Samsung’s new microSD card is quicker than a SATA SSD

MicroSD playing cards are about to get a complete lot quicker, as Samsung has simply introduced that it has a tiny slice of storage within the works that’s considerably faster than a SATA SSD. However maintain on earlier than you make plans to fit one into your Steam Deck, or any present handheld gaming system for that matter, as there’s an enormous catch.

Whereas most of the finest handheld gaming PC choices have a high-speed NVMe SSD as commonplace, in addition they normally have a microSD slot to broaden storage. Likewise, whereas the unique entry-level Steam Deck had an eMMC storage drive, it additionally had a microSD slot to broaden storage additional. That slot is nice for simple expandability, however even the most effective microSD playing cards prime out at round 200MB/s.

Comparatively, Samsung claims its new card can hit a sequential learn pace of 800MB/s, which on the floor makes it seem like a great handheld improve. To place that determine into context, even the quickest 2.5-inch SATA SSDs prime out at round 550MB/s. The pace of Samsung’s new microSD card is what we’d count on from a low-end PCIe 3 NVMe SSD, or an exterior USB 3.2 Gen 2 drive.

The issue is that this new Samsung microSD card makes use of the SD Categorical interface, and this requires your host system to additionally assist SD Categorical as a way to get these quicker speeds. SD Categorical principally provides you a lane of PCIe bandwidth to your SD card, and the most recent model makes use of the PCIe 4 interface, theoretically providing you with round a most of 2GB/s of bandwidth, with round 1GB/s on the earlier PCIe 3 bus.

SD Categorical has been doing the rounds as a normal for years, however few gadgets have been launched that assist it. Certainly, like most gadgets with microSD card readers, the Steam Deck, Asus ROG Ally, and Lenovo Legion Go don’t assist SD Categorical, and as an alternative use the older UHS-II interface, which tops out at 312MB/s. That doesn’t imply you may’t use this new Samsung microSD card on these gadgets, however it received’t carry out any quicker than a top-speed UHS-II drive.

That’s a disgrace, because the burgeoning handheld market is making it more and more clear that there’s now a necessity for high-speed storage that you could simply slot into your machine. It’s tough to justify an 800MB/s drive to your digital digital camera, however it’s completely justifiable for a video games console. You may improve the NVMe SSD in your Steam Deck, after all, however provided that you’re ready to take your handheld aside. It could be actually useful to have the ability to simply slot in a card that runs at 800MB/s.

Samsung hasn’t revealed a worth or launch date for its new SD Categorical microSD card, however it says it would have a 256GB capability and will probably be “made accessible for buy later this yr.”

Within the meantime, in the event you’re seeking to get a deck for your self, be sure you learn our Steam Deck OLED overview, and in addition take a look at our information to the most effective Steam Deck equipment, the place we cowl SSD upgrades, microSD playing cards, and a complete lot extra.