Depending on the type of Steam Deck owner, the built-in storage on Valve’s handheld PC is sure to fill up quickly. For the 512GB version that is likely going to take a while depending on personal preference, but on the 256GB and especially on the 64GB Steam Deck units it won’t be long before users start to fight for storage space. Luckily, Valve has included theSteam Deckwith a high-speed microSD card slot for additional storage.
In our testing of various microSD cards for the Steam Deck, we found that one of the best is the SanDisk Extreme Pro UHS-I card. It’s one of the faster microSD options on the market for the Steam Deck and based on size, is fairly affordable.
The SanDisk Extreme Pro UHS-I is available in a lot of different options, from 32GB up to 1TB, which should give Steam Deck owners plenty of extra space games. For the NVME Steam Deck versions it’s possible to double or triple the storage space, but for 64GB Steam Deck owners, many of the options will be a huge boon.
SanDisk rates the Extreme Pro UHS-I microSD card that we tested as having a read speed of 170MB/s and a write speed of 90MB/s. Those speeds might not mean much for those who use a microSD card for storage on their Nintendo Switch or for video file transfer, but in the Steam Deck they are significant. At present, the SanDisk Extreme Pro UHS-I is one of the few microSD cards capable of matching or exceeding the loading speeds of the internal Steam DeckNVME drives(the 64GB unit uses a slower SSD).
While an extra half a second quicker loading time is negligible for a lot of Steam Deck users, those who are looking for the fastest option out there should consider the SanDisk Extreme Pro UHS-I. On top of that, SanDisk is a trusted brand in the microSD card market and all its products are tested for top-tier thermal performance to avoid degradation or loss of speed.
It’s also worth mentioning that the SanDisk Extreme Pro UHS-I can also work with theNintendo Switchand offer that same performance. Larger storage space and great speeds are key for any microSD card and SanDisk’s Extreme Pro line hits both marks easily. But where it shines brightest is in the Steam Deck because of how the speed matches the internal SSD.
The SanDisk Extreme Pro UHS-I is an easy recommendation for one of the best Steam Deck microSD cards for expanding the handheld PC’s storage. The three SKUs offer enough storage space to give any user a huge boost, while also promising speeds that should not make it noticeable where the person is running their game from. Pricing is also great on any of the storage options during this holiday shopping season, with discounts of up to 30% off in some cases.
The SanDisk Extreme Pro UHS-I is available now. Game Rant was provided a 256GB unit for this review.
