With the weather getting warmer, I find myself drawn to my Steam Deck more often than my PC for a less sweaty gaming experience on account of operating temperatures. Despite owning the what was the flagship LCD model with 512GB of storage, finding room for all the games I want to take on the go can prove difficult. While I could upgrade the internal SSD, the convenient boost of microSD more than covers my needs and Prime Day prices make picking one up all the more tempting.
SanDisk 512GB Extreme microSD card
“Ideal for your Android smartphone, action cameras, drones, [and compatible handheld PCs.]” – Sandisk
On Amazon US, the a 512GB SanDisk Extreme microSD card is now $35.69, down 16% ($6.95) from its typical price. On the other side of the pond, Amazon UK has the same capacity up for £36.19, making for a 17% (£7.21) discount.
If you need something larger, the price of the 2TB model has also fall significantly in both regions. In the US, you can pick the microSD card up for $165.60, while UK shoppers can get a hold of the storage for £151.99.
Whether you own a Steam Deck, ROG Ally, or Nintendo Switch 1, microSD cards like this make for an easy storage upgrade with relatively few drawbacks. On Nintendo’s console, this storage format comes with no caveats but there are some to be aware of on handheld PCs.
With a 170MB/s peak sequential read speed, this microSD card isn’t as speedy as every SSD on the market and is more akin to a hard drive on paper. In practice, this type of storage has enough throughput that you shouldn’t notice a major difference in load times in most games.
Speaking from experience, I’ve happily spent hours playing sprawling RPGs like The Witcher 3 as well as less-intense titles like Balatro without issue. However, problems can arise in more-modern games that require an SSD such as Spider-Man 2, where the performance of the microSD card can’t provide the necessary speed for asset streaming.
So long as you’re smart about the games you plan to install on your microSD card, you shouldn’t really notice you’re using it. You certainly won’t think twice about installation as it’s a literal plug and play upgrade for your Steam Deck.
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