The ASUS ROG Ally remains a worthy adversary for the Steam Deck, but owners of the handheld should be wary of the device’s latest BIOS update. While updating the pocket rocket should normally improve performance and squash any bugs, doing so now appears to do just the opposite.
The 319 update, available via the MyASUS app on the ASUS ROG Ally, reportedly brings significant performance downgrades to the point that YouTuber The Phawx suggests skipping it altogether. Through his tests, he’s discovered frame rate regressions in games.
Diving deeper into his The Phawx’s findings, 1% lows (which refers to the lowest frame rates you experience when playing a game) are much lower with the 319 BIOS update applied. These are in the range of 8-10% in some cases, including the likes of Cyberpunk 2077 and Red Dead Redemption 2.
The Phawx is unsure why this is happening, but recommends that ASUS ROG Ally owners avoid applying the update for the time being. Instead, he recommends staying on the previous 317 version.
Whitson Gordon, senior marketing manager of gaming content at ASUS, explained in a recent video for ROG Global that ASUS is aware of the issue. “Some users are reporting lower performance on the latest BIOS 319” and that if owners of the ASUS ROG Ally want to skip the current update, they are free to do so.
If you’re interested to find out more about the Steam Deck competitor, you can check out our Asus ROG Ally review and see if it’s the right PC gaming handheld for you.