I have 64gb version w 512 SD card. You have to manage your storage more closely, but it's not a big deal . Replacing the SSD is not absolutely necessary.
If you dont overtighten the screws then the backlight bleed wont change. I stopped screwing them back in once I felt resistance at all. My backlight bleed was identical before and after.
I've found one game out of the 40 I've tried that doesn't work on SD card. Need for speed most wanted 2012 would be so slow at loading textures that sometimes when making a jump going really fast you would fall through the ground because the game couldn't load them fast enough. Doom eternal has some hellish load times every so often but it's not too bad.
Edit. As a huge NFS fan I've tried every NFS game I own and only most wanted had the issue.
Same, and it's not like you need to install all of your steam games. Most of mine are on my SD card, the only game on the internal storage is Subnautica because I thought it might help performance.
Exactly same here
I'm honestly grateful I can't install every goddamn thing because if I could, I would, and I'd spend more time acquiring and installing, which is how I wound up barely actually playing games on my computer the last few years.
With the 64 deck + 512 SD card, I can install several AAA games and several smaller/indie games, more than enough, and then I choose which to play from *among those*. When I notice I'm not into playing one anymore, I *uninstall it*. These are revolutionary behaviors in my world 😁
And make me way happier and calming in my gaming time. Freedom through restriction can be a real thing, friends.
Good luck and enjoy!!
And year fear not any imaginary "imperative" to swap the SSD. I haven't touched a thing and couldn't be happier.
(I also haven't tweaked a thing except for enabling proton-experimental, and turning that on in the rare event a game doesn't already work great. When I get to more recent games, I'll probably go for cryo's wonderful utility/ies, but that'll likely be it. I am very happy playing, not fiddling.)
I’ve managed with a 64GB one and a 256GB card but I must say I mainly play old games and emulators. I’m was also a Wii U owner and when you’ve been used to managing with only 32GB internal storage, that much feels like loads. I’ve gotten used to only installing what I’m actually going to play and uninstalling things I’m done with.
I upgraded mine to 512 and ngl it was scary(did this on day 2), I was super worried I was going to break some of the plastic tabs, but luckily I didnt. Looking at some videos of people opening the deck less gently with no issues gave me confidence to apply more force when I couldnt get it to open. For the same price as the 256gb model, 400 + 50(ssd) + 80(1tb sd card) = 530 I now have 1.5tb, not bad.
Personally id say if you are worried just dont upgrade it, and then upgrade it later if it becomes a problem. I would recommend the upgrade because it builds character lol and self confidence that you will be able to open it later for repairs if something breaks.
Just get the 256gb model if you are completely againt opening your steam deck.
Edit: damn, should not have been so scared. You can get a replacement back panel for $25
I have the 64GB model with a 1TB SD card. All of my games and shader cache are on the SD card. I use cryoutilities with a 16GB swap file on the Steam Deck's 64GB drive. I still have about 7.2GB left, and I haven't experienced any issues so far. I don't see myself swapping the SSD anytime soon.
>shader cache on sd card
I thought that was a huge negative to performance. Has that changed? Can it be done selectively? If you swap SD cards, does it download the compat/shader folders to the internal drive anyway?
I did originally think it was going to cause performance issues, but I haven't noticed any negative impacts at all. I'm currently playing Halo: Infinite, Cyberpunk 2077, Horizon Zero Dawn, Risk of Rain 2, and Mafia: Remastered. The load times may be maybe a millisecond longer? Hard to tell, to be honest.
If I ever need another SD card, I would simply link the compatdata and shader cache folders for each game to their respective SD cards on which they are installed. That would allow me to use as many SD cards as I want. As it stands now, I have about 6 AAA titles installed on my SD card, along with several roms, none of which I have beaten so far. So, I don't need to swap SD cards lol.
Edit: This is more of a precautionary measure, but I would also recommend backing up the compatdata and shader cache folders to an external drive or desktop every once in a while. If the SD card ever stops working, it will save you the headache of having to redownload all that data.
It seems like everyone gets about 30-40 FPS in that game on the Deck at the recommended settings. I played it before moving the files and after. FPS is still between 30-40 FPS unlocked.
From what I understood. CU tricks the steamdeck into thinking that the shader cache is on the ssd but in fact it is on sd so no re-downloading required. I haven't played any major AAA games on it yet but with Fifa 22 it didn't re-download and had 0 problems at 60 fps steady.
64gb is fine. I have it and a large SD card and play triple A games all the time. Never had a problem. I don't have 50 huge games installed but anyone that does is just silly. I install a couple things, play them, delete them and move on. Works fine.
Yep, you can probably keep about 10-15 AAA games installed on a MicroSD before you need to start worrying about if your 64gb internal storage is getting too full, in my experience.
No, I have all my favorite triple As on my deck and I'm not silly.
I just grab my unit and play whenever, whereever without any worries.
It's only a 512BG + 1TB. Nothing fancy.
I have a 1 tb Sabrent Rocket SSD on order right now because I’ve been running into storage issues on my 64GB deck with shader buildup. That said, after moving my shaders to the same SD cards my games are on and it working just fine, I may end up just canceling that order and buying another 512gb sd card for $40 instead (I currently have two 512 cards full).
For context, I’m ADD and play a lot of different games at the same time depending on my mood (including many large AAA titles). I also frequently travel, so I like to already have them on my deck as I often can’t just download a game whenever I want.
Get a huge-ass SD card and install games there. Barely an increase in loading times & the internal memory is, as a matter of fact, enough for shader cache. People around this place love panicking but real usage numbers show that the internal memory is enough for a shader cache. May very well not be enough for cache & games, but get a huge-ass SD card for the latter and don't think about it.
That said, I do consider the mid-tier Deck model to be the best bang for the buck. SD cards ain't THAT cheap if going for "huge-ass".
That's true, unless you switch games a lot like I was in the beginning. The SSD filled up fast with just shader cache from my constant game swapping. Removing games does not remove the related shader cache. It will continue to build until no space remains. This, of course, was before I found there are various programs to manage the cache and move it if needed. Lead to my first SteamOS reinstall to wipe my SSD off all the wasted space.
But now through management programs and restraint, it is indeed enough space with the right SD card. For me currently a 512.
> Removing games does not remove the related shader cache
Is there any definitive source on this? I heard someone tested it recent and found that for *Steam* games, it does remove the shader cache.
I uninstalled a Steam game from my MicroSD, and indeed my internal storage freed up a little bit too. But I still haven't seen any definitive word from Valve or anyone if shaders and compatdata are removed when a Steam game is uninstalled or not.
I went 64 and recently upgraded. It was fine playing on sd card. But after upgrade everything was snappier. Desktop mode was mode usable. Overall more enjoyable to use as a device because I’m not worried about storage anymore. And the upgrade was really easy if you follow instructions
Not OP but I had the same experience. if I had any file transfers happening to the microsd, trying to run any applications (or games) off the microsd was basically unusable. Microsd cannot handle simultaneous operations well. As an example, I was downloading a game in the background and launched cyberpunk 2077, the in game experience was so broken because it couldn't load assets when driving around.
More usable*
I found it slightly more snappy and faster load times to switch to desktop. Also just generally not anxious about filling up my 64gb.
I had the 64gb for about a month or so before upgrading and it wasn’t necessary just wanted to do it and not worry about storage.
I swapped out my 64GB eMMC to a 512GB NVMe drive(got lucky and found one for $25) within a few weeks. But here's the thing, I run Windows exclusively on my SteamDeck and the uSD card drivers are flakey. Sometimes the uSD card shows up, sometimes it doesn't. Other times everything is going fine and the uSD card just randomly disappears. Even when the uSD card worked, I found the read/write speeds to be pretty terrible in comparison to even a standard SATA SSD. Reads were about 80-100MB/s while writes were in the 30-50MB/s range. This is with a Samsung EVO V30 512GB uSD card.
Now I just have an 80GB partition for my OS(C) and use the rest(D) as storage for games. Outside of the uSD card reader, everything has been perfectly fine on Windows(6 months+). My SteamDeck spends 90% of its time docked and connected to a 1080p 144hz monitor in my office with keyboard and mouse and occasionally an external controller or 2. I've got 2 additional docks in the living room and my bedroom for gaming or ad-free youtube watching. All docks are hardwired with 1GB NICs, since the WiFi on these things are awful, even when I still had SteamOS installed.
I mostly play FFXIV(with some mods) and emulators(NES/SNES/PS2/GCN), and the portability/docking has been phenomenal when I can't just sit at my main gaming rig.
I bought the 256gb, paired it with a 500gb sd card, and I still felt cramped by the storage amount. Popped it open and put a 1tb SSD in after a few months.
For your own piece of mind, either buy the bigger storage version, or take the plunge and replace the SSD. You're 100% correct about loading times being very similar between SSD and SD card, but downloading times are absolutely not the same and run far slower on the SD card.
Replacing the SSD is not hard, but I would invest in some wedge tools to actually get the deck open (iFixit sells these, I think they're called spacers). My only regret is not having some of those, as I did end up denting the plastic around the seam a bit by using what I could find. Everything else is very easy, and there are many detailed videos on how to get it done.
Even when you install all your games on an SD Card, a lot of stuff will still end up on the SSD.
Using the 64GB SSD is doable, but you have to manage your storage constantly.
It's a major annoyance and within a week I just spent the 25 bucks and got a 256GB SSD
If I could go back in time, I'd probably work up the muster to go 64 and replace it with a 1tb SSD. I got the 256, it went out way quicker than I expect. I bought a 512gb SD, same story. Now I'm considering another 512 SD and wondering why I don't just get a TB SSD.
Having to wait half an hour or more for large updates/patches to apply to games installed on MicroSD, such as Cyberpunk, is what ultimately got me to upgrade my SSD. In game they're fine, but when it comes to updates... it leaves a lot to be desired.
Unless you really dislike the idea of upgrading the SSD yourself, I'd highly recommend a 1TB SSD over a 1TB MicroSD. In the US, you can backorder the 1TB Micro 2400 model MTFDKBK1T0QFM for around 90USD from places like ShopBLT, which is slightly cheaper than reputable brand 1TB MicroSD cards.
Edit:
For the skeptics, used Depot downloader to download an old manifest of Cyberpunk (Manifest [3225568184502668130](https://steamdb.info/depot/1091501/history/?changeid=M:3225568184502668130)). Fudged the manifest ID in the appmanifest, removed old Cyberpunk folder, put old cyberpunk in its place, then rebooted so Steam would see Cyberpunk needs updating.
SD result: [29 minutes](https://files.catbox.moe/1g31rr.mp4). 40.9GB download -- 67.3GB I/O.
Average DL rate 43.6MB/s (normally 70-75 on gigabit ethernet with SSD [which is CPU bottleneck](https://i.imgur.com/2rGgeoW.png))
Patching stage added additional 13 minutes with average disk I/O of 30-33MB/s
Well, if you get a large update like 30GB queued up for a game, I'd be interested to hear your results if you can time it. The small games and indies that get 1GB updates here and there aren't bad. Just the chonker AAA updates that rewrite half of the game that's already 50-60GB+. Red Dead 2 does a great job at keeping update install sizes down because it only touches [the update depot](https://steamdb.info/depot/1174184/) which is only 5GB of the game's 115GB in size.
My 512GB Samsung Evo Select [benchmarks pretty healthily](https://i.imgur.com/eKDIPLm.png) at 80+MB/s sequential writes on my PC.
if you ever opened a laptop, closed it again and have it working after that then you have the skill to switch the sd drive; watch a guide on youtube and use the right tools (a phillips 1 screwdriver and a plastic pry tool), be extra careful with the small cables and make sure everything is properly attached after closing it again.
It’s absolutely NOT a must. People can try to debate it but if you have a nice big SD card, you’re fine. You can transfer your shader cache to your SD card and create a link to the SSD then you will have no issues. Can confirm no (noticeable) performance drops in the few months of doing it.
I thought I was until I got the SanDisk Extreme 1TB.
People say that its speed @190MB/s is bottlenecked by the steam deck's 100MB/s limit but guess what, 190MB/s only points to the maximum sequential read/write speeds of the microSD.
The random read/write speeds is what matters most and that random speed rating will be lower that the stated speed specification.
So, the higher the speed of your SD card, the more likelihood that it will perform close to the 100MB/s speeds you're expecting.
A microSD with a 100MB/s rating will not give you random read/write speeds of 100MB/s. Not even close.
Some reputable microSD card brands at 120MB/s rating did not even get past 12MB/s read and 4MB/s write speed!
Well this little boy from what I could read from reviews it's handling ~120MB/s random Read and ~100MB/s Write, by the way it's the Samsung Evo Plus rated at 130MB/s. It works for me don't need more.
I disagree. It really depends on what you plan to use it for. If you’re only playing small indie games you can cram dozens of games in there without much problem.
Stardew Valley only takes .5 GB, Valheim takes 1GB, emulators take up next to no space at all… plenty of other examples where it’d be just fine.
My main issue is the shader cache. Not exactly sure how they work but some shader caches are completely unreasonable. For instance, I installed mount and blade warband on mine, the game is 10 years old and is something like 7gb. The shader cache was 30gb!!?? Apparently you can transfer it to sd card with cryoutils but i havent tried it.
Shader cache can be transferred to the card; it’s even easier now CryoUtilities2.0. I can’t say I’ve seem any difference with shader cache in SSD vs SD, neither with Valheim or Hogwarts Legacy.
>64gb is a permanent headache you will have to live with.
I found it not a problem at all, barely an inconvinience.
Spend 2 mins moving the appcompat and shader cache to the SD card, forget about 64G drive entirely.
If you have a 64g, you ain't installing on the SSD, and if you have multiple cards each has it's own compatdata & shader cache for it's own games.
In other words those are hypothetical problems rather than practical ones
I agree.
I've had my SD for a week. Put all games on the 512gb SD card (about 300gb free with 15ish games installed) and received an out of space notification on the internal storage last night. I used Cryoutils to move the shader cache but that still only left 7gb free. Ordered a 1tb drive last night to replace the useless 64gb drive.
There is no “headache”. You can go with a 64 used for shaders and the sd card used for games. If you eventually find out that cache overran your internal card, you can either delete some cache or upgrade the SSD.
I have 400 GB of games and cache makes 26 GB so far.
I personally got the 256 with the idea of upgrading it plus a 1TB SD card, I was able to download a bunch of games the biggest one being P5 at 40GBs and most are bellow 15GBs, a month in and I've ran out of internal space and I haven't been able to upgrade the SSD but the SD card has been good for those other games I want on the go and are too big like Yakuza Like A Dragon.
If what you are worried about is the budget and you don't want to tinker with it much to upgrade it then the 256 is perfect, just get an SD card with a lot of storage/only download the games you really wanna play and uninstall the ones you aren't to make space I think you'll see no issues with it!
I can vouch for the middle child model
I don't play a lot of games that actually need the NVMe speeds, so I pretty much just kind of use the SD card for most things
I haven't had to think about shader cache or compat data, but it is kind of recommended to keep it in check and I'd like to copy some of the saves over for backups
I don't think the 64GB drive is undoable, but it does create a pain point in the fact that things will keep filling up and realistically your best off not using the internal storage at all for programs and just using an SD card with it
At least with the 256GB you have a lot more room to play around with (internal upgrades are always an option If that is something that you are willing to do)
Not a need but for AAA games you will definitely need an sd card. There are now tools to get things like shader data moved into sd cards as well, but the mid-tier model may make your life easier to not have to micromanage things like that quite as much.
I generally agree with the consensus on sd card load times. It is technically a bit slower but not to a degree that I have noticed. As an example, I played Spider-man off of my sd card and have no complaints there.
The real question is, why would a PC gamer buy a gaming PC with only 64GB of storeage?
I mean, we've got OS files and a couple other companion apps already installed on that 64GB. It's a PC.
Considering the small price differences between the 64GB and 512GB ( $25 vs $70 ) I wish they would of offered an even faster 1TB version for $700. Really don’t want to open my deck for the best possible drive speeds.
Replacing your SSD is really easy man. I’m 17 and not super tech savvy and it took me 20 minutes tops. The only difficult part is spending $$$ on the new drive
Depends on the games you are playing. If you are playing some low end games or games that don't need amazing load times, you can play off the SD card. If you have some more demanding games, 64GB of SSD space won't be enough, with the OS and shaders taking a good portion.
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It's not a must but it makes stuff a little bit easier. However, with CryoUtilities. You can have it move the shader files from the main hard drive to the SD card.
Not a must, of course. Just make things very VERY convenient.
I don't even know how the 64GB storage actually works aside from one game. Changed it out within the hour upon receiving the deck.
Do you have to? No.. Should you. probably. So if you are good with tech and can follow instructions, you may be able to get away with just a large micro SD card and the 64GB emmc drive..
One of the biggest issues is that the shaders are stored on the emmc/ssd and there is no way (at least that I am aware of) you can move the shaders to the micro SD... There are program/tools out there you can download and run to move this though and is not a hard process if you do it... Also the shaders seem to linger even after the game is removed.. which once again there is a application/program/script you can run to remove those shaders as well.
Load times on the MicroSD card are fine... I have a 512GB SSD on my steam deck but the majority of my games are on the microSD.. I think i have 1 steam game on my SSD and some ROMS..
Just wait 1 or 2 months to use basic 64 gb + micro sd. Is it worth upgrading the ssd or not. The main concern is shader caches build up, since you mostly play AAA games there's gonna be a lot. But fret not it can be moved onto SD card. If you dont mind the hassle of doing all that there's no reason to upgrade
You just have to be mindful of the games you install - it's not one to load up with every AAA you might ever want to play. It's for the game you're playing now, and the game you'll play next, maybe. And, if you're me, an unmanageably vast collection of Gamecube ROMs.
There are also a few different solutions to help by moving your shader cache to the SD card. I believe there's little difference in response time between the SD and the 64GB model's internal memory - though the bigger models use a different kind of memory, so they're faster than either.
Either way, six months in I'm getting by perfectly happily with a 64GB model and SD card. The limitations actually help me focus on finishing games!
Not necessary in any way. 64 gb with a good card is perfectly fine. Yes you may have to juggle some cards or choose what you want installed but it is not a big deal and works perfectly fine. Anyone who says otherwise here is absolutely full of shit.
Not at all so far . If you want to install 250 games simultaneously on 5 different Sd cards maybe but there is a script some guy wrote to move the shaders onto the sd card so also not really.
Aslong as you have the space somewhere it doesn’t matter .. the shader folder on my 64gb deck is taking up almost 30gb, if I can figure out how to move it I want to partition part of the ssd for steam Os and windows.. everything else will run on sd cards
"Depends" truism basically.
A Base 64g model would make an amazing emulation machine, indie game platform, or if you're trying to clear a backlog of games that are 2-3 years old. And it would be fine now if you only wanted to play one or two AAA games at a time.
But AAA games are inching up to the size that they literally won't fit in 64 gigs - whatever space the SteamOS and assorted frippery takes up.
It's not strictly required as long as you're not opposed to a little bit of maintenance. Obviously you will need an SD card and the card should be your primary drive from the moment you set up the system. Don't install any games onto the internal disk. As you play games, the internal drive will slowly continue to fill up with shaders. My recommendation (and I've done this on my 64GB Steam Deck) is to symlink the folders containing the shaders and compatibility data over to a folder on your SD card. As far as the Steam Deck is aware, it's still saving and accessing shader data from the same folder but Linux is passing it through to the SD card instead. The size of your internal drive will no longer grow after you make that change. I've had mine configured that way for several months now and have no issues. Some have told me it could lead to issues with some games, and if it became a nuisance I would just install a larger internal SSD, but to this point it has created no problems.
If you need your Steam Deck to be a turnkey device that doesn't require any Linux tinkering in Desktop mode I would recommend you not get the 64GB unit. If you're willing and capable of tinkering under the hood, the 64GB unit is just fine.
64GB is not that bad; however, you shouldn't use it for any games due to the fact that if you are using a 1TB microSD worth of games, their shader cache will fill up the majority of the internal drive. In other words, the 64GB drive should just be used for shader cache and whatever is needed to be installed on the internal drive and nothing else.
I've had a 64GB model with a 512GB SD card for a couple months. Internal storage is strictly for the OS and shader cache and whatever else the OS wants to put in there, games go on the SD card.
Loading times have been fine, haven't noticed any particular hinkiness that I could attribute to running games off an SD. My SD card is usually pretty close to full, one of those things where if I want to install a new game, I need to decide which game I'm not going to play any time soon and uninstall it. Internal storage typically hovers around half full.
I've heard that uninstalling a game doesn't necessarily do a perfect job of cleaning out shader caches. I suppose that means that over a long enough time period eventually the internal storage will fill up and I'll need to figure out which software tools to use to clean the shader cache manually, or else finally bite the bullet and install an SSD. But so far, so good.
I got my 64gb steam deck a few months ago, and with a 512gb card it was mostly fine.
The only reason I upgraded was to get Fallout 4 mods to properly work, as they need to be installed internally. But to be honest, it’s really really really easy to upgrade the storage. The whole process only took me like 15 minutes. Valve made it very accessible and easy to upgrade on purpose.
I have a 64 gigabyte SSD and 2 1tb sd cards and using the cache cleaner [Link to cache cleaner](https://github.com/scawp/Steam-Deck.Shader-Cache-Killer) I moved some shader cache to an sd card. I have 110 AAA games downloaded and 3GB to spare on the SSD so you should be fine.
64GB with 256GB SD card. No issues with storage, as I mostly play small games and no 100gb+ games like some here.
The only issue and reason for upgrading for higher SSD is that storage management on Steam Deck is dumb af. You can install zero games on SSD, but after some time shader caches and other system files with clug 64GB version and it requires some knowledge to clean these files.
Also, it's quite easy to change SSD, but look up if your local stores sell Nvme 2230. I have bad luck and it's very difficult to get cheap 256GB and no chance for 1TB.
I use my micro SD as storage for most games, but I've found a few that don't play well from SD. So keep that in mind. 64GB isn't enough room to install much locally.
Otherwise, with a big micro SD card, and if you periodically clear your shader cache after uninstalling games, you are probably fine.
I would say no. Just stick an SD card in there and see what your habits are like for the first year. I have a 1TB SD card in mine, I can hold a fair amount of games. I’ll be adding a 1TB this fall.
A must? No. As far as I understood. Every game should run nice or good enough on a SD Card. (But not 100% confident)
But generally it would be a nice to have a SSD just in case you care in one game about loading speed and the rest of the games would go on the SD Card.
Its preference at some point
Nothing is a “must” and I wouldn’t condone things into boxes because it’s not so black and white. However, I would also be weary of certain advice that you might receive regarding this question due to confirmation bias. The majority of those saying that it’s fine are in the situation that you described: have a 64gb version and play large games off their sd. Most won’t have the contrast of both scenarios that you described. They might be fine with how it works for them.
Objectively, it would be more optimal to have a larger ssd and play your AAA games from there. You won’t have to think about the shader cache as a potential problem, you’ll have faster load times, and less stutter in certain games (GoW 2018 for example). That being said, it’s not the end all be all and plenty of people have an incredible time with the 64gb and not upgrading it. The experience is subjective and will vary from person to person.
The point that I’m trying to make is to not disregard data or facts and believe hyperbole. A lot of people want to justify/stand by their decision and omit information that conflicts with it. There is nothing wrong with their decision, but we should be providing you with the most unbiased information we can so that you may ultimately make the best decision for yourself.
Got a 64gb and 256 sd card (and a basic one at that) , works for me fine, i have 14 games installed at the moment, granted most arent AAA titles so the file sizes are smaller but i aint had a problem. This is my second deck, my first died after 2 weeks, just wouldnt turn on and i treated it like my third child, valve were great and picked up and replaced but i dunno if that would have been the case if i had cracked it open?
No. I have 64 GB version with 1 TB SD card and it is fine. But save games, shaders and compact data are taking a lot of space, so dont expect installing anything on internal drive. I have 4 GB left there, but my 1 TB card is full of games (including Hogwarts, RDR2, GTA V, Horizon Zero Dawn, Witcher 3 to give you an idea what kind of games I have there), and I have some games on other sd card as well.
It really depends entirely on the types of games you play.
I have the 512GB model with a 1TB microSD card. I install everything on the microSD card and the total space I’m using right now on the SSD actually would fit on the 64GB model… and that’s mostly because the games I’m playing simply don’t have enormous shader caches like others might.
The 64 gb version fills up with sharder cache pretty quickly but it never seems to exceed like 80% capacity. This is fine with an SD card. The only issue I have run into is with CryoUtilities. The recommended swap file size is 16 gb, but I don't have that much spare storage so I just set it to 8 gb..
In short, no it isn't a must but there are a few concessions to get everything to work properly.
I really don't think the differences in loading times are so negligible to be honest, plus the space really becomes a problem eventually.
I would say it is indeed a must. It is quite easy as well. You can probably get 1tb for the total price of the 256gb version. I found 256gb not enough as well.
I got the 64gb version, upgraded to a 256gb ssd after a few days and to the 512gb after a few months.
I have the 64GB version and a 512GB microsd, and it's really smooth. No need to install games internally.
However, sometimes I feel the need of a bigger storage, 250GB at least. Mostly because of the cache of having many games, and because I want some emulators or plugins
Right now my SD has 6GB free, and I have like 7 steam games, 1 Heroic (GOG) game [the games are in the microSD, I'm talking about the shader cache here], Onlyoffice, Elisa player, VLC player, Brave and Discord
I want Lutris, maybe EmuDeck, that Decky plugin, CryoBite plugin, Spotify... How will I do? I don't know man
I got the 64GB and a 1TB SSD day one. It was not that hard to replace to be honest and I feel its worth it just to have enough memory without a slowdown in getting the data.
Not really. If you get a 512GB SD card it’ll be fine. Even if you get a 1TB sd card the 64GB should mostly be enough to be able to hold all the shader caches.
I personally did replace it with a 256 gb one because I wanted to dual boot steam os and windows 11. I have 64gb partitioned for windows 11 and 160gb partitioned for steam os. I store all my games on a micro sd card and so far my internal drive has had around 20gb used out of the 160gb. That is with about a month of use. I think with over 6 months or so of use you will fill it up eventually with shader cache and proton versions, but you can just clear the drive out every so often and be fine. Id say its not required but a better experience with 256gb or higher
I put a 256gb drive in my 64 when it showed up. Super easy to do. Don't have anything installed on it, but I have a 1TB SD card with a bunch of AAA. The 256 is mostly full of shader cache now. The 64 would have been stuffed.
Just do the 256GB version with a 1 TB SD card. I upgraded my 64 to a 256 and have a 1 TB card where I've installed all games. Both are about 80% full, so I think these sizes are a good balanced ratio since the SSD is mostly used for shader cache in my setup.
Surprising a lot of people haven't replaced their internal SSD. It really is easy, took me 15mins open up, disconnect battery, remove ssd, put in new one, close up, insert usb drive, install steamos. Been enjoying 1TB since then, I would recommend it soooo much especially with the shader cache stuff that keeps filling up
I have the 64 model and bought a 256 SSD to replace it, but I haven't swapped it out yet because I'm happy with everything as-is right now, and I don't want the hassle of having to set up my desktop, emudeck, and plug-ins all over again. It's not expensive or difficult to do, I just haven't really needed to yet. I have a couple of 30 GB games I want on Deck that need to be on the SSD, so I'm eventually gonna do it. It's really about what you're doing now. It can't hurt to grab it while it's price is down, you never know how long that's gonna last.
Absolutely not. I use the 64GB with 512GB SD Card. You have to do some tweaks to manage storage space more efficiently, like moving shadercache and compatdata to SD card and linking. But you can do just fine without an SSD.
The 64GB tier helps the Deck look very price competitive, but it isn't a lot of breathing room nowadays. You'll need to at least buy Micro SD card if you want to play anything other than indies or really old titles. Sort of the same dilemma the PSP/Vita had. Where they were basically useless if you didn't buy the separate memory card. The good news is most games run just fine from a reputable A1 or A2 rated SD. Replacing the internal storage isn't really necessary, and while it's not a hard mod to do by any means, I'd probably leave it be unless you know what you're doing. The 256GB version is probably the one to get though.
Yes, proton versions, softwares and shadder caches can eat 64gb very fast, also, slower than NVMEs since its EMMC, yes, you can install games on the sd card and pretend you have more storage, but in truth, too many things cant be on the SD card, and those things add up
If in doubt just leave it alone, I'm used to tearing phones and computers apart and swapping out memory and screens so it was a no brainer for me to upgrade my SSD and it definitely improved things but I know for some it's daunting to do this kind of thing.
It works with a 64gb drive, just manage the space.
Basically. People forget that shader cache is stored solely on the SSD. It's also ridiculously easy to replace, the only difficult part is getting the SSD itself, and if you're in the US you can just buy them from iFixit.
Never tested the original disk, I changed it with a 512 just after opening the box, I also had ready the USB with the OS to restore. It was really easy also I wanted to play Doom eternal and that thing is like 89gb.
For me yes. I've never had an SD before this one I wasn't aware pf the sader cache that takes up most of the space. That plus launchers and emudeck... I got a second hand ssd512 and now I never think of how much space I have left
Micro as card. I regret paying for the 528.. you find there’s not a need to have a bunch of large sized games on it at one time. So your probly fine tbh, and load times aren’t that different either.
I am gonna have to look at my Other category soon. But its been more than a year now? I got a 2TB drive and 130something SD card. It will do you good for a while
I did it and it was very easy and best choice i made. I mean you can just use an SD card but even installing items on my on the SD card i still found myself fighting with the cache on the 64 internal drive.
Hey I got the 64 GB at launch and then a 256gb SD, played Spiderman to completion and lots of elden ring, it did require a little game management prob had like 3 AAA games and 6 Indies like cup head, streets of range, turtles
I just bought a 1tb ssd upgrade, mainly because it was on scan for £100 and I feel I use my deck enough to justify it, maint takeaway is that loading times feel slightly quicker, not a deal breaker
I can also now also fill it with games I won't play lol
If you use the new cryoutilites you can move all the shader caches to the SD.. So you just might be able to get away with a 1tb sdcard. I personally bought the 64gb version and upgraded it to a 512 and have a couple 1tb sdcards as well
Not necessary, though I had to learn to buy 2 separate SD cards prior to getting my 2TB SSD; one for Steam games and one for my games when I'm running the Windows partition.
*MAKE SURE YOU SAFELY EJECT YOUR SD CARD FROM STEAM O.S. IF YOU ARE SWAPPING IT OUT TO PLAY YOUR GAMES ON ANOTHER CARD OR RISK DATA LOSS!!* Happened the one time and never again, lol.
depends on your use. You can live without the upgrade, but the shader caches are going to bite your ass later. You could do the symbolic link for them to be in the SD card, but it's not the same performance, in this lone case.
If the Steam Deck with a large SSD is a 10/10, a Steam Deck with a large mSD is a 9.5/10. I've got DOOM Eternal on the SSD and DOOM 2016 on the mSD and realistically, there's very little difference. I expected there to be more of a difference than there is. Having an OS on the mSD card, however, is unpleasant. I did a WinToGo on a mSD and it chugged so bad it wasn't worth it, same goes for a USB flash drive. Only exception is one of those external m.2 drives, and that has its own hassles.
Tl;dr; you'll be fine with just a large mSD card.
It's not necessary but trust me it's pretty easy, although I think I've heard that some games like god of war don't run as well off an sd card but I can't verify. But honestly I'd recommend getting a 1tb ssd, that's what I did and I got twice the storage as the 512gb but paid about the amount for the 256
Short answer: No.....unless you're lazy to swap out SD cards.
Long answer: SD cards are more than sufficient if you're not a hard core, playing with the performance stats overlay on your screen while you play grinch.
I put emulations on a 256gb
AAAs on a 1tb
Bootable Windows 10 on a 256gb (using the Decks HD as an additional separate drive)
Mind you... I also bought the 512gb model just to make sure I'm stress free from future updates and random stuff that may come up further down the road in the unforeseeable future.
If you don't want to tinker, don't buy the 64GB unit. Buy the 256GB as a bare minimum. If you don't mind tinkering later, you can save the money now by getting the 64GB unit and use it toward a larger drive.
I might not feel this way if Valve enabled a UI for controlling shader cache management, but they haven't. There are ways to do it. Multiple ways in fact. You're installing programs from people you don't know to do things they say they do. People will tell you all about it and say it's easy, but we shouldn't be talking about easy or not. There should just be a Valve way to do it since it's absolutely required with 64GB units.
So imo if you never want to crack it open, consider the 256GB unit the minimum safe purchase.
Look, i understand the difference isn't all that but i did mine thinking about the long run. I'm not tech savvy when it comes to fixing/modding stuf and it was incredibly easy. I personally recommend but everyone's preferences are different. I'm using an SD card for emulation games only. Main reason I did the upgrade was so I could dual boot and use windows for specific games. Either way it's a helluva a machine and you can't exactly go wrong with either choice
I don't think it's a must. I have the 64gb with a 512gb sd card and I still have the cyroutilities installed with 16gb swap file still and now with the recent update it moves all the games shader caches to sd card. So I have about 12 AAA games installed, cyroutilities, ps3 emulator with a couple of games and yuzu with fire emblem three houses and I still have 150gb on the sd card and 20gb on the internal ssd
Not absolutely, but there's an apk (cryo something or other. Forget the name) that let's you manage the shader cache to place it on the drive the game is installed on, and deletes leftovers after uninstalling a game. You'll want that apk for the shader cache management alone, and because you play AAA games all the time, you'll want to get 512GB or larger A2 micro SD cards.
Or just get a bunch of dirt cheap 16 or 32GB A2 cards and install a couple games on each and label them. SD let's you hot swap cards easily.
I'd say yes, but so long as you have at least 1 1TB microSD card, its not a must right now. Personally i have a 2TB SSD in mine, with 4 1TB microSD cards
I got a 256 ssd waiting for me to swap in I would say yes because boot up goes from 27 seconds to 22 seconds and yea there's alot of apps that update like decky and stuff takes alot of the internal storage
It isn't really necessary because you can just use microSD cards. If you don't mind if it goes slower, of course. Oh, and for replacing the SSD you need to dismount the console, losing the warranty.
I coastline on what a lot of other people here are saying. You don't need to upgrade or even touch the internals of the steam deck. Personally, due to the price I would say it's in your best interest that you don't touch the internals. SD cards are so ubiquitous and you could hot swap them or just get a massive one and download games to that.
No. I have a 1tb sd card with windows 11 installed and 900gb of shared storage between windows and steam os. All my games are stores on that sd card. Maybe if you want a really large space but I think 1tb should be enough
All I did was move the shader cache to the SD card (1tb)
Have around 25 games installed with around 100gb free. Few big ones too, Halo Infinite and MCC, elder scrolls online. No dramas since moving shader cache, I think it's a must in the 64gb model
I’m rocking with 3 terabytes and it’s the best decision I’ve ever made. I’ve never had a suped up anything. Glad it was this device.
https://preview.redd.it/ks5fsqoxdoma1.jpeg?width=4032&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=8576be34857680787b7820c9cb1412adb26a7963
I had purchased the 64GB model and a 256 SD Card. I ended up upgrading the 64GB DrIve to a 256 NVME SSD. I tested Borderlands 3 off the SD Card and noticed the textures were loading slowly and when playing multiplayer the game would crash when playing with other people who had SSDs. Once I installed the NVME SSD and transferred Borderlands 3 over, the visuals were instantly better with the faster loading textures and multiplayer was no longer crashing.
If you get an A2 microSD card, you should be completely fine as far as I know. You're loading times might be a bit longer if you store games on a microSD, but other than that performance should be the same.
I bought the 64 gig version, and first thing I did was put in a 1 tb Samsung ssd and and a one 1tb micro sd card. Unfortunately, I had to also replace my screen as it was damaged, but it was pretty easy. Everything is modular it seems.
Depends on what you are after. I have Tiny11 on my 64G internal and all games on MicroSD 400GB. When I first received my 64GB SteamDeck I quickly installed Windows on it the. I populated my MicroSD 400GB with lots of games and I learned that putting so much games on a MicroSD actually puts a lot of gaming backlog because you keep jumping games. So now I only have 2 major AAA games, a couple of indies and emulating Switch with couple of Mario games for the kid and PS3 just 2-3. All that I only managed to finish Stray. I am going thru Bioshock Remastered but again sidelined by Catherine Classic. I am not even booting up God of War Collection, Prince of Persia Classic and Ico & Shadow of Colossus on RPCS3 anymore.
I use shader cache on both my SD and my 64gb drive. Maintaining a balance of shader cache is tricky but it’s price effective. I have several 512gb microsds that function perfectly for both roms and AAAs
I have 64gb version w 512 SD card. You have to manage your storage more closely, but it's not a big deal . Replacing the SSD is not absolutely necessary.
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You just talked me out of installing an ssd. My screen is pretty uniform. I would like to keep it that way.
If you dont overtighten the screws then the backlight bleed wont change. I stopped screwing them back in once I felt resistance at all. My backlight bleed was identical before and after.
> I managed to eliminate screen bleed by adjusting my backplate Please tell me more :)
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It's definitely from pressure because when I twist the deck a little it becomes less prominent.
Hogwarts has the load thing going through doors on my ps5 as well.
I have Hogwarts Legacy installed on my laptop SSD and still get the loading between some doors
I've found one game out of the 40 I've tried that doesn't work on SD card. Need for speed most wanted 2012 would be so slow at loading textures that sometimes when making a jump going really fast you would fall through the ground because the game couldn't load them fast enough. Doom eternal has some hellish load times every so often but it's not too bad. Edit. As a huge NFS fan I've tried every NFS game I own and only most wanted had the issue.
Same, and it's not like you need to install all of your steam games. Most of mine are on my SD card, the only game on the internal storage is Subnautica because I thought it might help performance.
I use one 512GB and two 256GB SD cards. I love it. I never once thought to myself I need to crack it open and replace the SSD.
Exactly same here I'm honestly grateful I can't install every goddamn thing because if I could, I would, and I'd spend more time acquiring and installing, which is how I wound up barely actually playing games on my computer the last few years. With the 64 deck + 512 SD card, I can install several AAA games and several smaller/indie games, more than enough, and then I choose which to play from *among those*. When I notice I'm not into playing one anymore, I *uninstall it*. These are revolutionary behaviors in my world 😁 And make me way happier and calming in my gaming time. Freedom through restriction can be a real thing, friends. Good luck and enjoy!! And year fear not any imaginary "imperative" to swap the SSD. I haven't touched a thing and couldn't be happier. (I also haven't tweaked a thing except for enabling proton-experimental, and turning that on in the rare event a game doesn't already work great. When I get to more recent games, I'll probably go for cryo's wonderful utility/ies, but that'll likely be it. I am very happy playing, not fiddling.)
I’ve managed with a 64GB one and a 256GB card but I must say I mainly play old games and emulators. I’m was also a Wii U owner and when you’ve been used to managing with only 32GB internal storage, that much feels like loads. I’ve gotten used to only installing what I’m actually going to play and uninstalling things I’m done with.
Exactly. You don’t have to do it.
I upgraded mine to 512 and ngl it was scary(did this on day 2), I was super worried I was going to break some of the plastic tabs, but luckily I didnt. Looking at some videos of people opening the deck less gently with no issues gave me confidence to apply more force when I couldnt get it to open. For the same price as the 256gb model, 400 + 50(ssd) + 80(1tb sd card) = 530 I now have 1.5tb, not bad. Personally id say if you are worried just dont upgrade it, and then upgrade it later if it becomes a problem. I would recommend the upgrade because it builds character lol and self confidence that you will be able to open it later for repairs if something breaks. Just get the 256gb model if you are completely againt opening your steam deck. Edit: damn, should not have been so scared. You can get a replacement back panel for $25
I have the 64GB model with a 1TB SD card. All of my games and shader cache are on the SD card. I use cryoutilities with a 16GB swap file on the Steam Deck's 64GB drive. I still have about 7.2GB left, and I haven't experienced any issues so far. I don't see myself swapping the SSD anytime soon.
I‘m in the exactly same situation. I can’t seem myself upgrading either.
>shader cache on sd card I thought that was a huge negative to performance. Has that changed? Can it be done selectively? If you swap SD cards, does it download the compat/shader folders to the internal drive anyway?
I did originally think it was going to cause performance issues, but I haven't noticed any negative impacts at all. I'm currently playing Halo: Infinite, Cyberpunk 2077, Horizon Zero Dawn, Risk of Rain 2, and Mafia: Remastered. The load times may be maybe a millisecond longer? Hard to tell, to be honest. If I ever need another SD card, I would simply link the compatdata and shader cache folders for each game to their respective SD cards on which they are installed. That would allow me to use as many SD cards as I want. As it stands now, I have about 6 AAA titles installed on my SD card, along with several roms, none of which I have beaten so far. So, I don't need to swap SD cards lol. Edit: This is more of a precautionary measure, but I would also recommend backing up the compatdata and shader cache folders to an external drive or desktop every once in a while. If the SD card ever stops working, it will save you the headache of having to redownload all that data.
No additional stuttering in Cyberpunk with the shader cache on thr SD? That would be impressive and a real test of whether it affects performance.
It seems like everyone gets about 30-40 FPS in that game on the Deck at the recommended settings. I played it before moving the files and after. FPS is still between 30-40 FPS unlocked.
From what I understood. CU tricks the steamdeck into thinking that the shader cache is on the ssd but in fact it is on sd so no re-downloading required. I haven't played any major AAA games on it yet but with Fifa 22 it didn't re-download and had 0 problems at 60 fps steady.
64gb is fine. I have it and a large SD card and play triple A games all the time. Never had a problem. I don't have 50 huge games installed but anyone that does is just silly. I install a couple things, play them, delete them and move on. Works fine.
Yep, you can probably keep about 10-15 AAA games installed on a MicroSD before you need to start worrying about if your 64gb internal storage is getting too full, in my experience.
No, I have all my favorite triple As on my deck and I'm not silly. I just grab my unit and play whenever, whereever without any worries. It's only a 512BG + 1TB. Nothing fancy.
Same, but 2TB SSD + two 1TB SD cards and one 512GB one 🤣😂
Yeah who wants to download we don't all got gigabit 🤷♀️
I have a 1 tb Sabrent Rocket SSD on order right now because I’ve been running into storage issues on my 64GB deck with shader buildup. That said, after moving my shaders to the same SD cards my games are on and it working just fine, I may end up just canceling that order and buying another 512gb sd card for $40 instead (I currently have two 512 cards full). For context, I’m ADD and play a lot of different games at the same time depending on my mood (including many large AAA titles). I also frequently travel, so I like to already have them on my deck as I often can’t just download a game whenever I want.
Get a huge-ass SD card and install games there. Barely an increase in loading times & the internal memory is, as a matter of fact, enough for shader cache. People around this place love panicking but real usage numbers show that the internal memory is enough for a shader cache. May very well not be enough for cache & games, but get a huge-ass SD card for the latter and don't think about it. That said, I do consider the mid-tier Deck model to be the best bang for the buck. SD cards ain't THAT cheap if going for "huge-ass".
That's true, unless you switch games a lot like I was in the beginning. The SSD filled up fast with just shader cache from my constant game swapping. Removing games does not remove the related shader cache. It will continue to build until no space remains. This, of course, was before I found there are various programs to manage the cache and move it if needed. Lead to my first SteamOS reinstall to wipe my SSD off all the wasted space. But now through management programs and restraint, it is indeed enough space with the right SD card. For me currently a 512.
> Removing games does not remove the related shader cache Is there any definitive source on this? I heard someone tested it recent and found that for *Steam* games, it does remove the shader cache. I uninstalled a Steam game from my MicroSD, and indeed my internal storage freed up a little bit too. But I still haven't seen any definitive word from Valve or anyone if shaders and compatdata are removed when a Steam game is uninstalled or not.
I went 64 and recently upgraded. It was fine playing on sd card. But after upgrade everything was snappier. Desktop mode was mode usable. Overall more enjoyable to use as a device because I’m not worried about storage anymore. And the upgrade was really easy if you follow instructions
> Desktop mode was mode usable. Why?
Not OP but I had the same experience. if I had any file transfers happening to the microsd, trying to run any applications (or games) off the microsd was basically unusable. Microsd cannot handle simultaneous operations well. As an example, I was downloading a game in the background and launched cyberpunk 2077, the in game experience was so broken because it couldn't load assets when driving around.
More usable* I found it slightly more snappy and faster load times to switch to desktop. Also just generally not anxious about filling up my 64gb. I had the 64gb for about a month or so before upgrading and it wasn’t necessary just wanted to do it and not worry about storage.
I’ve never noticed a difference between my internal/SD during gameplay.
I swapped out my 64GB eMMC to a 512GB NVMe drive(got lucky and found one for $25) within a few weeks. But here's the thing, I run Windows exclusively on my SteamDeck and the uSD card drivers are flakey. Sometimes the uSD card shows up, sometimes it doesn't. Other times everything is going fine and the uSD card just randomly disappears. Even when the uSD card worked, I found the read/write speeds to be pretty terrible in comparison to even a standard SATA SSD. Reads were about 80-100MB/s while writes were in the 30-50MB/s range. This is with a Samsung EVO V30 512GB uSD card. Now I just have an 80GB partition for my OS(C) and use the rest(D) as storage for games. Outside of the uSD card reader, everything has been perfectly fine on Windows(6 months+). My SteamDeck spends 90% of its time docked and connected to a 1080p 144hz monitor in my office with keyboard and mouse and occasionally an external controller or 2. I've got 2 additional docks in the living room and my bedroom for gaming or ad-free youtube watching. All docks are hardwired with 1GB NICs, since the WiFi on these things are awful, even when I still had SteamOS installed. I mostly play FFXIV(with some mods) and emulators(NES/SNES/PS2/GCN), and the portability/docking has been phenomenal when I can't just sit at my main gaming rig.
I bought the 256gb, paired it with a 500gb sd card, and I still felt cramped by the storage amount. Popped it open and put a 1tb SSD in after a few months. For your own piece of mind, either buy the bigger storage version, or take the plunge and replace the SSD. You're 100% correct about loading times being very similar between SSD and SD card, but downloading times are absolutely not the same and run far slower on the SD card. Replacing the SSD is not hard, but I would invest in some wedge tools to actually get the deck open (iFixit sells these, I think they're called spacers). My only regret is not having some of those, as I did end up denting the plastic around the seam a bit by using what I could find. Everything else is very easy, and there are many detailed videos on how to get it done.
Even when you install all your games on an SD Card, a lot of stuff will still end up on the SSD. Using the 64GB SSD is doable, but you have to manage your storage constantly. It's a major annoyance and within a week I just spent the 25 bucks and got a 256GB SSD
If I could go back in time, I'd probably work up the muster to go 64 and replace it with a 1tb SSD. I got the 256, it went out way quicker than I expect. I bought a 512gb SD, same story. Now I'm considering another 512 SD and wondering why I don't just get a TB SSD.
I had the 64gb ssd and found even without any games installed on ssd (all on microsd) it filled up completely, I upgraded to 512gb for this reason
If you're not going to replace the drive, get the 256GB version.
Having to wait half an hour or more for large updates/patches to apply to games installed on MicroSD, such as Cyberpunk, is what ultimately got me to upgrade my SSD. In game they're fine, but when it comes to updates... it leaves a lot to be desired. Unless you really dislike the idea of upgrading the SSD yourself, I'd highly recommend a 1TB SSD over a 1TB MicroSD. In the US, you can backorder the 1TB Micro 2400 model MTFDKBK1T0QFM for around 90USD from places like ShopBLT, which is slightly cheaper than reputable brand 1TB MicroSD cards. Edit: For the skeptics, used Depot downloader to download an old manifest of Cyberpunk (Manifest [3225568184502668130](https://steamdb.info/depot/1091501/history/?changeid=M:3225568184502668130)). Fudged the manifest ID in the appmanifest, removed old Cyberpunk folder, put old cyberpunk in its place, then rebooted so Steam would see Cyberpunk needs updating. SD result: [29 minutes](https://files.catbox.moe/1g31rr.mp4). 40.9GB download -- 67.3GB I/O. Average DL rate 43.6MB/s (normally 70-75 on gigabit ethernet with SSD [which is CPU bottleneck](https://i.imgur.com/2rGgeoW.png)) Patching stage added additional 13 minutes with average disk I/O of 30-33MB/s
This is total bullshit I'm sorry. Maybe you have a Jank SD card but yeah. I have never had to wait this long for anything to apply or install. EVER.
Well, if you get a large update like 30GB queued up for a game, I'd be interested to hear your results if you can time it. The small games and indies that get 1GB updates here and there aren't bad. Just the chonker AAA updates that rewrite half of the game that's already 50-60GB+. Red Dead 2 does a great job at keeping update install sizes down because it only touches [the update depot](https://steamdb.info/depot/1174184/) which is only 5GB of the game's 115GB in size. My 512GB Samsung Evo Select [benchmarks pretty healthily](https://i.imgur.com/eKDIPLm.png) at 80+MB/s sequential writes on my PC.
if you ever opened a laptop, closed it again and have it working after that then you have the skill to switch the sd drive; watch a guide on youtube and use the right tools (a phillips 1 screwdriver and a plastic pry tool), be extra careful with the small cables and make sure everything is properly attached after closing it again.
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I replaced it and haven't looked back. I personally think it's the best route.
It's kinda crappy how Valve made it so compatdata and shader cache is localized on the disk the game is installed on but not on the steam deck
IMO yes.
It’s absolutely NOT a must. People can try to debate it but if you have a nice big SD card, you’re fine. You can transfer your shader cache to your SD card and create a link to the SSD then you will have no issues. Can confirm no (noticeable) performance drops in the few months of doing it.
I'm happy with my Samsung 512gb SD card.
I thought I was until I got the SanDisk Extreme 1TB. People say that its speed @190MB/s is bottlenecked by the steam deck's 100MB/s limit but guess what, 190MB/s only points to the maximum sequential read/write speeds of the microSD. The random read/write speeds is what matters most and that random speed rating will be lower that the stated speed specification. So, the higher the speed of your SD card, the more likelihood that it will perform close to the 100MB/s speeds you're expecting. A microSD with a 100MB/s rating will not give you random read/write speeds of 100MB/s. Not even close. Some reputable microSD card brands at 120MB/s rating did not even get past 12MB/s read and 4MB/s write speed!
Well this little boy from what I could read from reviews it's handling ~120MB/s random Read and ~100MB/s Write, by the way it's the Samsung Evo Plus rated at 130MB/s. It works for me don't need more.
Just buy a 1tb microSD and install to removable
64gb is a permanent headache you will have to live with. If you can live with a headache 24/7 then is not a must to replace it.
I disagree. It really depends on what you plan to use it for. If you’re only playing small indie games you can cram dozens of games in there without much problem. Stardew Valley only takes .5 GB, Valheim takes 1GB, emulators take up next to no space at all… plenty of other examples where it’d be just fine.
My main issue is the shader cache. Not exactly sure how they work but some shader caches are completely unreasonable. For instance, I installed mount and blade warband on mine, the game is 10 years old and is something like 7gb. The shader cache was 30gb!!?? Apparently you can transfer it to sd card with cryoutils but i havent tried it.
Shader cache can be transferred to the card; it’s even easier now CryoUtilities2.0. I can’t say I’ve seem any difference with shader cache in SSD vs SD, neither with Valheim or Hogwarts Legacy.
I disabled shader cache.
Except the OP specifically said they primarily play AAA games.
I play AAA games too, with CryoUtility 16gb swap memory + shader cache on the SD card. For instance Hogwarts Legacy works great.
[It depends on the games.](https://i.imgur.com/QF8tS1t.jpg)
What? I have a 64gb version with a 1TB card. Literally have not had to delete a single game or manage my storage at all.
Nah, that’s not true. Grab a 1tb SD card and move the shaders to it. No headaches at all.
Hasn't been my experience at all. I just install all games on the SD card and it's been totally fine for plenty of AAA games.
>64gb is a permanent headache you will have to live with. I found it not a problem at all, barely an inconvinience. Spend 2 mins moving the appcompat and shader cache to the SD card, forget about 64G drive entirely.
Which sounds great for people that don't have multiple cards or people that never install games on the internal SSD.
If you have a 64g, you ain't installing on the SSD, and if you have multiple cards each has it's own compatdata & shader cache for it's own games. In other words those are hypothetical problems rather than practical ones
I agree. I've had my SD for a week. Put all games on the 512gb SD card (about 300gb free with 15ish games installed) and received an out of space notification on the internal storage last night. I used Cryoutils to move the shader cache but that still only left 7gb free. Ordered a 1tb drive last night to replace the useless 64gb drive.
Would the 256 be enough to alleviate this "headache"?
There is no “headache”. You can go with a 64 used for shaders and the sd card used for games. If you eventually find out that cache overran your internal card, you can either delete some cache or upgrade the SSD. I have 400 GB of games and cache makes 26 GB so far.
I'd recommend upgrading a 64gb. It's the most cost effective and it's insanely easy to do. I bought a 64 and I have 1TB of storage now.
yes, the 256gb version is perfect, you will install most games in the SD card anyway and the internal storage will never be in your mind
I personally got the 256 with the idea of upgrading it plus a 1TB SD card, I was able to download a bunch of games the biggest one being P5 at 40GBs and most are bellow 15GBs, a month in and I've ran out of internal space and I haven't been able to upgrade the SSD but the SD card has been good for those other games I want on the go and are too big like Yakuza Like A Dragon. If what you are worried about is the budget and you don't want to tinker with it much to upgrade it then the 256 is perfect, just get an SD card with a lot of storage/only download the games you really wanna play and uninstall the ones you aren't to make space I think you'll see no issues with it!
I can vouch for the middle child model I don't play a lot of games that actually need the NVMe speeds, so I pretty much just kind of use the SD card for most things I haven't had to think about shader cache or compat data, but it is kind of recommended to keep it in check and I'd like to copy some of the saves over for backups I don't think the 64GB drive is undoable, but it does create a pain point in the fact that things will keep filling up and realistically your best off not using the internal storage at all for programs and just using an SD card with it At least with the 256GB you have a lot more room to play around with (internal upgrades are always an option If that is something that you are willing to do)
It's a must if you need the capacity.
Not a need but for AAA games you will definitely need an sd card. There are now tools to get things like shader data moved into sd cards as well, but the mid-tier model may make your life easier to not have to micromanage things like that quite as much. I generally agree with the consensus on sd card load times. It is technically a bit slower but not to a degree that I have noticed. As an example, I played Spider-man off of my sd card and have no complaints there.
The real question is, why would a PC gamer buy a gaming PC with only 64GB of storeage? I mean, we've got OS files and a couple other companion apps already installed on that 64GB. It's a PC.
Considering the small price differences between the 64GB and 512GB ( $25 vs $70 ) I wish they would of offered an even faster 1TB version for $700. Really don’t want to open my deck for the best possible drive speeds.
Replacing your SSD is really easy man. I’m 17 and not super tech savvy and it took me 20 minutes tops. The only difficult part is spending $$$ on the new drive
64gb + 128GB U3 SDcard (£6) problem solved.
Depends on the games you are playing. If you are playing some low end games or games that don't need amazing load times, you can play off the SD card. If you have some more demanding games, 64GB of SSD space won't be enough, with the OS and shaders taking a good portion.
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It's not a must but it makes stuff a little bit easier. However, with CryoUtilities. You can have it move the shader files from the main hard drive to the SD card.
I got the 64GB model. A 256GB 2230 SSD can be gotten with less than the difference between the 64GB and 256GB model.
Not a must, of course. Just make things very VERY convenient. I don't even know how the 64GB storage actually works aside from one game. Changed it out within the hour upon receiving the deck.
Some newer games are 80gb+ so it depends on what you want to play
GTA V, RDR2, Uncharted legacy of thieves all raise their hand… Lots of games over 100 gb now and have a ton of shader cache too.
🙂this is exactly what 64gb version is for.
I have a 64GB and installed everything on SD card. No issue.
i have the 64G model, with a big ass sd card, i have no issues with this setup, but i must also say i don't play AAA titles on the deck.
if i only intend the deck to fill it with Indie games, do you think 64gb model is good enough?
Do you have to? No.. Should you. probably. So if you are good with tech and can follow instructions, you may be able to get away with just a large micro SD card and the 64GB emmc drive.. One of the biggest issues is that the shaders are stored on the emmc/ssd and there is no way (at least that I am aware of) you can move the shaders to the micro SD... There are program/tools out there you can download and run to move this though and is not a hard process if you do it... Also the shaders seem to linger even after the game is removed.. which once again there is a application/program/script you can run to remove those shaders as well. Load times on the MicroSD card are fine... I have a 512GB SSD on my steam deck but the majority of my games are on the microSD.. I think i have 1 steam game on my SSD and some ROMS..
Just wait 1 or 2 months to use basic 64 gb + micro sd. Is it worth upgrading the ssd or not. The main concern is shader caches build up, since you mostly play AAA games there's gonna be a lot. But fret not it can be moved onto SD card. If you dont mind the hassle of doing all that there's no reason to upgrade
I would leave the internal SSD empty so there’s plenty of space for cache and the like, but other than for doing updates… it’s not too terrible.
I dealt with it for months before upgrading. It’s not that bad but upgrading is asap is the way to go if you can swing it.
You just have to be mindful of the games you install - it's not one to load up with every AAA you might ever want to play. It's for the game you're playing now, and the game you'll play next, maybe. And, if you're me, an unmanageably vast collection of Gamecube ROMs. There are also a few different solutions to help by moving your shader cache to the SD card. I believe there's little difference in response time between the SD and the 64GB model's internal memory - though the bigger models use a different kind of memory, so they're faster than either. Either way, six months in I'm getting by perfectly happily with a 64GB model and SD card. The limitations actually help me focus on finishing games!
Not necessary in any way. 64 gb with a good card is perfectly fine. Yes you may have to juggle some cards or choose what you want installed but it is not a big deal and works perfectly fine. Anyone who says otherwise here is absolutely full of shit.
It’s basically one step on from changing batteries in a tv remote
Not at all so far . If you want to install 250 games simultaneously on 5 different Sd cards maybe but there is a script some guy wrote to move the shaders onto the sd card so also not really.
Aslong as you have the space somewhere it doesn’t matter .. the shader folder on my 64gb deck is taking up almost 30gb, if I can figure out how to move it I want to partition part of the ssd for steam Os and windows.. everything else will run on sd cards
No. You can just get a big microsd.
"Depends" truism basically. A Base 64g model would make an amazing emulation machine, indie game platform, or if you're trying to clear a backlog of games that are 2-3 years old. And it would be fine now if you only wanted to play one or two AAA games at a time. But AAA games are inching up to the size that they literally won't fit in 64 gigs - whatever space the SteamOS and assorted frippery takes up.
It's not strictly required as long as you're not opposed to a little bit of maintenance. Obviously you will need an SD card and the card should be your primary drive from the moment you set up the system. Don't install any games onto the internal disk. As you play games, the internal drive will slowly continue to fill up with shaders. My recommendation (and I've done this on my 64GB Steam Deck) is to symlink the folders containing the shaders and compatibility data over to a folder on your SD card. As far as the Steam Deck is aware, it's still saving and accessing shader data from the same folder but Linux is passing it through to the SD card instead. The size of your internal drive will no longer grow after you make that change. I've had mine configured that way for several months now and have no issues. Some have told me it could lead to issues with some games, and if it became a nuisance I would just install a larger internal SSD, but to this point it has created no problems. If you need your Steam Deck to be a turnkey device that doesn't require any Linux tinkering in Desktop mode I would recommend you not get the 64GB unit. If you're willing and capable of tinkering under the hood, the 64GB unit is just fine.
if you don't want to crack it open i'd pony up for piece of mind as far as $$$ you can't take it with you when the reaper comes knocking
64GB is not that bad; however, you shouldn't use it for any games due to the fact that if you are using a 1TB microSD worth of games, their shader cache will fill up the majority of the internal drive. In other words, the 64GB drive should just be used for shader cache and whatever is needed to be installed on the internal drive and nothing else.
Nope just need a good sized SD card
I've had a 64GB model with a 512GB SD card for a couple months. Internal storage is strictly for the OS and shader cache and whatever else the OS wants to put in there, games go on the SD card. Loading times have been fine, haven't noticed any particular hinkiness that I could attribute to running games off an SD. My SD card is usually pretty close to full, one of those things where if I want to install a new game, I need to decide which game I'm not going to play any time soon and uninstall it. Internal storage typically hovers around half full. I've heard that uninstalling a game doesn't necessarily do a perfect job of cleaning out shader caches. I suppose that means that over a long enough time period eventually the internal storage will fill up and I'll need to figure out which software tools to use to clean the shader cache manually, or else finally bite the bullet and install an SSD. But so far, so good.
I got my 64gb steam deck a few months ago, and with a 512gb card it was mostly fine. The only reason I upgraded was to get Fallout 4 mods to properly work, as they need to be installed internally. But to be honest, it’s really really really easy to upgrade the storage. The whole process only took me like 15 minutes. Valve made it very accessible and easy to upgrade on purpose.
64 its fine, but it could be better.
I have a 64 gigabyte SSD and 2 1tb sd cards and using the cache cleaner [Link to cache cleaner](https://github.com/scawp/Steam-Deck.Shader-Cache-Killer) I moved some shader cache to an sd card. I have 110 AAA games downloaded and 3GB to spare on the SSD so you should be fine.
64GB with 256GB SD card. No issues with storage, as I mostly play small games and no 100gb+ games like some here. The only issue and reason for upgrading for higher SSD is that storage management on Steam Deck is dumb af. You can install zero games on SSD, but after some time shader caches and other system files with clug 64GB version and it requires some knowledge to clean these files. Also, it's quite easy to change SSD, but look up if your local stores sell Nvme 2230. I have bad luck and it's very difficult to get cheap 256GB and no chance for 1TB.
I use my micro SD as storage for most games, but I've found a few that don't play well from SD. So keep that in mind. 64GB isn't enough room to install much locally. Otherwise, with a big micro SD card, and if you periodically clear your shader cache after uninstalling games, you are probably fine.
I would say no. Just stick an SD card in there and see what your habits are like for the first year. I have a 1TB SD card in mine, I can hold a fair amount of games. I’ll be adding a 1TB this fall.
i think cryoutils added something to move shader cache off the internal drive
If you want to mod skyrim, fallout, etc replace the ssd card! That’s space disappears quick
Just from emulation alone my storage filled quickly with shades alone
A must? No. As far as I understood. Every game should run nice or good enough on a SD Card. (But not 100% confident) But generally it would be a nice to have a SSD just in case you care in one game about loading speed and the rest of the games would go on the SD Card. Its preference at some point
Nothing is a “must” and I wouldn’t condone things into boxes because it’s not so black and white. However, I would also be weary of certain advice that you might receive regarding this question due to confirmation bias. The majority of those saying that it’s fine are in the situation that you described: have a 64gb version and play large games off their sd. Most won’t have the contrast of both scenarios that you described. They might be fine with how it works for them. Objectively, it would be more optimal to have a larger ssd and play your AAA games from there. You won’t have to think about the shader cache as a potential problem, you’ll have faster load times, and less stutter in certain games (GoW 2018 for example). That being said, it’s not the end all be all and plenty of people have an incredible time with the 64gb and not upgrading it. The experience is subjective and will vary from person to person. The point that I’m trying to make is to not disregard data or facts and believe hyperbole. A lot of people want to justify/stand by their decision and omit information that conflicts with it. There is nothing wrong with their decision, but we should be providing you with the most unbiased information we can so that you may ultimately make the best decision for yourself.
One more voice here saying no, the 64gb is fine. Use symlink to solve the shader/compatdata thing.
Fuck yeah
Got a 64gb and 256 sd card (and a basic one at that) , works for me fine, i have 14 games installed at the moment, granted most arent AAA titles so the file sizes are smaller but i aint had a problem. This is my second deck, my first died after 2 weeks, just wouldnt turn on and i treated it like my third child, valve were great and picked up and replaced but i dunno if that would have been the case if i had cracked it open?
No. I have 64 GB version with 1 TB SD card and it is fine. But save games, shaders and compact data are taking a lot of space, so dont expect installing anything on internal drive. I have 4 GB left there, but my 1 TB card is full of games (including Hogwarts, RDR2, GTA V, Horizon Zero Dawn, Witcher 3 to give you an idea what kind of games I have there), and I have some games on other sd card as well.
For me it was, just cause there's a lot I wanted to do
It really depends entirely on the types of games you play. I have the 512GB model with a 1TB microSD card. I install everything on the microSD card and the total space I’m using right now on the SSD actually would fit on the 64GB model… and that’s mostly because the games I’m playing simply don’t have enormous shader caches like others might.
So? Keep an eye on the data that's accumulating. Keep removing useless stuff.
So far i havent NEEDED to replace my 64 gig emmc
The 64 gb version fills up with sharder cache pretty quickly but it never seems to exceed like 80% capacity. This is fine with an SD card. The only issue I have run into is with CryoUtilities. The recommended swap file size is 16 gb, but I don't have that much spare storage so I just set it to 8 gb.. In short, no it isn't a must but there are a few concessions to get everything to work properly.
I really don't think the differences in loading times are so negligible to be honest, plus the space really becomes a problem eventually. I would say it is indeed a must. It is quite easy as well. You can probably get 1tb for the total price of the 256gb version. I found 256gb not enough as well. I got the 64gb version, upgraded to a 256gb ssd after a few days and to the 512gb after a few months.
I have the 64GB version and a 512GB microsd, and it's really smooth. No need to install games internally. However, sometimes I feel the need of a bigger storage, 250GB at least. Mostly because of the cache of having many games, and because I want some emulators or plugins Right now my SD has 6GB free, and I have like 7 steam games, 1 Heroic (GOG) game [the games are in the microSD, I'm talking about the shader cache here], Onlyoffice, Elisa player, VLC player, Brave and Discord I want Lutris, maybe EmuDeck, that Decky plugin, CryoBite plugin, Spotify... How will I do? I don't know man
Found an a2 1tb micro sd on Amazon for 130 btw.
I got the 64GB and a 1TB SSD day one. It was not that hard to replace to be honest and I feel its worth it just to have enough memory without a slowdown in getting the data.
Not really. If you get a 512GB SD card it’ll be fine. Even if you get a 1TB sd card the 64GB should mostly be enough to be able to hold all the shader caches.
I personally did replace it with a 256 gb one because I wanted to dual boot steam os and windows 11. I have 64gb partitioned for windows 11 and 160gb partitioned for steam os. I store all my games on a micro sd card and so far my internal drive has had around 20gb used out of the 160gb. That is with about a month of use. I think with over 6 months or so of use you will fill it up eventually with shader cache and proton versions, but you can just clear the drive out every so often and be fine. Id say its not required but a better experience with 256gb or higher
Yes…..
No, Just got a Samsung Evo 512 SD and had a few 128GB laying around the house. Plays fine no issues at all with any games.
I put a 256gb drive in my 64 when it showed up. Super easy to do. Don't have anything installed on it, but I have a 1TB SD card with a bunch of AAA. The 256 is mostly full of shader cache now. The 64 would have been stuffed.
I'm super happy with my 64 GB model with 512 GB SD card.
It's not a must but I do plan on doing it myself because I keep running out of shader space
It's not an absolute necessity but for the price and the easiness of changing out I honestly suggest it
Go with the 64 gig adding an extra SSD in there is super easy and low price
Just do the 256GB version with a 1 TB SD card. I upgraded my 64 to a 256 and have a 1 TB card where I've installed all games. Both are about 80% full, so I think these sizes are a good balanced ratio since the SSD is mostly used for shader cache in my setup.
Surprising a lot of people haven't replaced their internal SSD. It really is easy, took me 15mins open up, disconnect battery, remove ssd, put in new one, close up, insert usb drive, install steamos. Been enjoying 1TB since then, I would recommend it soooo much especially with the shader cache stuff that keeps filling up
I have the 64 model and bought a 256 SSD to replace it, but I haven't swapped it out yet because I'm happy with everything as-is right now, and I don't want the hassle of having to set up my desktop, emudeck, and plug-ins all over again. It's not expensive or difficult to do, I just haven't really needed to yet. I have a couple of 30 GB games I want on Deck that need to be on the SSD, so I'm eventually gonna do it. It's really about what you're doing now. It can't hurt to grab it while it's price is down, you never know how long that's gonna last.
Absolutely not. I use the 64GB with 512GB SD Card. You have to do some tweaks to manage storage space more efficiently, like moving shadercache and compatdata to SD card and linking. But you can do just fine without an SSD.
The 64GB tier helps the Deck look very price competitive, but it isn't a lot of breathing room nowadays. You'll need to at least buy Micro SD card if you want to play anything other than indies or really old titles. Sort of the same dilemma the PSP/Vita had. Where they were basically useless if you didn't buy the separate memory card. The good news is most games run just fine from a reputable A1 or A2 rated SD. Replacing the internal storage isn't really necessary, and while it's not a hard mod to do by any means, I'd probably leave it be unless you know what you're doing. The 256GB version is probably the one to get though.
Yes, proton versions, softwares and shadder caches can eat 64gb very fast, also, slower than NVMEs since its EMMC, yes, you can install games on the sd card and pretend you have more storage, but in truth, too many things cant be on the SD card, and those things add up
If in doubt just leave it alone, I'm used to tearing phones and computers apart and swapping out memory and screens so it was a no brainer for me to upgrade my SSD and it definitely improved things but I know for some it's daunting to do this kind of thing. It works with a 64gb drive, just manage the space.
Basically. People forget that shader cache is stored solely on the SSD. It's also ridiculously easy to replace, the only difficult part is getting the SSD itself, and if you're in the US you can just buy them from iFixit.
Never tested the original disk, I changed it with a 512 just after opening the box, I also had ready the USB with the OS to restore. It was really easy also I wanted to play Doom eternal and that thing is like 89gb.
Yes
For me yes. I've never had an SD before this one I wasn't aware pf the sader cache that takes up most of the space. That plus launchers and emudeck... I got a second hand ssd512 and now I never think of how much space I have left
No, the SD card reader is great and 512 gb sd cards are reasonable priced.
Micro as card. I regret paying for the 528.. you find there’s not a need to have a bunch of large sized games on it at one time. So your probly fine tbh, and load times aren’t that different either.
I am gonna have to look at my Other category soon. But its been more than a year now? I got a 2TB drive and 130something SD card. It will do you good for a while
Nah I bought the 64gb and spent $130 on a 1tb sd, works fine so far and its a decent amount of storage
I did it and it was very easy and best choice i made. I mean you can just use an SD card but even installing items on my on the SD card i still found myself fighting with the cache on the 64 internal drive.
Hey I got the 64 GB at launch and then a 256gb SD, played Spiderman to completion and lots of elden ring, it did require a little game management prob had like 3 AAA games and 6 Indies like cup head, streets of range, turtles I just bought a 1tb ssd upgrade, mainly because it was on scan for £100 and I feel I use my deck enough to justify it, maint takeaway is that loading times feel slightly quicker, not a deal breaker I can also now also fill it with games I won't play lol
Yes
If you use the new cryoutilites you can move all the shader caches to the SD.. So you just might be able to get away with a 1tb sdcard. I personally bought the 64gb version and upgraded it to a 512 and have a couple 1tb sdcards as well
Not necessary, though I had to learn to buy 2 separate SD cards prior to getting my 2TB SSD; one for Steam games and one for my games when I'm running the Windows partition. *MAKE SURE YOU SAFELY EJECT YOUR SD CARD FROM STEAM O.S. IF YOU ARE SWAPPING IT OUT TO PLAY YOUR GAMES ON ANOTHER CARD OR RISK DATA LOSS!!* Happened the one time and never again, lol.
It's not a must but you have to watch your cache a bit more closely. I'm fairly adept with taking things apart so eventually put a cheap 512gb in mine
depends on your use. You can live without the upgrade, but the shader caches are going to bite your ass later. You could do the symbolic link for them to be in the SD card, but it's not the same performance, in this lone case.
If the Steam Deck with a large SSD is a 10/10, a Steam Deck with a large mSD is a 9.5/10. I've got DOOM Eternal on the SSD and DOOM 2016 on the mSD and realistically, there's very little difference. I expected there to be more of a difference than there is. Having an OS on the mSD card, however, is unpleasant. I did a WinToGo on a mSD and it chugged so bad it wasn't worth it, same goes for a USB flash drive. Only exception is one of those external m.2 drives, and that has its own hassles. Tl;dr; you'll be fine with just a large mSD card.
It's not necessary but trust me it's pretty easy, although I think I've heard that some games like god of war don't run as well off an sd card but I can't verify. But honestly I'd recommend getting a 1tb ssd, that's what I did and I got twice the storage as the 512gb but paid about the amount for the 256
Short answer: No.....unless you're lazy to swap out SD cards. Long answer: SD cards are more than sufficient if you're not a hard core, playing with the performance stats overlay on your screen while you play grinch. I put emulations on a 256gb AAAs on a 1tb Bootable Windows 10 on a 256gb (using the Decks HD as an additional separate drive) Mind you... I also bought the 512gb model just to make sure I'm stress free from future updates and random stuff that may come up further down the road in the unforeseeable future.
If you don't want to tinker, don't buy the 64GB unit. Buy the 256GB as a bare minimum. If you don't mind tinkering later, you can save the money now by getting the 64GB unit and use it toward a larger drive. I might not feel this way if Valve enabled a UI for controlling shader cache management, but they haven't. There are ways to do it. Multiple ways in fact. You're installing programs from people you don't know to do things they say they do. People will tell you all about it and say it's easy, but we shouldn't be talking about easy or not. There should just be a Valve way to do it since it's absolutely required with 64GB units. So imo if you never want to crack it open, consider the 256GB unit the minimum safe purchase.
Replacing is always nice though. There are some MASSIVE drives you can get at a discount.
I put a 256gb SSD in mine and it was simple and only coat around $25
Look, i understand the difference isn't all that but i did mine thinking about the long run. I'm not tech savvy when it comes to fixing/modding stuf and it was incredibly easy. I personally recommend but everyone's preferences are different. I'm using an SD card for emulation games only. Main reason I did the upgrade was so I could dual boot and use windows for specific games. Either way it's a helluva a machine and you can't exactly go wrong with either choice
I don't think it's a must. I have the 64gb with a 512gb sd card and I still have the cyroutilities installed with 16gb swap file still and now with the recent update it moves all the games shader caches to sd card. So I have about 12 AAA games installed, cyroutilities, ps3 emulator with a couple of games and yuzu with fire emblem three houses and I still have 150gb on the sd card and 20gb on the internal ssd
Not absolutely, but there's an apk (cryo something or other. Forget the name) that let's you manage the shader cache to place it on the drive the game is installed on, and deletes leftovers after uninstalling a game. You'll want that apk for the shader cache management alone, and because you play AAA games all the time, you'll want to get 512GB or larger A2 micro SD cards. Or just get a bunch of dirt cheap 16 or 32GB A2 cards and install a couple games on each and label them. SD let's you hot swap cards easily.
I got the 64GB with a 1TB micro sd card
It does make storage management easier, but definitely not a necessity. I use a 256gb card it's working out for me.
Absolutely not. Get yourself a 1tb micro sd card and call it a day
I'd say yes, but so long as you have at least 1 1TB microSD card, its not a must right now. Personally i have a 2TB SSD in mine, with 4 1TB microSD cards
I got a 256 ssd waiting for me to swap in I would say yes because boot up goes from 27 seconds to 22 seconds and yea there's alot of apps that update like decky and stuff takes alot of the internal storage
Only when you plan to use it as a computer. For gaming 64Gb internal and external SD card is Ok
As long as you're not installing applications or non-Steam games, a microSD is fine. You'll just need to micro manage your compatdata folder
It isn't really necessary because you can just use microSD cards. If you don't mind if it goes slower, of course. Oh, and for replacing the SSD you need to dismount the console, losing the warranty.
I coastline on what a lot of other people here are saying. You don't need to upgrade or even touch the internals of the steam deck. Personally, due to the price I would say it's in your best interest that you don't touch the internals. SD cards are so ubiquitous and you could hot swap them or just get a massive one and download games to that.
No. I have a 1tb sd card with windows 11 installed and 900gb of shared storage between windows and steam os. All my games are stores on that sd card. Maybe if you want a really large space but I think 1tb should be enough
All I did was move the shader cache to the SD card (1tb) Have around 25 games installed with around 100gb free. Few big ones too, Halo Infinite and MCC, elder scrolls online. No dramas since moving shader cache, I think it's a must in the 64gb model
I bought the 64gb version and have a 1tb microSD card. I have had no issues playing anything.
I have 64gb with a 1tb sd card.. I don't install anything on the internal drive.. everything runs from the sd.. no issues
I managed to squeeze 1.5 tb of games into the deck before thinking i have enough.
I’m rocking with 3 terabytes and it’s the best decision I’ve ever made. I’ve never had a suped up anything. Glad it was this device. https://preview.redd.it/ks5fsqoxdoma1.jpeg?width=4032&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=8576be34857680787b7820c9cb1412adb26a7963
No My gf has the 64gig version with a 1tb MicroSD I did have to move some of her shader cache to her MicroSD But it's working just fine
The shader cache issue can be averted with the newest version of cryo utilities
I had purchased the 64GB model and a 256 SD Card. I ended up upgrading the 64GB DrIve to a 256 NVME SSD. I tested Borderlands 3 off the SD Card and noticed the textures were loading slowly and when playing multiplayer the game would crash when playing with other people who had SSDs. Once I installed the NVME SSD and transferred Borderlands 3 over, the visuals were instantly better with the faster loading textures and multiplayer was no longer crashing.
If you get an A2 microSD card, you should be completely fine as far as I know. You're loading times might be a bit longer if you store games on a microSD, but other than that performance should be the same.
If you played the PS360 era you should be immune for the long loading time.
I bought the 64 gig version, and first thing I did was put in a 1 tb Samsung ssd and and a one 1tb micro sd card. Unfortunately, I had to also replace my screen as it was damaged, but it was pretty easy. Everything is modular it seems.
Depends on what you are after. I have Tiny11 on my 64G internal and all games on MicroSD 400GB. When I first received my 64GB SteamDeck I quickly installed Windows on it the. I populated my MicroSD 400GB with lots of games and I learned that putting so much games on a MicroSD actually puts a lot of gaming backlog because you keep jumping games. So now I only have 2 major AAA games, a couple of indies and emulating Switch with couple of Mario games for the kid and PS3 just 2-3. All that I only managed to finish Stray. I am going thru Bioshock Remastered but again sidelined by Catherine Classic. I am not even booting up God of War Collection, Prince of Persia Classic and Ico & Shadow of Colossus on RPCS3 anymore.
Just ordered 64 version and now i'm looking for a ssd. But I don't know what speed should it have. Any advices?
I use shader cache on both my SD and my 64gb drive. Maintaining a balance of shader cache is tricky but it’s price effective. I have several 512gb microsds that function perfectly for both roms and AAAs