• The new Decky Lossless Scaling plugin improves performance in Elden Ring at 18W
  • Frame rates went from 40fps to 75fps in tests on the Lenovo Legion Go S, as shown by YouTuber ETA Prime
  • We’ve not seen how this works on AMD Ryzen Z2 Extreme handhelds yet

The SteamOS modding community continues to make sure Valve’s platform offers the best handheld games console experience around, thanks to new plugins like Decky Loader for enhancing performance – and that’s right, we’re focusing on Lossless Scaling again.

As showcased by YouTuber ETA Prime (via Notebookcheck),the new Decky Lossless Scaling plugin, which is available on GitHub, increases Elden Ring‘s frame rate from 40fps to 75fps at a TDP (or power consumption) of 18W on the Lenovo Legion Go S. This is the AMD Ryzen Z1 Extreme model, featuring 32GB of RAM and officially powered by SteamOS, rather than Windows.

The performance boosts sound like they may be too good to be true, but it’s all possible thanks to Lossless Scaling’s frame generation capabilities. It’s also worth noting how impressive this is at 18W in games like Elden Ring and Cyberpunk 2077 (both moving close to triple-digit frame rates). It goes a long way towards significantly improving battery life from using less power, all without a major compromise on performance.

Most frame generation models come with the caveats of ghosting and input lag, with Nvidia and AMD taking measures to diminish those issues.

Fortunately, when base frame rates in games are high enough, ghosting, artifacts, and input lag become less apparent. And this is what the Ryzen Z1 Extreme processor (also likely with the help of 32GB of RAM) can help gamers achieve. Microsoft’s Windows 11 also isn’t being used here, which has weaker performance for games compared to SteamOS.

I’ve tested this Decky Lossless Scaling plugin on my Asus ROG Ally, and it’s easily given my handheld a new lease of life. Games like the Resident Evil 4 remake, which are slightly difficult to run above 40 or 50fps, can now reach above 100fps. Yes, input lag is present, but I can say it isn’t significant or noticeable, since the base frame rates aren’t too low.

Analysis: It will be interesting to see how this fares on the Ryzen Z2 Extreme handhelds

Lossless Scaling 2x enabled in RE4 remake on the Asus ROG Ally… (Image credit: Future / Isaiah Williams)

I’ve already stated how handheld gaming PCs are becoming far too expensive when considering the performance boosts over previous generation processors. Spoiler alert, the upgrades are not very significant, as shown in the MSI Claw A8’s benchmarks. However, I’m intrigued to see how Decky Lossless Scaling works with a Z2 Extreme-powered handheld.

While the new plugin is great for all handhelds, including the Steam Deck, certain games that are poorly optimized, like Dragon’s Dogma 2 or Monster Hunter Wilds, need an extra push from more powerful processors. The Ryzen Z2 Extreme doesn’t have a huge leap over its predecessor, but it’s likely going to have a huge impact when using a tool like Lossless Scaling.

Unfortunately, the MSI Claw A8 is nowhere to be found in most regions right now and is seemingly only available in Germany and other European retailers. I’ve got my eye on the Lenovo Legion Go S, using the Z1 Extreme, but stock and pricing are the two main issues.

Until those problems are addressed, Decky Lossless Scaling on my Asus ROG Ally running Bazzite is perfectly fine for me.

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