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- Runs really well on the Z2 Extreme at 1080p FSR Performance with custom settings.
- The same settings scale well across 17W, 25W and 35W, so you don't need to keep changing them.
- 17W sits in the 30s and 40s, 25W mostly in the 50s, and 35W around 50 to 65, sometimes into the 70s.
- VRR smooths out the fluctuation. I stayed away from frame gen in this fast racer.
I'm still having a blast with Star Wars: Galactic Racer, and it runs really well on the Z2 Extreme handhelds, including the ROG Xbox Ally X. I tried it at 17, 25 and 35 watts with one set of custom settings at 1080p and FSR upscaling, and the gameplay in the video covers the campaign, arcade and multiplayer at 35W.
What I tested
- Xbox mode (whether it helps much with resources varies per game)
- Steam version
- 1080p 16:9, uncapped, fullscreen, V-Sync off (VRR works great on this screen)
- Upscaling: FSR Performance
- 17W, 25W and 35W, 8GB VRAM
Custom settings
- Foliage and anti-aliasing: Medium
- Global illumination: Low
- Landscape, post-processing, reflection and shader quality: Medium
- Shadow and visual effects: Low
- Texture quality: High
- View distance: Medium
These settings fall in between for performance, so you can adjust up or down for visual quality or frame rate. If you want less upscaling, you could go 720p or 900p, but depending on what you do there you wind up with the same FPS as 1080p anyway.
Performance by TDP
The good thing about these settings is that they scale pretty well across 17, 25 and 35W, so you don't have to change much if you want to squeeze more battery out of it. Same race at each TDP:
- 17W: in the 30s and 40s (overlay showed low 40s in the stretch I sampled)
- 25W: mostly in the 50s, sometimes the 60s
- 35W: 50 to 65 FPS, and in some cases up into the 70s
How much it moves around depends on the map, the effects and how many racers are on screen. If you want to go even lower on TDP, or lock it to 30 FPS, you can lower some settings from there.
With VRR on the device itself, I don't mind that 50 to 65 FPS fluctuation at all. It looks and runs really well. I stayed away from frame generation, since I just didn't prefer it over native performance in a racer this fast.
Verdict
Star Wars: Galactic Racer is a good fit for the ROG Xbox Ally X. One custom setup at 1080p FSR Performance covers everything from 17W for battery life to 35W for 60-plus most of the time, and you can tweak the settings up or down for more visuals or more frame rate.
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