That would've made it perfect for creative work. But honestly I think otherwise asus has done a bang up job with this handheld. I'm very excited to see this since honestly the XG mobile makes alot of sense with a handheld like this. I'm definitely gonna hope they one day make one that just lets you use your own GPU.
That will never happen because well greed.
@@ericalexander3816 It's actually very profitable to sell large amount of enclosure vs tiny amount of XGM, but nVidia does not allow it, they don't even allow Asus use desktop GPU in XGM.
@@HyperOpticalSaint Yeah besides rumour has is that Nvidia is going to make their own handheld and if that is the case they will def not want others to sell their gpus for a unit that is not nvidia :(
The Z1 Extreme CPU usage in Horizon Zero Dawn was kind of insane (Around 80%). It didn't seem to be a bottleneck for the 6805M XT though.
High usage is a good thing. It means that the wattage setting was correct and CPU is nearly maxed in efficiency. Like he said he could always crank wattage up and maybe alleviate a little bit of bottleneck and get more performance if he wanted.
The GPU was definitely bottlenecked, the GPU usage dropped to 82%
@@AliZurix GPU usage seemed to fluctuate mostly between 85% and 98% (and GPU clocks were all over the place) so yeah I guess it was bottlenecked. GPU clocks and usage stabilized at 4k but oddly CPU usage barely changed staying around 80%. HZD probably needs some driver improvements with the Z1.
@@AliZurix
GPU doesn't bottleneck its the CPU, the CPU simply too weak for the GPU hence low usage GPU
@@beaconing7689 yes i meant the gpu was being bottlenecked by the cpu
Thank you so much for this review! I travel for a living and just wanted to know how it handled with this setup. Keep up the good work bud!
USB 4.2 needs to come out sooner (80Gb/s support 100w+ power delivery), as it could open up a whole category of portable eGPU/Docking station devices.
Not only could you turn handheld PCs into a more powerful gaming desktop pcs, it could also potentially turn smart phones into desktops as well.
Have a Samsung phone running Linux (or Dex) connected to an eGPU/Docking device and bam!! a replacement desktop.
This is seriously impressive stuff! I wonder in the future this is gonna replace stuff like PS5, it’s so convenient! Great video as always. :D
Just sucks you have to wait for ps5 games to come on PC for years
they should have just made a GPU hub with that port so we can slap any GPU we want, ASUS being ASHULS
If it becomes open source it be even better!
at 6:20 you can hear someone doing the deed
God of War part isn't named correctly. "Gof of War"
Meet the main character "Kaftos"
I'm assuming he rushes through these a bit. There's usually typos everywhere
oh man we are really advancing so fast into future
That plug into the ally looks like a really odd angle, do you think that over time the plug or port would start to bend?
I noticed that as well.
Best buy is price matching the ASUS price of $799. Got mine today using gift cards 😊.
Where did you get the giftcards???
The XG Mobile/eGPU won't be a viable option for the vast majority of owners until Asus offers a much cheaper bare dock option that users can put their own desktop GPU into.
Great to see eGPU support, but not convinced about proprietary dock with baked-in GPU. One of the major advantage of eGPU is flexibility with multiple GPU cards in one case.
On paper the CPU in the Ally looks like a beast and the ram is very fast. Actually this set up looks very comparable to the PC I built with a 5600x and a 6800.
The Phoenix Z1 Extreme cpu is a bit better than the 5600x desktop cpu, since its zen 4 with 8 cores and hits comparable clocks (Even on the ally at just 30-35w). The 6850m is most comparable to the 6700xt in terms of performance, so you have the better gpu. Still its a good combo for the Ally and not terrible pricing (that egpu should be ~$500-600 at most, but atleast its not as egregious as the "4090" egpu at $2k..), although your desktop is one of the best last gen combos for price/performance, with the useful 16gb of vram.
Those timespy scares are impressive! CPU scored higher than my desktop 5600x, and about the same score as a desktop 3070
Good thing aout Valve is that if they did introduce eGPU capability, it wouldnt be propriertary. I love Valve's commitment to open source. Hopefully the Steam Deck 2 will have all this
At least Asus's proprietary crap has a reason to exist, it is better than the non-proprietary solutions that exist.
With how bottlenecked usb4 are you are saving money going for Asus solution
@@tappy8741 what about oculink?
@@faustinpippin9208 Googling oculink it looks like it uses 4 lanes of pcie 3.0, half the bandwidth of asus's proprietary connector
Thank you for all of your content ETA ! My gf gets tired of seeing me watch these 😂 "you said one more video"
Two things:
1) It's too bad that Thunderbolt 4 kept the bandwidth the same as Thunderbolt 3 at 40 Gbps.
2) I wished that there was a ePCIe standard connector so that Asus didn't have to use a proprietary connector that you won't be able to use it with anything else, 10 years down the road.
I think for anyone who already has a xgmobile this makes for a great pairing and opens up a great way to game on one device at home and away. However not sure i would buy it along with the Ally unless i had money to burn and did more than just game, unless you could 4k video edit on the Ally like this....🤔 now theres a test you could do😊
Great content as always 👏
you can 4k edit on it the only issue is the 16gb of memory, its already amazing for photoshop as the cpu is fast
People are legit making music tracks with this device so I’m sure video editing won’t be an issue
This is amazing to see for the only reason that I only play my games at 1080p/Med-High settings
this thing is amazing .. but it feels like valve has done me a solid by selling me a deck at a amazing price so they have earned my brand loyalty
Brand loyalty...hella yikes
Hey dude love this video. It's literally exactly what I been wanting to see.
I was planning on buying the XG Mobile 4090 for my Ally. I'm waiting for the notification to say it's back in stock.
Is it not worth it to buy the 4090 just for use with the Ally in ur opinion? I know u addressed it slightly in the video but u never really gave a 100% answer. I have the money to spend. I'm just curious whether the Ally can use that extra power to run games
I wish there was a way to unlock that terrible d-pad and change it to something else.
It would be nice to have a swappable option for sure
Well, as it turns out it might just have happened already. According to leaked DMs from MrBeast, Chris has reportedly been let go. “Yeah, unfortunately we had to kick him out.” Additionally, there is another clip doing the rounds where MrBeast’s official channel commented on a live stream stating, “I know I’m going to get hate, but the truth is we had to get rid of Chris.”
@@ETAPRIME Maybe somehow it can get modded?
This is a really cool combo. Thanks for showing it.
The XG mobile egpu's are a rip off. I don't epect any warranty support from ASUS when it goes wrong.
It's only 800 bucks, what do you expect 😂😂😂
The system is powerful enough on its own to play at quad HD when hooked up to a 4K TV.
honestly, for the amount of money this set up would all cost, I could just get the best desktop available.
Do not know if you can try it, it will be nice to find out with the Mobile eGPU if the ROG Ally can handle SteamVR.
I find it crazy how expensive all egpus seem to be. As a person who just sometimes likes to play a (modern) game on the business laptop, I would like to see an egpu that is in the price range of a PS5 or Xbox...
if asus really wanted to knock it out the park,. the would make a gpu enclosure with interchagable cables that supports both usb4 and xg mobile
Price wise this is actually pretty competitive. I mean for 1500$ it's more powerful than my 2000$ ROG Zephyrus G14 from end of 2021 with a mobile RTX 2070.
Pretty much a pure pc replacement, if all you did was buy these 2 things and a monitor, you can have a solid pc experience at home and just bring the Rog with you when you go out. All in all would be a decent alternative to a 2k pc at home and a 1500$ laptop on the go.
I'm replacing my 3080 Ti/10700K mini-ITX PC with the ROG Ally + XG Mobile RTX 4090 😎 Will be much easier carry on at the airport 👍
Please post some gameplay when youre all set up 🤤
I think the biggest problem i have with the egpu is the cable is soo short. You can’t use it in any mode other than docked.
I love playing games in bed with the charger plugged in, but you can’t do that with a 30cm / 1ft cable here.
Very disappointing…
Anyone else remember when Razer did this with their eGPUs? Custom port etc... Anyone still USING one? Considering they released a few models that supported the interface and then ditched it entirely? Or how about the Alienware Graphics Amplifier? Compatible for ONE LINEUP of laptops/1 year and then ditched. Anyone still using those? Now how about everyone else... Do you expect your GPU to be unusable if you ever upgrade your PC? Or expect it to become unsupported in a year?
As much as I love the whole eGPU idea, and even have a pretty decent HP Omen (also abandoned after a year or so by HP) TB3 eGPU enclosure myself, I am averse to buying anything that you can only use with what THEY decide you can. It makes an even more expensive GPU purchase a short-term-only usage purchase. I mean... If you plan to buy a new flagship laptop and GPU every single year and money is not even a factor, maybe... But...
I need your into on loops video, it brings me back and so relaxing
Ive a flow x13 with the. Xg mobile 3080 i sold my steam deck to get the ally i cant wait to get it !
Nice 🤤🤤
Nice 🤤🤤
Reminds me of how I found your channel back in the day for the pcie express adapter and I was running a Dell laptop with a full sized GTX 760. I am going to definitely be buying this set up! I already got an Asus ROG build pc.
An 3060ti equivalent
To me it’s perfect for 1080p gaming
Awesome video, so much effort to do this video. Thankyou very much.
Man that setup has me seriously thinking about ditching my personal room heater that is my desktop lol. I will need to see what kind of storage(hard drive) solutions pop up for the ally though.. 512 or even 1tb just wont cut it for desktop use especially when modern games are all 100+ gb these days
My last major build was 2014 and I'm right there with you right now. The xg 4090 is what I'm looking at but I'm surprised how good this older model works. My issue is having to transition my m.2 SSDs to an external dock through the USB hub on an XG and likely upgrading the onboard SSD to 2TB. I saw a video on UA-cam about that yesterday.
This guy has the perfect voice to voice Android 17 off of Dbz/Super.
My question is, if I were to go all the way and get the 4090 XG Mobile, would it be bottlenecked by the Ally’s processor? I know the Z1 Extreme is not a weak processor by any stretch, but the XG Mobiles, especially the 2023 4090 model, were initially marketed for the ROG Flow line, which definitely have stronger processors (i9) than the Ally does.
This is exactly what I'm wondering too. I have the Ally preordered and notifications on for when the 4090 comes back in stock. I'm hoping to find an answer before I drop $2k on the XG Mobile. I really hope we get a video on the 2 paired together soon
no, THIS is the best sffpc
the IGPU scores remind me of my GTX 1050 TI 4gb laptop. I get 6500 on firestrike with it
Mine EGPU (same one) just shipped. Looking forward to it. To bad we have to wait another month almost to get the unit in our hands.
Very very promising!
Thanks ETA
Great video! It would be great if you can review the XG Mobile with some other proper laptop (like X13 or Z13). Also what do you think of the XG Mobile 4090? Is it worth it over the one u showed?
Man, that poor vase merchant can't catch a break. Someone always running up and punchin' the wares.
Wow! Makes me want to get rid of my set up and get all of this! Nice video