The best Micro SD cards for Steam Deck 2022 Eurogamer.net If you click on a link and make a purchase we may receive a small commission. Read our editorial policy. The best Micro SD cards for Steam Deck 2022 High-capacity, high value memory cards for US and UK. Guide by Will Judd Deputy Editor, Digital Foundry Updated on 12 Aug 2022 1 comment With Steam Deck finally becoming more widely available, it's a great time to take a look at the storage expansion options for the portable PC. After all, even the most capacious 512GB Steam Deck isn't going to cut it the deeper you delve into your library, especially as an increasing number of games are certified for Steam Deck. That's why we've collected the best value Micro SD cards for Steam Deck, focusing on high-performance cards to ensure fast load times. As you might expect from a handheld that brings portable PC gaming to a lower price point, Valve have opted for the more common UHS-1 standard rather than the faster but more expensive UHS-2. That means you don't have to spend a lot to get a fast memory card, but it does mean that Valve have had to perform some minor wizardry to keep games loaded onto the Micro SD card feel as quick to load as those on the internal storage. That leads us onto the recommendations. We've focused our efforts on cards between 128GB and 1TB in size, as these currently offer the best value per gigabyte (which we've calculated for each pick). We've also looked at each card's 'Application Performance Class Rating', which denotes an increasing level of random read performance, key to reducing game load times. A1 requires a minimum random read of 1500 IOPS, while A2 requires more than double: 4000 IOPS. Finally, we've listed the maximum sequential read speed for each card, another indicator of performance. Best Steam Deck Micro SD cards UK In the UK you'll find that 512GB cards are the best value in comparison to everything else on the market. While we'd personally recommend going for as large as possible, with the Steam Deck having the functionality to move things across like a console (I guess that's the whole point of the device, right?), it might be more beneficial to buy a couple 512GB micro SD cards and when you get to travelling, swap them in and out when you need a particular game. Buy from Amazon UK Rating, Max Read Speed Price Value Best Value 128GB Steam Deck Micro SD Card 128GB Samsung Evo Plus A2, 130MB/s £13.65 11p/GB Best Value 256GB Steam Deck Micro SD Card 256GB Samsung Evo Select A2, 130MB/s £24.89 10p/GB Best Value 512GB Steam Deck Micro SD Card 512GB Integral Ultima Pro A2, 180MB/s £59.95 12p/GB Best Value 1TB Steam Deck Micro SD Card 1TB Integral Ultima Pro A2, 150MB/s £149.99 15p/GB Best Steam Deck Micro SD cards USA American retailers have a wider range of Micro SD cards than the UK equivalents, so our recommendations here are slightly different. While some choices like the 1TB Lexar Play card seems to be a universally good deal, options from Silicon Power are great for smaller sizes in the US. However, we'd suggest considering 256GB or higher as you see similar value per gigabyte and more games will be able to fit onto the drive - there's nothing worse than having 128GB free and realising that your game requires 130GB. Still, 128GB is more than enough for older or indie titles, so choose whatever size makes sense for you. Buy from Amazon US Rating, Max Read Speed Price Value Best Value 128GB Steam Deck Micro SD Card 128GB Samsung Evo Select A2, 130MB/s $15.99 12¢/GB Best Value 256GB Steam Deck Micro SD Card 256GB Samsung Evo Select A2, 130MB/s $27.99 11¢/GB Best Value 512GB Steam Deck Micro SD Card 512GB Samsung Evo Select A2, 130MB/s $58.99 12¢/GB Best Value 1TB Steam Deck Micro SD Card 1TB SanDisk Extreme A2, 190MB/s $184.25 18¢/GB More Steam Deck essential accessories Besides an SD card and a case (which Valve helpfully provide), what's the most essential accessory for the Steam Deck? If you want to use the Deck more like a desktop computer, then a dock is ideal - it converts the single USB-C port into multiple USB ports for connecting peripherals like a mouse, keyboard and monitor, while also providing USB-C passthrough to keep the Deck charged. While Valve are planning their own official dock, it's not been released yet, so I've been testing one from iVoler ($35). It's limited to 30Hz at 4K - not that you're likely to be running many games at 4K 60fps anyway - but supports a full 60Hz at 1080p and 1440p, resolutions that are more likely to come up. Otherwise, there are three USB-A ports for connecting peripherals, a perfectly-sized USB-C cable for passthrough charging and the aforementioned HDMI, with the dock also supporting the Deck at a convenient angle. It's much more convenient to use than the standard USB-C multi adapter I was using before for mucking around in the desktop Linux side of the Deck, and well worth the price of admission. The company doesn't seem to offer the dock for sale in the UK, but a very similar looking model costs £35 here. How to move games to the SD card on Steam Deck So once you've decided on a micro SD card for your Steam Deck, just how are you moving things around? It's really easy, with only a couple of menus to navigate. Hit the Steam button and bring up the sliding menu, then choose settings. From here scroll down the settings menu until you get to the storage option. In this menu, you can press the Y button to initiate moving software from your internal drive to Micro SD, or vice versa. You can even press X when highlighting the two storage options to set your preferred default install location. When you eject the Micro SD card, your games installed to that card will disappear from Steam - and when you reinsert it, the games will reappear. This unlocks the door to having different cards with different games; you could easily load up one card with your favourite multiplayer titles, and the other with singleplayer games for example. Of course, going with a higher capacity card means no swapping and an overall simpler solution. We're looking to run some performance tests on these cards in the near future, but our experience running game load tests on PC and Switch should hold us in good stead in the meantime. Got any questions about Micro SD cards on Steam Deck that we haven't covered here? Do let us know in the comments below, or talk to @wsjudd on Twitter. More Guides Genshin Impact Path of Gleaming Jade dates, login event rewards Including other anniversary rewards and how to claim them. Genshin Impact 3.1 Banner and event details The full Banner and event schedule for King Deshret and the Three Magi. Genshin Impact next Banner and current Banners, list of all Banners in Genshin Impact Every current and upcoming character and weapon Banner. 2 Wordle answer today for Tuesday, 11th October: What is the word today for 479? How to narrow down and solve today's Wordle. Latest Articles Genshin Impact Path of Gleaming Jade dates, login event rewards Including other anniversary rewards and how to claim them. 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