ROG Xbox Ally X Performance Update with New Armoury Crate and Xbox Game Profiles

Updates enhance performance control, power efficiency, and gameplay stability on ROG Xbox Ally systems through new Armory Crate and Xbox profile features.

Hardware by Naheyan Tahmin on Nov 28, 2025

Recent updates have been released to improve performance on ROG Xbox Ally X and other Ally models. These updates include changes to Armoury Crate and new optimised performance profiles coming directly from Xbox.

The combination of these updates enhances performance management, power efficiency, and ease of use across supported games.

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Armoury Crate SE Updates

We recently received updates for Armoury Crate SE. These changes apply to Ally, Ally X, ROG Xbox Ally, and ROG Xbox Ally X. Armoury Crate SE 2.1.15.0 introduces several new features, including the ability to turn off certain performance and efficiency cores on the Z2 Extreme.

With the Z2 Extreme featuring three performance cores and five efficiency cores, the new option enables or disables cores from within the performance section. Not many users will utilise this, but it can improve performance or battery life.

We also see added key binding options to enter and exit full-screen experience mode, an update notification feature in Command Centre, and integration of AMD Radeon Chill behaviour into the FPS limiter. The FPS limiter has shifted from 45 to 40 for better compatibility with the 120Hz VRR display.

The bottom bar has been changed, and a Windows power mode option has been added for manual performance modes. Additional adjustments are listed in the full changelog.

Xbox Default Game Profiles

Another update comes from Xbox, introducing default game profiles available in preview. This delivers optimised performance profiles for each supported game, with around 40 games included at the time. These profiles automatically adjust TDP to meet target frame rates.

If a game drops below the target fps, the profile boosts power to recover performance. If it runs above the target fps, it limits performance to reduce power usage. This supports smoother gameplay and more balanced power consumption.

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Core Management on the Z2 Extreme

On ROG Xbox Ally X, Armoury Crate update enables adjustments to the number of P-cores and E-cores. With the Z2 Extreme featuring eight cores and 16 threads, reducing active cores to two P-cores and four E-cores effectively converts it into a six-core, 12-thread CPU. After applying changes, a system restart is required because the cores are fully disabled rather than parked.

We found that lowering the core count can increase iGPU clocks in AAA games because power previously allocated to disabled cores is reallocated to the integrated GPU.

This results in higher iGPU frequencies, sometimes reaching 400MHz or more, compared to running all cores at the same TDP. In some indie games, disabling all performance cores can improve battery life.

Default Game Profile Behaviour

Default game profiles are designed to hold a consistent FPS. For example, in a supported game such as Tony Hawk Pro Skater 3+4, enabling the default game profile sets the target fps to 60 and dynamically adjusts power usage. We can see TDP fluctuating between 13W and 16W depending on on-screen activity. This stabilises gameplay and reduces unnecessary power draw.

Xbox marks supported games inside the Xbox application. For example, titles like Minecraft for Windows or Hogwarts Legacy show “handheld optimised” tags, while others display “mostly compatible.”

Compatibility With Non-Xbox Versions

We tested whether the Steam version of a supported game, such as Doom Eternal, would trigger the optimised game profile. Although Doom Eternal is listed as supported on Xbox Wire, the Steam version does not activate the profile inside the Armoury Crate.

The optimisation currently applies only to Xbox Store/Game Pass versions. Broader support, such as metadata scanning for Steam titles, would help expand functionality.

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Final Thoughts

Updates continue to arrive for the Ally lineup, and the new features improve performance handling, power control, and user flexibility. Xbox appears focused on handheld gaming since the launch of ROG Xbox Ally and Ally X. More improvements are expected.

Users of any Ally model can test these features in the big-screen experience mode. Links to the Armoury Crate changelog and the Xbox hub provide access to further details on fixes and changes.

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