ROG Ally Z1 Extreme running SteamOS gets 80Wh battery upgrade, Redditor claims unparalleled battery life improvement

The Asus ROG Ally is one of the most popular and affordable gaming handhelds available in the market right now and is a fairly easy way to get into PC or handheld gaming. However, one downside to the ROG Ally Z1 Extreme is its low battery backup. At around 10W, the ROG Ally will last you just around 2 hours.

Over time, many ROG Ally owners and content creators have performed battery mods to make their handheld gaming PC last longer and address this one issue with an otherwise capable device. One such mod surfaced on Reddit recently, where the user u/BetweenInkandPaper upgraded the battery of their ROG Ally Z1 Extreme from 40Wh to 80Wh, using a unit purchased from AliExpress. Do keep in mind that the ROG Ally in this case is running SteamOS and not Windows 11, which by itself offers a noticeable improvement in efficiency.

After upgrading the OG ROG Ally Z1E with an 80Wh battery, u/BetweenInkandPaper reported major battery improvements. On SteamOS, standby time is now around 8 hours. According to the user, with DeckyTDP set to 30W, the APU is limited to 30 watts, but the total system draws around 40W due to components like the display and fans, resulting in about 2 hours of playtime. At a lower 15W TDP, with total power draw around 11W, they claim the Ally lasts for more than 6 hours.

These numbers are impressive, almost too impressive. In a detailed comparison by The Phawx, the ROG Ally X, despite having a similarly large 80Wh battery and a more efficient APU, as detailed in the YouTuber’s video, delivers around 4–5 hours of standby, 6 hours at 15W TDP, and 3 hours at 30W TDP on Windows 11. Meanwhile, the Redditor claims their modded OG Ally running SteamOS achieves around 8 hours of standby, more than 6 hours at 15W, and approximately 2 hours at 30W.

The difference, especially in standby and light workloads, doesn’t quite match up. It could be due to SteamOS being significantly more lightweight and power-efficient than Windows. At the same time, as mentioned earlier, The Phawx highlights that the Ally X uses less total system power at the same TDP, hinting at better hardware-level efficiency. Whether it’s the OS, tuning, or underlying hardware optimizations at play, it’s hard to say definitively, but it’s an interesting contrast that’s worth paying attention to.

If you’re looking to upgrade your ROG Ally’s battery from 40Wh to 80Wh, iFixit has published a detailed step-by-step guide for a DIY battery mod. The mod involves replacing the original battery with an Asus A42N1403 laptop battery and installing a 3D-printed custom backplate to accommodate the larger size. It’s a moderate-difficulty project that takes about 2–3 hours and requires basic tools and care during disassembly. You can check out the full guide on iFixit to learn more.