What is the Truly Maximum SD Card Size for the Steam Deck Today?

As an avid gamer and Steam Deck enthusiast, I‘ve done extensive research to determine what SD card capacities provide the best real-world performance. While the Steam Deck technically supports up to 2TB SDXC cards, my top recommendation based on a combination of benchmarks, availability and value is still 512GB or 1TB from leading brands.

Steam Deck SD Card Performance Considerations

When choosing an SD card for the Steam Deck, there are a few key factors to consider:

• Sustained Read Speeds: During real-world gaming usage, sustained read speeds are more important than peak transfer rates. Many ultra high capacity cards cannot maintain high speeds over prolonged file transfers.
• Write Speeds: Write speeds also impact saving games, installing updates, and copying files back and forth. Look for cards with high write as well as read performance.
• Consistent Performance: For good gameplay, consistent speed over time matters more than bursts. Dropping frames because of SD card lags is no good!
• Brand and Build Quality: Reputable brands like Samsung, SanDisk and Lexar generally provide better real-world performance and reliability.

Many SD cards advertise misleading peak speeds that can‘t be maintained over time – especially during prolonged, demanding transfers of large game files the Steam Deck requires. Let‘s examine why…

Why Ultra High Capacity 2TB Cards Underperform

The ultra high capacities of 1TB+ and upcoming 2TB SD cards sound appealing. However, these bleeding edge cards achieve such high capacities through clever multi-die implementations and complex storage technologies like QLC NAND:

• Multi-die cards split storage across multiple chips, making it harder to sustain max speeds during demanding game file transfers. More sophisticated caching and parallelism techniques are required.
• QLC NAND packs 4-bits per cell for higher densities, but is generally slower than less dense SLC/MLC/TLC NAND also found in SD cards.

As seen in Tom‘s Hardware‘s Steam Deck SD card benchmarks, these underlying technological tradeoffs lead to poorer real-world sustained performance despite flashy sticker specs:

Despite having nearly double the peak reads, the advanced multi-die 1TB Sandisk Extreme card averaged sustained reads over 10% slower than Sandisk‘s 512GB Ultra! For the prolonged reads the Steam Deck requires during actual gameplay, the 512GB card is faster.

Based on researching multiple benchmarks, the current sweet spot for performance is 512GB and 1TB options since they:

• Achieve faster real-world sustained speeds
• Offer ample capacity for dozens of large AAA games
• Cost significantly less than 2TB cards

So in summary – while 2TB SD cards might arrive for Steam Deck someday, 512GB or 1TB options are still your best bet today! Let‘s examine some top recommendations.

Top SD Card Recommendations for the Steam Deck

If you‘re looking to expand your Steam Deck‘s storage, these SD cards provide excellent real-world performance without breaking the bank:

Additional buying considerations:

• Aim for A2 rating or better for improved sustained performance during prolonged transfers
• U3 is ideal for high read speeds of at least 30MB/s (required for 4K video)
• V30 denotes 30MB/s writes, also important for good game saving/installing

So in summary, while the Steam Deck can theoretically support up to 2TB SD cards, your best bet today for optimized real-world performance are 512GB or 1TB options I‘ve highlighted here from leading brands like Samsung, Lexar and Sandisk.

Let me know if you have any other Steam Deck performance questions! I‘m happy to help fellow gamers get the most out of their Deck.