Can you boost the Asus ROG Ally with new thermal paste?
Image: Adam Patrick Murray/Foundry
The Asus ROG Ally has loads in frequent with the Steam Deck. It’ll additionally impartial aloof — it’s a negate competitor, in spite of every little thing. And a favored mod for the Steam Deck is to re-discover the APU thermal paste for increased performance. Are you able to enact the identical ingredient with the Ally, and its beefier twin-fan cooling setup? Adam Patrick Murray finds out within the most contemporary PCWorld video.
First, Adam grabbed some benchmark records for an unmodified ROG Ally, finding out for frames per 2nd and interior heat measurements. He then cracked the sucker commence, which is surprisingly easy with about a usual electronics instruments, disconnected the battery, and eradicated the all-in-one cooler apparatus with its six screws and vitality connector. The burly-skinny originate involves an frequent copper heat spreader with twin heat pipes going out to two fans.
Then he cleaned up the existing paste of the Z1 Coarse APU and applied a bit Thermalright TF paste, spread it evenly, and plugged the fans motivate in (a cosmopolitan step). It’s also handsome tranquil work getting the fans and contact plate realigned earlier than screwing them motivate down. With the battery plugged in as soon as more and a static defend reapplied, the motivate is snapped motivate into enviornment with its usual screws, and the Ally is ready to head (with a gruesome minute or so when it wouldn’t boot and wished a snatch from a charger).
And the outcomes? Cyberpunk used to be about a frames per 2nd faster, and ran a tiny bit hotter at the total wattage. In Horizon Zero Morning time, the temperatures and frames per 2nd had been nearly precisely the identical. The conclusion is that the recent paste would perhaps enable for the CPU to lope a tiny bit hotter, however you’re not going to head wanting the form of performance enhance that some users contain viewed within the Steam Deck. No longer if truth be told rate the bother, in numerous words. For additional nerdy deep dives into the most contemporary hardware, subscribe to PCWorld on YouTube.
Creator: Michael Crider, Workers Author
Michael is a used graphic vogue designer who’s been constructing and tweaking desktop computers for longer than he cares to admit. His interests encompass people song, soccer, science fiction, and salsa verde, in no explicit drawl.
