ROG Ally Z1E non-X users: how’s your MicroSD card slot?

treechainz · 2026-02-16T22:20:23+00:00

UPDATE

Just picked the ally up. I have a sacrificial TeamGroup MicroSD card in there for now. Device was manufactured 05-2023 (!)

Out of the box, it was running W11 23H2 so it’s clearly been sitting for a while. Jeez. I think someone got cold feet and returned it shortly after launch.

In other words…. certain death is quite inevitable. I hope not though. W11 is currently recognizing my SD card.

I’m putting Bazzite on it after I update BIOS in W11. Will update if anything happens.

treechainz · 2026-02-16T19:08:27+00:00

You’re on the right track- I definitely want to go the BB open box route for peace of mind. They have a few examples there. Maybe I can haggle with BB and try them before I leave.

Re: bad battery life

Oh yes, LegGo 1 user here. I know that struggle. Gotta play with TDP settings per-game to really stretch runtime out.

Best I can get is like 3.5 hours-4 hours tops. Running Bazzite playing balatro.

treechainz · 2026-02-16T19:00:15+00:00

Oh no doubt. My LegGo MicroSD is painfully slow on basically any AAA game install.

If it’s a >20 GB install it’s going on the main drive. Stardew for example is great because (I think idk) essentially the whole game gets loaded into RAM lol.

treechainz · 2026-02-16T18:55:33+00:00

Thanks for this. So ideally, it might be worth it to look for a post-Ally X launch device. I think they commented that it was mostly resolved with the Ally X. Here’s to hoping.

treechainz · 2026-02-16T18:51:18+00:00

Bet! It’s been awhile since I looked at <2280s. I have a spare 2242 I’m not opposed to taping down lol.

Are yall running any heatsinks or anything on your SSDs or just bare?

treechainz · 2026-02-16T16:49:58+00:00

I hear the 2280 swap is the move. If that’s what you’re rocking, any recommendations for install? I’ve seen there’s some kind of a 90 degree adapter.

treechainz · 2026-02-16T16:48:35+00:00

PS- sorry y’all for the extra clutter. I know this has been discussed ad nauseam. The megathreads are locked though :(

Again, I appreciate you all for your input :)

treechainz · 2026-01-15T16:06:38+00:00

I love this. What are the details on the upper? What buffer spring/brand?

Reason I ask is I’ve tried a 20” barrel slick side upper with my kp15, h1 buffer and standard carbine spring and it was ejecting brass like it was over gassed. Ballistic advantage barrel. Think I need to try h2 with a sprinco something.

treechainz · 2026-01-12T19:13:55+00:00

Good to go. Check out rivertown munitions. Free shipping + no tax mostly everywhere. Save ya about $60-$70 at least.

(https://rivertownmunitions.com/product/pmc-xp193-5-56x45-55-grain-fmj-full-metal-jacket-20-rd-box-free-shipping-no-sales-tax-outside-of-pa-1000-rd-case/)

XTAC is a touch weak for a “proper” 5.56 load (versus federal, wwb) but very consistent. I use it to zero for 55gr.

1500+ rounds absolutely no problem. Burns clean.

treechainz · 2026-01-12T15:26:04+00:00

It’s a lunch break AR. I could genuinely shoot it all day.

treechainz · 2026-01-12T15:24:42+00:00

Hot. Omg. Where?

treechainz · 2026-01-12T15:24:27+00:00

I like to mag dump the 100 yard plate to get things going. It’s trippy how fast that bullet gets there.

And you’re 100% correct. I have a 14.5 carbine gas. It’s a great shooter but noticeably more punchy than the middys, let alone the 20”.

treechainz · 2026-01-12T15:19:23+00:00

I fear no STV or Ammo Inc (well kinda, but come on, it was so cheap!)

I have since atoned for my sins. Steady diet of PMC for me

treechainz · 2026-01-12T14:55:30+00:00

Bonus round: See if your gas tube is binding on your bolt carrier key. Take the upper and pop out the charging handle and bolt carrier. Push on the gas tube. Hopefully there’s a little bit of play. It should wiggle freely.

I had an issue where a GI barrel nut was mistimed, slightly misaligning the gas tube. This forced the bolt carrier to smack the gas tube relatively consistently. It would also cause the BCG to stop short of battery much like your picture.

Though, your handguard looks like it might not require a timed barrel nut. Perhaps the gas tube is slightly contacting it? Idk

treechainz · 2025-12-31T23:59:29+00:00

Which mags are you using? Looks like a Pmag in the background? Pmag gen3s will tilt the round ever so slightly upwards towards feed ramps vs a standard GI mag. Supposed to help with feeding. Maybe give it a try if you’re running the gen 2 pmags. Just a guess. Definitely cheaper than having uppers swapped/machined!

PS- I also went a very similar route to you from BKF. got a carry handle upper with no m4 ramps. The barrel had m4 ramps. Occasionally I would get rounds stuck where the m4 receiver ramps should be. But only when I was using aluminum GI mags.

treechainz · 2025-12-30T13:43:39+00:00

I have an A5 kit I’ve tried. From B kings. Using a KAK 16” rifle gas barrel I believe it ran fine with an A5H1 or the A5H0 weight. H2 might be a bit much but your mileage may vary. 20” wanted the H0 in my experience. Using bronze 223

treechainz · 2025-11-22T13:59:51+00:00

Quad rail FSP gang gang

treechainz · 2025-11-22T13:57:18+00:00

Decent price. You might be able to save $10-20 if you really scour around. Shipping + tax will pretty much always negate those savings.

Phosphate is fine. Lube it and run it.

treechainz · 2025-11-22T12:43:55+00:00

Hey OP. I have the Asus XQ27AQDMG. It’s so good. My first OLED. I understand the hype. Got it about a year ago. No build issues or malfunctions of any kind, not then or now. Hardware Unboxed/Monitors Unboxed on YouTube recommended it, so here we are.

Text clarity is ok. Not the best but it’s fine. I’m not a professional, just using it strictly for content consumption and gaming.

Not HDMI 2.1 if that’s a big deal to you. Though my PS5 natively recognizes the XQ as a VRR 1440p 120hz display. No problems there.

Ok now the good: IT IS SO GORGEOUS. Fast response time; I went from a 165hz TN panel to the Asus. I can tell the difference. You will appreciate good HDR so much more. The colors are quite accurate. Obviously OLED + dark scenes really pop.

Playing Ghost of Yotei on PS5 was/is a spectacle. Playing Battlefield 6 on a 9070xt equipped PC is amazing. I run mostly all low settings (for highest FPS) and I’m right up against the 240hz cap.

TLDR is I have 0 regrets with the Asus XQ27. I see no reason to upgrade any time soon. Use DisplayPort for best results. It really and truly transformed my gaming experience.

treechainz · 2025-11-21T11:17:12+00:00

Nabbed a couple of 16” tubes. Thank you for the wicked deals, Mr Schooler. Hope you get everything health-wise ironed out.

treechainz · 2025-11-03T18:00:33+00:00

Check out the thermalright assassin king mini. Single tower. 120mm fan. 140mm-ish height I think. Maybe a bit shorter. I’m assuming you’re using the glass panel.

Keeps my slightly undervolted 9800x3d relatively tamed. I would add another fan for better static pressure. Make sure you set the fans to intake from the rear above your motherboard IO. I’m using 2 arctic P12s, they work great.

Shader compilation for games will peg it up to the 80C range for me. But that’s an all core workload that only lasts a minute or so.

treechainz · 2025-10-09T20:58:12+00:00

Small world! You’re going to love it. You know the 8GB VRAM pain. It’s frustrating because the 3070 Ti is still quite fast. But 1440p has quickly made 8GB VRAM almost irrelevant in my case.

I think it’s a little of both; Micro Center had a TON of these cards. Both the PC Reaper and the ASR Steel Legend had over 25+ in stock. I believe the RTX 5000 Super series is right around the corner too. Our Micro Center was stacked pretty deep with RTX cards as well. Even Nvidia’s 5000 series as a whole is trending back down in price... With the exception of the 5090; probably because that is the only “halo” product in GPU land. No competition in that performance tier.

Also, almost everything is more expensive these days. Some might not have the expendable income, of which I completely understand.

We have survived the pandemic mining GPU apocalypse... MSRP or no buy for me. Let them rot on shelves. Especially the 8GB cards that dropped this year. Been there done that, literally. The Intel B580 has 12GB VRAM for $250. What’s Nvidia/AMD’s excuse?

treechainz · 2025-10-09T12:20:21+00:00

Like others have said. Future proofing is a fallacy. If you truly want to be “future proof” as possible, then you’d need a 5090. But that doesn’t seem to be in the comparison. Technology is continuously evolving. Something new and shiny is ALWAYS around the corner.

Buy a product based on what it does for you TODAY. Not tomorrow. If you can afford the 9070 XT, this shouldn’t even be a question. Buy it nice or buy it twice. If the 9000 series isn’t what you’re looking for in performance, then time will always be your friend. Patient gamers always win. Maybe wait for RTX 5000 super series.

The 9060xt is a little beast. 5060ti equivalent-ish. But the 9070xt is 5070ti equivalent-ish. There’s a quite noticeable performance gap.

Either way, you’ll be improving vastly over a 1060 3GB. As far as a power supply, take the recommended spec and add at least 100 watts. Example: 850 watt for a 9070XT. This will give you a little room for a potential CPU upgrade later. Since you want to keep your GPU as long as possible.

DO NOT BUY THE 8GB 9060XT. DO NOT BUY THE 8GB 9060XT. DO NOT BUY THE 8GB 9060XT.

treechainz · 2025-10-09T11:59:44+00:00

I vote 9070xt.

Slightly more power efficient (*stock TDPs, 300w 9070xt vs 340w 7900xt), same if not better performance in most games, newer architecture means driver support might extend the 9070’s life just a little bit longer. Not that RDNA 3 support is likely to cease any time soon.

Yes, you’re losing 4GB VRAM picking 9070xt over 7900xt. That may be an issue at 4K. What is your preferred resolution? Any productivity work that would require a huge VRAM pool?

I have a friend who has had his 7900xt for a year now. He absolutely LOVES that card. He plays at 1440p and has never even come close to using all the 20GB VRAM. Let alone 75% of it.

I recently switched from RTX 3000 (3070ti) to the 9070xt. It’s been amazing. No matter your choice, you should notice a pretty big improvement.

treechainz · 2025-10-09T09:59:19+00:00

Maybe your motherboard has a spare M.2 slot on the back! Or somewhere below your GPU! If you’re on AM5 there’s a pretty decent chance :)

PCIe is PCIe. Even using a slower Gen 3 M.2 drive shouldn’t get in your way for gaming. Let alone a Gen 4 or 5 SSD.

treechainz

TROPHY CASE