Microsoft and Asus have optimized the Windows system and turned off unnecessary background tasks on the new generation of ROG Xbox handheld X to squeeze out more frame rates without increasing power consumption limits, but it turns out that the potential of this hardware is much more than that.
A test conducted by Cyber Dopamine showed that when running a Linux system, the performance of ROG Xbox Ally was significantly better than that of its pre-installed Windows system, and the frame rate even increased by as much as 32%.
It installed Bazzite, a Linux distribution designed for handheld consoles, on the ROG Xbox Ally. Visually, Bazzite is identical to SteamOS, but has its own custom menus and settings for customizable power profiles.
When testing the game "Kingdom of Heaven: Deliverance 2", the frame rates of different power consumption are as follows:
In 17W power consumption mode: Linux (Bazzite) reached 62FPS, while Windows only had 47FPS, and Linux led by 15FPS (+31.91%).
In 13W power consumption mode: Linux still leads Windows with 37FPS at 35FPS (+5.71%).
In the test of "Legacy of Hogwarts", Linux also maintained its lead in high power consumption mode:
In 17W mode: Linux is 62FPS, Windows is 50FPS, and Linux leads by 12FPS (+24.00%).
In 35W mode: Linux leads Windows with 65 FPS (+8.33%) at 60 FPS.
Overall, the average frame rate of Linux increased by 6.6FPS compared to Windows, an improvement of 13.47%. , only in the 13W mode of "Hogwarts Legacy" are the two basically equal, with Linux slightly behind by 1 FPS.
In addition to higher frame rates, Linux also performs better in frame rate stability. According to Cyber, the FPS curve on Windows often fluctuates, while the frame rate graph on Bazzite remains flat.
What's more, on Bazzite, waking Xbox Ally from hibernation is instantaneous, whereas Windows often takes up to 40 seconds to fully enter sleep with the fans off, and wakes up in about 15 seconds.
