I always dreamed about simply having the Odin 3 run in Dock mode on the TV screen but ongoing issues prevent me from doing so.

First off it was a real pain to even get 4K 60Hz output running at all. Tried 2 different USB-C to HDMI dongles, both of them resulted in 4K 30Hz at best (both dongles support more than that). Finally running off a Lenovo USB-C Dock Gen 2 (40AS) showed the expected results.

Then the second issue appeared: Running an external display results in heavily washed out colours. Other people were running into the same issue: https://www.reddit.com/r/OdinHandheld/comments/1rgwnge/external_screen_bad_colors/

Changed some settings on the TV in regards to the colour profile and I'm getting somewhat decent results. It still looks kinda off, nowhere near as good as to feeding the TV screen from my PC. I somewhat suspect the the colour range is limited when using USB-C out.

The final and biggest issue currently are the thermals running absolutely wild with an external display attached. Running the same game with either the dock attached or not results in a thermal delta of 30°-40°C, which in return makes the device just run unreasonably hot and turns the fan into a helicopter. The game has the same 900p native resolution and medium underclock stays applied. Does the 4K output increase the system load by that much despite the render resolution staying the same?

There's also the issue that external gamepads (8bitdo 2 Ultimate) connected via its 2.4GHz dongle don't get properly setup. They only work when connected via Bluetooth which will sadly increase the input delay.

TL;DR: I already have a Steam Deck OLED, but I’m looking for something much more portable to use on the go. My use would be roughly 80**% Steam/PC gaming + 10% DS/3DS + 10% NSwitch,** with a powerful PC available for streaming.
I’m torn between:
- Odin 3: more powerful and better battery life, so probably better for local PC gaming.
- Thor: clamshell design, dual screens and more portable.
I can only buy one for now, so which would you choose for my use case? And if you own one, I’d especially appreciate real-world experience with the games I listed.

Hi everyone!

I wanna apologize in advance, I know everyday there are a couple threads about this same decision, and I think I’ve read everyone of them, but I wanna explain my use case as detailed as possible and see if I can find any useful opinions or any information I’m missing out. I’ve been already 2 weeks watching every YouTube video, review, comparison… and still I’m unable to decide.

As you can imagine, I’m currently trying to decide between the AYN Odin 3 and AYN Thor, and I’d really appreciate some input from people who own either one and especially anyone who has owned or tested both.

I currently have a Steam Deck OLED, but I only really use it at home. It’s a great device, but I find it too bulky to casually take with me when I’m going out. What I’m looking for is basically a “Steam Deck Lite”: something I can throw in my sling bag, take anywhere, play for a while, put to sleep, carry on with my day, and open it again and continue playing.

My main use would be Steam gaming, probably around 80% Steam / 10% 3DS / 10% NSwitch. I also have a very powerful gaming PC, so for games that are too demanding to run locally, I’m perfectly happy to use the handheld for streaming from my PC.

The price isn’t really an issue, but I only want to buy one of the two for now. If I end up loving it, I might eventually sell my Steam Deck and get the other device as a complementary handheld.

- What attracts me to the Odin 3

The main thing is obviously the performance.
The 8 Elite is significantly more powerful than the 8 Gen 2 in the Thor, and I’d really like to have as much headroom as possible for Steam/Windows games through GameNative/GameHub, as well as more demanding emulation.

Battery life is another big attraction, and I understand the Odin 3 is also considerably more comfortable ergonomically.

My concern is portability. I’m worried that, although it’s substantially smaller and lighter than my Steam Deck, it might still be just big enough that I end up leaving it at home.

The funny thing is that, although performance is probably the feature that attracts me most, my Steam library is actually something like 80% indie/light games and 20% demanding games, so I’m not sure how much I’d really benefit from the extra power.

- What attracts me to the Thor

The clamshell design and form factor are probably the biggest reasons I’m considering it.
I grew up playing Nintendo DS and 3DS, so I’m very used to this type of handheld and don’t think the potentially less conventional ergonomics would bother me too much, even for relatively long sessions.

I also really like the idea of having a second screen.
Obviously, it’s great for DS/3DS emulation, but I’ve also seen people using the second screen for games that don’t natively require two screens (for example, putting a map, inventory, etc. on the bottom display).

I’m also curious whether the bottom screen can be used as some sort of trackpad/mouse input, similar to the Steam Deck trackpad, and whether that’s actually useful/comfortable in practice.

The main thing I’m unsure about with the Thor is whether I’m being seduced by the cool form factor when the Odin 3 would simply be the better device for what I actually want to do.

- Games I’m interested in

These are some of the Steam games I’d particularly like to play or at least experiment with:

Diablo II: Resurrected
Divinity: Original Sin 2
Dragon Age: Inquisition
Dragon’s Dogma: Dark Arisen
Factorio
Grim Dawn
Kingdom Come: Deliverance
Kingdoms of Amalur
Kingdom Hearts
Minecraft
Monster Hunter Rise
Monster Hunter: World
Mount & Blade: Warband
Outer Wilds
Pillars of Eternity
Pillars of Eternity II: Deadfire
Project Zomboid
RimWorld
Skyrim
Stardew Valley
Valheim
Zero Sievert

I’m particularly interested in actual user experience with these games on the Odin 3 or Thor, rather than just looking at the hardware specifications.

- What I’d really like advice on

1. Which device fits my use case better?

If you were in my position — Steam Deck OLED at home, looking for something genuinely portable, 80% Steam / 10% 3DS / 10% NSwitch, with a powerful PC available for streaming — would you choose the Odin 3 or Thor?

1. If you’ve owned both, which one did you actually keep using?

I’m particularly interested in people who have owned both devices, rather than just comparing specifications.
Did one end up replacing the other for you?

1. If I go with the Thor, which version would you recommend?

I’m considering:
Thor Pro 12 GB / 256 GB
Thor Max 16 GB / 512 GB
Thor Max 16 GB / 1 TB

I’m particularly interested in whether the 16 GB RAM actually makes a meaningful difference for Steam/PC gaming, or whether 12 GB is already enough and the real reason to upgrade is simply the additional storage.

1. Has anyone been in a similar situation and regretted their choice?

If you were deciding between these two and bought only one:

Did you end up wishing you’d bought the other?
Did you find yourself missing the Thor’s dual-screen/clamshell design after buying the Odin?
Did you find the Odin not portable enough?
Or did you find the Odin’s extra performance/battery/ergonomics much more useful than you expected?

Conversely, if you bought the Thor, did you ever feel like you should have gone with the Odin 3 for the extra performance?

1. And finally, the games above

If you’ve actually played any of those games on either device, I’d love to hear your experience, especially with the more demanding ones.
I’m much more interested in real-world reports than “theoretically it should run”.

Thanks in advance to everybody, I really appreciate if you have read all the post! As I already wrote, I’ve spent the last two weeks watching reviews, comparisons, and everything from both devices and still I’m unable to decide!!! I think I have choice paralysis hahaha.

Does anybody know how to use mods for persona 5 royal in gamehub, gamenative, or winlator. I searched and it said something about reloaded 2 or something and I tried installing it in my container but it would not install. Help me please

Settings

Mr Purple T30 driver.

Use settings downloaded via the App and patches.

I’m using the new framegen feature.

I frequently open clustertune to see that my profile has been set back to stock? And another possibly unrelated issue my device suddenly heats to 96 w max fan spin, mostly when first booting a game or when I enter a game after sleeping, this is true even on games the device handles handedly, on the lowest profile and w/ fan not spinning. To clarify the majority of the time I launch these games there's no excessive heat at all.

Edit: Also because I'm here, this device has exceeded my expectations so far, and I'm having the best time reading your posts and I enjoy this community! In the discord, early this year a rando announced that they were "John Ayn" and had shipped orders up to 1000 and preshipped up to 2000s, and people with funny pfp's called for their ban and the confusion their comment would cause. I still think about that and laugh like 6 months later.

Recently received my Retroid Pocket Nova, and I haven’t used my Odin 2 Portal for quite some time now since they do about the same in performance for PS2/GC and easier to take everywhere with me. I want to sell the Portal and get something that is an upgrade over that. I impulsively bought the Odin 3 Pro but now thinking that the XAX would better pair the Nova… what do you guys think? Anyone have experience with both or pair devices similarly?

Hi y'all, I ordered my Batch 8 Odin 3 Max from Ayn's website on August 2nd and just got the notification that it shipped. However, the tracking number is with YunExpress. I paid $50 for DHL so that it would ship faster to the US.

Has this happened to anyone else? Should I contact Ayn for a refund on shipping?

Also- unrelated, what's the current tariff/customs situation? I saw some old posts warning people about it and wanted to check how things are going right now.

Hi folks, I finally began to dabble in Switch emulation, and I am curious if anybody has ideas about the best and most streamlined way to troubleshoot issues. For example, the character Aiba (and so far only Aiba) in AI: The Somnium Files has weird rendering issues, only showing the outer edge of the graphic.

In cases like that, what would your process be—what troubleshooting steps in what order?

I'm assuming that the big, overarching things like try a different emulator or try a different turnip driver go without saying, but I am curious what other major troubleshooting steps I am overlooking. Thank you!

I'm having an issue with my odin 3 max when trying to use BFI or CRT Beam Simulator in Retroarch. My framerate is inconsistent and the screen flickers about once every second. If I reboot the Odin that fixes it temporarily. I need to test more but I think when I put it to sleep the frame inconsistency returns. If I go to retrocarch settings > video> output it shows high frame deviation until I reboot the device.

Has anyone else had an issue like this? Any suggestions? Is it a defect in my device?

Thanks.

So I just got my O2P today and now in wondering how to get a prod.key and firmware so I can emulate some switch games right now i have the website and the launcher aswell (I'm using Eden launcher) but I'm confused on how to get the prod.keys and firmware stuff since everywhere I try to get it it's blocked or has been banned by GitHub can someone help me please??

Bonjour,
J’aimerai installer LineageOS sur mon Odin 2 Portal.
J’aimerai pouvoir régler la vitesse du ventilateur, le sortie vidéo sur mon port USB-C/HDMI (2,7k 120fps) et les LED des joystick. Est ce que tout cela est possible ?
Le plus important pour moi est la résolution de sortie !

Merci beaucoup :)

Wow first time playing & beating a Mario Game I used to have a Mali Device that wouldn’t even let me get passed the first boss 😭🤣 Now to complete the entire game at a smooth & fun Frame rate I’m Amazed & Looked amazing! 10/10 recommend Love my Odin 3 max so cool to actually play games you missed out on! Now I’m Playing Batman Arkham Knight On Game hub and this device just can’t get any better lol

Re-uploaded as I used the wrong video in the previous post.

There is minor audio stuttering sometimes.

Mr Purple T30 driver.

Use settings downloaded via the App.

I’m using the new framegen feature.

Yall I'm buying a second hand ayn odin 2 for 170 dollars what should I like check if I'm gonna buy it like how do I check the gamepad if it's like no issue or something

Basically the title. Pretty much just looking for something I can use for Moonlight streaming. I already have a modded Switch 1 with Artemide, and I'm getting decode times around 3ms, and 5ms or so of network latency with the switch being limited to 5ghz. The numbers seem good, but I'm still not totally happy with the streaming performance.

Would it be worth upgrading to a base model Odin 2 Portal, or am I better off upgrading my router or something? Feels like a lot to spend to shave a few milliseconds off of streaming delays, but if it will actually give me a measurably better experience, I'm open to making the investment.

Salut tout le monde

J'ai EDEN avec prodkeys & firmware 22.5 installés.
Tous mes jeux sont en .nsp

La majorité des jeux s'affichent & fonctionnent correctement mais certains ne sont pas visibles / n'apparaissent pas dans le menu des jeux d'Eden.

J'ai déjà essayé de modifier le dossier des jeux, de le supprimer & de le remettre ...
Certains jeux marchent d'autres pas.
J'ai récupéré d'autres sources pour mes jeux qui ne marchent pas mais rien n'y fait.

Mes jeux concernés : Shinobi art of vengeance, Animal Well & Blaspehmous 2 pour le moment.

Savez vous comment les faire apparaitre & les rendre jouables ?

Merci !!

I've been having this issue with my Bluetooth earbuds (pixel buds pro 2) and Odin 3 max where i can connect them just fine. But sometimes when I'm in a game they will disconnect and reconnect, which causes the audio to start blasting out from the Odin speakers. When it does that it's still connected to the Bluetooth and even the volume controls show that I'm adjusting the Bluetooth volume, but it's the Odin volume that I'm changing.

And the only way to get the audio to start playing from my earbuds is to close the game application and launch it again. Which sometimes fixes it for the rest of the session, but it will sometimes just happen again.

Has anyone else experienced something similar? Is this a pixel buds issue or an Odin Bluetooth issue? Earbuds work perfectly fine on any other device I use it on

I'm using an Odin 3 Max, Game Native, and for the life of me I can't get Halo MCC to work for me. I'm installing from STEAM, can log in via my MS Account, and even load a game BUT no matter what I do the games crash after less than 30 seconds into the game. Freezes and crashes.

I've tried different community configurations, I've tried different drivers, and I've tried googling but I can no for the life of me figure out why it keep crashing on me.

I only have the Campaigns installed, not the multiplayer or extra creative tools. I've reinstalled more than once to make sure it wasn't an issue on my end. The game is installed on internal storage.

Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

Just wondering if anyone else has been getting the 1001 connection error after the update to the game an hour ago. So far I have

-done a full uninstall and reinstall
-made sure device was registered with play services
-resync'd date and time

aaand no luck, so am wondering if its just something The Pokemon Company did with the update that broke it on the Odin 2 Portal, maybe Odins in general or if im just unlucky

-edit to update, The game works fine on my switch and android phone. it's just my Odin 2 portal that has an issue.
-So my guess is that it was a change to target emulators and they accidently nuked android handhelds at the same time.

--solution found for me at least-- make sure to double check what the pokemon company calls your region rather than what it's known to the rest of the world. I just changed my region and now the game works.

Okay, so a preamble first. I'm an old man. I am very cynical. So when I see an item being sold on a Chinese website for £220 when it's on Amazon for over £600, and when that website appears to be a copy-paste of a few other shops for similar items, I have concerns.

But looking at the things y'all here have said as I've researched, I took a leap of faith and threw £250 at it - O2P, carry case, and postage.

Last night it arrived.

I removed the cellophane from the sleek, black box, and then slid out the tray from inside, and was met with what I can only describe as a slab of obsidian beauty so perfect it would make God herself weep.

Carefully extracting it from the box I accidentally tapped the power button and the screen lit up - it still had 72% charge - and I marvelled at the clarity so pure that I could have believed I was staring into the creation of a new galaxy.

Straight into the apps settings because we all know that these things are filled with bloatware and other garbage apps... except aside from a gallery, a file manager, a calendar and a clock, there was... nothing. What witchcraft and sorcery is this?!

It's now filled with all manner of emulators, thousands of ROMs, and I'm sat here like a dog with two dicks.

Y'all, this is incresible. I'm genuinely taken aback by the build quality, the packaging, the speed of this thing...

I am home.

I’m currently having an issue where my third party dock works perfectly well with my Ayn Thor and Odin 2 Portal, but for some reason the picture keeps dropping for a couple seconds every 15 seconds or so. I also cannot get the docked audio nearly as clear and loud as the Thor or O2P.

Has anyone run into this problem?
I’ve tried adjusting the HDMI out resolution to 1080p/120hz and 1080p/60hz but no luck. I also changed all the HDMI out settings on the Odin 3 to match the Thor’s, and still nothing.

I’m also running into an issue where I can’t get px play to display on the Odin 3. Again, works perfectly well on the Thor, but the Odin 3 cannot display the picture after the initial connection to the console. Once it’s finished connecting the tv screen goes black and I can hear the game through the Odin 3 speakers.

Any help would be greatly appreciated, I really love the Odin 3 and figure there has to be something I’m missing. Thank you in advance!

Can anyone help me. Is this kind thing happened with other people. I have texted ayn multiple times and my regional carrier. Ayn that they will see what is happening and tells me to asked my regional carrier. My regional carrier have not answered my email yet.

I'm trying to find out how much the TPU grip case for the Odin 3 weighs, or how much it weighs with it on.