Surprise, Surprise, the ROG Xbox Ally X is a performance powerhouse with SteamOS

Following the arrival of the ROG Xbox Ally X last month, a YouTuber has tinkered with the handheld to get it running SteamOS, Valve’s alternative operating system. The results might make for uncomfortable viewing at Microsoft, with the Steam Deck’s OS a perfect fit for the Xbox Ally’s handheld, offering top-tier performance and improved battery life.

For those who don’t know, the ROG Xbox Ally is an attempt from Microsoft and Asus to take on the market-leading Steam Deck, the current top PC pick from our guide to the best handheld consoles. It packs the hardware, most notably its AMD Ryzen Z2 Extreme processor, but in our ROG Xbox Ally X review, we found sticking points in the Windows operating system and $999 price point, scoring the device a 7/10.

While the testing doesn’t pit an Xbox Ally X running Windows versus one running SteamOS, but rather the Ally X with SteamOS against the Steam Deck OLED, it points to Valve’s operating system benefiting the Asus handheld. In games such as Cyberpunk 2077, Elden Ring, and more, ETA Prime managed to get the Ally X to offer frame rates upwards of 50fps, which suggests that SteamOS is pulling all the possible performance power out of the device’s AMD processor.

Outside of elite performance, the ROG Ally X offers more battery life when utilizing SteamOS. In our review, we found that we got about two hours of juice out of the handheld when running at 25W TDP, but in ETA Prime’s testing, he recorded around three hours at the same power level. That’s an impressive increase of roughly 50%, which means more time to play your favorite Steam Deck games without reaching for your charger.

In all honesty, these results aren’t much of a surprise. We’ve seen ETA Prime and other tech YouTubers test out SteamOS on multiple devices this year, including the Asus ROG Ally and Lenovo Legion Go S, and every time, it makes Windows even less of an attractive proposition. With that in mind, it’s no wonder Valve has spent the last few months making SteamOS compatible for more handhelds, and it seems like Microsoft has a long way to go before it can compete with the gaming giant behind the Steam Deck in terms of usability and performance capabilities.