The ROG Ally is a new gaming portable that looks to challenge the Steam Deck as the ultimate handheld gaming portable.
One of the most common questions asked about this portable is how powerful it will be, especially when compared to other handheld systems. Now Asus has finally confirmed the specs of the device, with the base model powered by the new Ryzen Z1 chip.
But what exactly is the Ryzen Z1 chip? And how does it differ from the competition? We’ve created this guide to explain everything.
What is the Ryzen Z1?
The Ryzen Z1 is a new processor from AMD that’s designed specifically handheld gaming devices, and will debut on the Asus ROG Ally.
The chip is built on AMD’s 4nm Zen 4 architecture and uses RDNA 3 graphics. This means the Ryzen Z1 is using the same foundations as the latest CPUs and GPUs from AMD, and supports upscaling technology such as FSR and RSR.
The Ryzen Z1 features 6 cores and 12 threads, as well as 4x RDNA 3 graphics compute units. AMD will also be launching the Ryzen Z1 Extreme as an even more powerful option for the ROG Ally. The Extreme variant packs 8 cores, 16 threads and 12x RDNA 3 graphics compute units, and so should see noticeably faster performance.
Interestingly, VideoCardz reports that AMD could also be shipping Ryzen Z1 Extreme under another guise to other manufacturers beyond Asus.
Leaks indicate an upcoming AMD Ryzen 7 7840U APU, with Radeon 780M graphics, will be made available for portable gaming devices. It looks to have the exact same specs as the Ryzen Z1 Extreme, indicating that we could see more gaming portables released in the future with the same level of performance as the ROG Ally.
The Ryzen Z1 looks like a promising chip that will seemingly offer an even faster performance than the custom AMD APU inside the Steam Deck. You check out a specs comparison of the chips below.
| Steam Deck chip | Ryzen Z1 | Ryzen Z1 Extreme | |
| CPU architecture | Zen 2 | Zen 4 | Zen 4 |
| Cores / Threads | 4 / 8 | 6 / 12 | 8 / 16 |
| GPU architecture | RDNA 2 | RDNA 3 | RDNA 3 |
| Graphics Compute Units | 8 | 4 | 12 |
Of course, we won’t know what kind of performance the Ryzen Z1 will be capable of until we get the ROG Ally in for testing. So make sure to keep an eye on Trusted Reviews for review in the coming months.
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Editorial independence
Editorial independence means being able to give an unbiased verdict about a product or company, with the avoidance of conflicts of interest. To ensure this is possible, every member of the editorial staff follows a clear code of conduct.
Professional conduct
We also expect our journalists to follow clear ethical standards in their work. Our staff members must strive for honesty and accuracy in everything they do. We follow the IPSO Editors’ code of practice to underpin these standards.