I keep hearing how disappointing not having VRR on the OLED steam deck is and how the ROG Ally is better because of it. Unfortunately most fail to realize VRR has a range of 48-XXX. Most games that are quoted as benefiting from VRR don’t even stay in the necessary range. I think to many don’t understand what the requirements for VRR really are.
VRR is a game changer for me now personally.
Got so tired of juggling settings to try and hit 40 fps or whatever and then capping the screen refresh and even then it isn’t perfect. If you drop a few frames it’s very jarring and if you set your fps a bit higher, say 42-43 fps and cap screen at 40 to make it more consistent, you’re wasting power.
With VRR I just play the game. Feels a bit slow? Turn down a few settings. Continue playing game. It’s fantastic. I won’t buy another handheld without it.
You do know that the Ally has LFC meaning frame rates below 48fps are then doubled in refresh rate window so that VRR is not dropped. This is a pretty standard feature with VRR displays so yes the Ally still does benefit from VRR below 48fps
Also VRR range will vary from device to device. For instance the Xbox Series S|X have VRR down to 40fps and the PS5 has VRR down to 48fps. Many monitors can vary and some have LFC to compensate for lower frame rates outside of the usual VRR range.
VRR who?
No. VRR is very much a “nice-to-have” bonus feature, but in a battery-powered device it’s largely unnecessary. It’s a much smarter idea to have a game run at a lower, stable frame rate and reap the battery life savings. VRR is intended for having your device literally run at its max performance the entire time so you can get the maximum number of frames it can possibly generate, and actually display all of those frames immediately after frame generation, which would be a silly thing to do most of the time on a Steam Deck.