Best SD Cards to Use With Steam Deck

The first wave of Steam Decks have shipped, and many PC enthusiasts are excited to get their hands on one. If you were lucky enough to be a part of the Q1 shipping bracket, you probably already have your Steam Deck! The Steam Deck comes in three different versions, with the main difference being storage space. The cheapest option comes with a 64 GB eMMC, and the most expensive version sporting a 512 GB NVMe SSD.

The Steam Deck also has a microSD card slot for expanded storage, and no matter what kind of gamer you are, you’ll probably want more storage sooner or later. If you’re shopping around for a microSD card that features lots of storage and fast speeds, we’ve got you covered with today’s article on the best SD cards to use with Steam Deck.

The Best microSD Cards for Steam Deck

Before we start, there are a couple of things you should keep in mind. You know all those little markings and numbers on microSD cards? You’ll want to look for specific numbers as they tell you the ratings of the card. The important things to look for are SDXC, U1 or U3, V30, A1 or A2, and finally UHS-I, which is usually represented by a singular Roman numeral.

In general, you’ll want the fastest card possible. Storage is entirely up to you—a hardcore gamer that wants all the big triple A games will most likely need lots of storage, but if you’re planning on playing small indie titles, smaller storage should be fine. No matter which route you go, nobody wants to wait minutes for their games to load, so speed is very important.

With this in mind, do note that the Steam Deck only supports speeds up to UHS-I, which is Ultra High Speed 1. This essentially comes out to around 100 MB/s, so as such, stick to only SDXC cards, as these cards commonly feature UHS-I speeds. You can use cards higher than UHS-I, but you won’t be able to take advantage of the higher speeds.

Now, without further ado, let’s get started with some of the best microSD cards for Steam Deck!

SanDisk Extreme microSDXC Series

• Storage: 64 GB, 128 GB, 256 GB, 400 GB, 512 GB, 1 TB
• Speed: U3 – Up to 160 MB/s (See below)
• View on Amazon

SanDisk’s Extreme series is probably the best microSD card for just about anything right now. It’s built for shooting 4k footage, so it’s got robust speeds to back it up. It’s a little pricey, with the 1 TB version around 150 USD, but it’s worth it. There’s a reason that SanDisk is one of the most popular memory brands!

One important thing to note about SanDisk cards is that their advertised speeds are a little misleading. These cards are still very fast, but they won’t reach the speeds of 160 MB/s unless you’re using proprietary SanDisk readers. You’re realistically going to get around 100 MB/s with most devices, which is fine since the Steam Deck is limited to roughly 104 MB/s read/write speed.

Samsung PRO Plus Series

• Storage: 128 GB, 256 GB, 512 GB
• Speed: U3 – Up to 160 MB/s
• View on Amazon

Samsung’s answer to SanDisk’s Extreme series. The PRO Plus is basically the Extreme cards in terms of performance, just a different brand. They’re just as good as the SanDisk cards, but the only downside is that they don’t come in higher capacities, so they might not be a good fit if you’re looking for the most storage.

Lexar PLAY Series

• Storage: 128 GB, 256 GB, 512 GB, 1 TB
• Speed: U3 – Up to 150 MB/s
• View on Amazon

Though Lexar isn’t quite as known as Samsung or SanDisk, their cards have been receiving some pretty good reviews. They’ve recently started producing cards primarily for media and gaming, and their featured card is the PLAY series. Though not quite as fast as the other two cards on this list, it’s only behind by a bit, making it still a good choice.

These are the best microSD cards for the Steam Deck as of writing. Please keep in mind that since only a few units have been released to the public, there’s still lots of testing that must be done before we can come to a solid verdict. If you have any questions or contributions to add, let us know in the comments below!