The useful answer is therefore less tidy than a GPU conversion chart: treat “GTX 1650 equivalent” as an approximate performance analogy, not a promise of identical frame rates.
What graphics hardware does the Xbox Ally X use?
ASUS identifies the ROG Xbox Ally X (2025), model RC73XA, as a Windows 11 Home handheld powered by AMD’s Ryzen AI Z2 Extreme processor. Its graphics are integrated into that processor; there is no separate Nvidia graphics card inside. ASUS also specifies 24GB of onboard LPDDR5X memory and a 7-inch, 1920 × 1080 display with a 120Hz refresh rate and FreeSync Premium.
AMD provides the more detailed graphics specifications:
| Specification | Ryzen AI Z2 Extreme |
|---|---|
| Graphics designation | AMD Radeon Graphics |
| Architecture | RDNA 3.5 |
| Graphics core count | 16 |
| Maximum graphics boost | Up to 2,900MHz |
| Default processor TDP | 28W |
| Configurable processor TDP | 15–35W |
These are AMD’s official processor specifications, not measurements of equivalent Nvidia performance. In particular, the configurable TDP describes the processor’s operating envelope—not a separate 35W graphics-card budget.
There is also an important naming trap. The ROG Ally X (2024) is a different device: ASUS lists that earlier model with a Ryzen Z1 Extreme and RDNA 3 graphics featuring 12 compute units. A benchmark labeled simply “Ally X” can therefore describe the wrong hardware for this comparison. One missing word can do quite a lot of damage to a shopping spreadsheet.
Why the GTX 1650 comparison needs qualification
BGR’s conclusion moves from AMD’s architecture, core count and boost frequency to a GTX 1650 comparison. Those specifications identify the hardware, but they do not establish matching frame rates. The article does not disclose a same-game, same-resolution, same-settings test between the Xbox Ally X and a specified GTX 1650 system. Its parallel Radeon RX 6400 comparison has the same evidentiary limitation.
Independent testing supplies a more useful, narrower finding. In Notebookcheck’s review, the Xbox Ally X delivered approximately 10–15% higher gaming performance than the previous Ally X. The publication conducted its principal benchmarks in plugged-in Turbo mode and reported a sustained 35W setting on mains power, compared with 25W for battery-powered Turbo mode in its review configuration.
That establishes a generational improvement under disclosed conditions. It does not establish GTX 1650 equivalence.
The practical implication is straightforward: a benchmark obtained at the handheld’s plugged-in power setting should not automatically become a battery-mode expectation. Likewise, the presence of a 1080p, 120Hz screen is a display specification—not evidence that demanding games will render at 1080p and 120 frames per second.
Does that make it an Xbox Series S equivalent?
Not on the evidence presented. BGR links its handheld comparison to an earlier GTX 1650 Super analogy for Xbox Series S, then introduces Grand Theft Auto V frame-rate figures. Those figures do not constitute a direct Xbox Ally X-versus-Series S test. Chaining two approximate comparisons together does not produce a measured equivalence.
The Xbox name also does not change the device’s underlying platform: ASUS explicitly specifies Windows 11 Home. For local gaming performance, it should be assessed as the particular Windows handheld it is, rather than assumed to reproduce a console’s performance targets.
How to judge whether it will run your games
A more useful comparison would disclose:
- The exact device: Xbox Ally X with Ryzen AI Z2 Extreme, not the 2024 Ally X.
- Power conditions: plugged in or on battery, with the operating profile stated.
- Rendering conditions: resolution, graphics preset and any upscaling or frame generation.
- The Nvidia comparator: an identified desktop or laptop GTX 1650 configuration.
- The same workload: matching game version, benchmark scene and settings.
This is an editorial checklist for evaluating evidence, not a claim that such a controlled comparison has been established here.
Bottom line: GTX 1650 is the rough Nvidia comparison offered by BGR, but the verified hardware specifications and reviewer testing do not prove an exact match. The stronger finding is that the Xbox Ally X improves on its predecessor while remaining sensitive to test conditions. For judging a particular game, a properly documented handheld benchmark is worth more than a convenient GPU nickname.