Gaming: Massive Difference Between How Well Resident Evil Requiem Runs On...

And if that really is the case, how long before it does the same with Z2 processors?

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Update 27 Feb: With impeccable timing, Asus has just released a new GPU driver for the ROG Ally and ROG Ally X. At the time of this update, Asus Armoury Crate doesn't offer the new driver, so you will need to manually download and install it. However, it's worth noting that they do nothing to improve the performance of Resident Evil Requiem.

If you own a handheld gaming PC that's powered by an AMD Ryzen Z1 or Z1 Extreme processor, like the Asus ROG Ally, you may have noticed something's missing. Not a feature or application, but any kind of driver update for the integrated GPU within the last six months. Paired with the fact that Resident Evil Requiem barely runs on the Ally, the rumour that AMD has all but abandoned driver support for its APU seems to have serious weight to it.

That claim has been reported by various tech sites, such as TechPowerUp, as well as by PC gamers on social media, but I already suspected it was the case, as I regularly use an Asus ROG Ally handheld to conduct performance testing of games. The most recent case being Resident Evil Requiem, where the device barely cracked a double-digit frame rate at 720p, on the lowest settings and with upscaling.

At the time, I assumed that the game was too demanding for the 2023 handheld, but our Wes tried it on his Steam Deck while ignoring all the glorious rays in Hawaii, and managed to get an average frame rate of 40 fps quite easily. The Ryzen Z1 Extreme processor in the Ally is significantly more powerful than the AMD semi-custom chip in the Deck, so there's only one explanation for the stark difference in performance: drivers.

The lack of driver updates isn't something that's exclusive to Asus, though, as the Lenovo Legion Go (another Z1 Extreme handheld) hasn't received a fresh GPU driver since September of last year, too. All while Valve has been constantly updating the software for its Steam Deck, frequently integrating all the latest developments in the Mesa driver set.

Now, while the Ally is hardly useless at this point (there are still thousands of games out there it can easily run), there's absolutely no way I'd recommend anyone buy a Ryzen Z1-based handheld now. Sure, no new devices are coming out with that processor, but if you've been eyeballing one that's heavily discounted right now, I stro

Source: PC Gamer