Your ASUS ROG Ally X download is crawling, stuck, or moving at a trickle. Maybe Steam shows 100 KB/s, the Xbox app sits at 0 bytes for ten minutes, or Armoury Crate SE won't pull down a game at all. The ROG Ally X is a legit gaming PC in your hands, but Windows 11's network stack has its own quirks on handheld hardware.
Before diving into the Windows-level fixes, try the simplest thing first: close everything and restart. Hold the power button for 10 seconds to force a proper shutdown, then boot back up. You'd be surprised how often a stuck Steam or Battle.net download clears up with a clean boot.
Switch to Performance or Turbo Mode
The ROG Ally X ships with three power modes accessible via the Command Center (the button on the left edge of the device). Silent mode caps the CPU and GPU aggressively to save battery, and that includes network throughput, the system literally has less power budget for WiFi chip operations.
Open the Command Center (the left-side button) and toggle to Performance or Turbo mode before starting a big download. In Turbo mode, the Ally X runs at full 30W TDP, which gives the WiFi card enough power to maintain stable throughput. I've seen downloads jump 3x just by switching from Silent to Performance.
Connect to 5GHz WiFi (Not 2.4GHz)
The ROG Ally X supports WiFi 6E on the 6GHz band, but most home routers still split 2.4GHz and 5GHz as separate networks. Windows 11 sometimes latches onto the 2.4GHz band because it has longer range, then gives you 30 Mbps when the hardware is capable of 800+ Mbps.
Open the network icon in the taskbar (bottom right), click your current WiFi name, and check whether it ends in 5G or 2.4G. If you're on 2.4GHz, switch to the 5GHz SSID manually. If your router combines both bands into one SSID (band steering), go to Settings > Network & Internet > WiFi > Hardware properties and look for the band, it should say 5GHz or 6GHz. If it says 2.4GHz, move closer to the router and disconnect/reconnect to force a band switch.
Kill Background Downloads in Other Apps
Unlike a dedicated console, the ROG Ally X runs a full Windows 11 environment. That means Steam, Xbox Game Pass, Battle.net, Epic Games Launcher, and Windows Update can all be downloading simultaneously without telling you. Check each open launcher's downloads tab. If Steam is pulling down a 50GB game and the Xbox app is trying to update another title, both will crawl.
Open Task Manager (Ctrl+Shift+Esc) and sort by Network usage. If you see multiple processes eating bandwidth, pause the downloads you don't need right now. Windows Update is a common hidden culprit, it often starts downloading feature updates in the background while you're trying to play or download a game. Pause Windows Update from Settings > Windows Update > Pause for 7 days.
Disable Metered Connection
Windows 11 treats WiFi networks as metered by default in some regions, which can throttle background downloads. If the ROG Ally X thinks your home WiFi is a metered connection, it'll sandbag Steam and other launchers.
Go to Settings > Network & Internet > WiFi, click your network name, and slide Set as metered connection to Off. Also check Settings > Network & Internet > Advanced network settings > Data usage and make sure no download limit is set. While you're there, verify your ISP speed with a quick Ookla Speedtest, if the Ally X itself tests slow, the issue is upstream, not the device.
Switch DNS to Cloudflare or Google
Your ISP's default DNS servers can be slow to resolve CDN endpoints for Steam, Xbox, and Epic Games. That translates to slower downloads as the system waits on lookups.
Open Settings > Network & Internet > WiFi > Hardware properties, click Edit next to DNS server assignment, switch to Manual, and turn IPv4 on. Set Preferred DNS to 1.1.1.1 and Alternate DNS to 1.0.0.1 (Cloudflare). Or use Google at 8.8.8.8 and 8.8.4.4. Save, reconnect, and restart your download.
Restart the WiFi Adapter
Windows 11's WiFi stack can get stuck after the Ally X wakes from sleep or after switching power modes. Instead of a full reboot, try resetting just the network adapter.
Open Settings > Network & Internet > Advanced network settings > More network adapter options. You'll see the Control Panel network connections window. Right-click the WiFi adapter (it's usually Intel or MediaTek depending on your unit) and select Disable. Wait ten seconds, right-click again, and select Enable. This forces the driver to reinitialize without a reboot.
Close Armoury Crate SE During Large Downloads
Armoury Crate SE is a known resource hog on the ROG Ally X, especially after Windows updates. It polls game libraries, manages RGB, and checks for updates in the background. All that activity competes with download bandwidth and CPU cycles.
If you're pulling down a big game from Steam or the Xbox app, close Armoury Crate SE entirely. Right-click its icon in the system tray and choose Exit. The performance profiles will stay active (they're stored in the BIOS-level embedded controller, not in the software), so you won't lose Turbo mode or fan curves. Launch it again after the download finishes.
Clear the Steam Download Cache
Steam is the most common download source on the ROG Ally X, and its download cache can corrupt over time. If Steam downloads start at full speed then drop to zero, this is almost always the culprit.
In Steam, go to Settings > Downloads and click Clear Download Cache. Steam will restart and you'll need to log in again. Then download your game fresh. The cache rebuilds automatically from the CDN and typically fixes stuck downloads in one shot.
While you're in Steam's download settings, make sure Limit bandwidth to is unchecked, and set Download region to the closest city to you. Sometimes Steam picks a slow region automatically.
Check MicroSD and Storage Limits
The ROG Ally X has a 1TB SSD, which is plenty for most people, but if you've got it filled with Game Pass installs and only a few GB free, downloads will slow to a crawl or stall. Windows needs scratch space during installation, and game launchers won't warn you clearly, they just hang.
Open Settings > System > Storage and check free space. If you're below 20GB, uninstall a few games you haven't touched. If you're using the microSD slot, note that the ROG Ally X relocated the slot away from the heat source compared to the original Ally, but sustained downloads + gaming can still push the card above 70°C. If your download target is the microSD card, try installing to the SSD instead to rule out heat-related throttling.
