Does it make sense to use a fast SD card?

[Esukho]

Hello everyone, does it make sense to use a fast SD card in the steam deck? I read a lot of different things. Some say the Steam deck's card reader is limited to 100mb/s, so there's no point in using a faster card. Others, on the other hand, recommend particularly fast SD cards, etc. Somehow I don't know what to believe now


I think there is e.g. the Sandisk Ultra with 100mb/s and then the Extreme Pro with 200mb/s. Would it ever make sense to tend to faster?

[RSebire]

I use the Samsung PRO Plus 512GB microSDXC UHS-I U3 160MB/s Full HD & 4K UHD Memory Card.

If you are saving your games, and running them from the SD disk, just make sure its of U3 Quality.

And yes, speed matters.

[retrogunner]

Yes. But it's not just the speed. It's the "A" rating on the SD Card regarding its iops. You want an A2 (or higher card in the future). If not, texture loads and other reads will be slower to retrieve.

https://youtu.be/JGHZs8RTlVU?t=165

[Esukho]

Originally posted by RSebire:

I use the Samsung PRO Plus 512GB microSDXC UHS-I U3 160MB/s Full HD & 4K UHD Memory Card.

If you are saving your games, and running them from the SD disk, just make sure its of U3 Quality.

And yes, speed matters.

But why should I choose a higher speed than the card reader supports. If it only supports 100mb/s, 160, 200, etc. would be pointless. Or am I wrong ? At least that's what I've read a lot

[Lala Satalin Deviluke]

Originally posted by Esukho:

Originally posted by RSebire:

I use the Samsung PRO Plus 512GB microSDXC UHS-I U3 160MB/s Full HD & 4K UHD Memory Card.

If you are saving your games, and running them from the SD disk, just make sure its of U3 Quality.

And yes, speed matters.

But why should I choose a higher speed than the card reader supports. If it only supports 100mb/s, 160, 200, etc. would be pointless. Or am I wrong ? At least that's what I've read a lot

u arent making sense, basically any real u3 micro sd card will be the standard for regular operation, u1 will work but expect slower downloading and rewriting, the brands with advertising of 10-50mps speed with different u classes matter little overall depending on need thats why u3 standards/range will be closer to probably regular /current devices, u5 would work more for modded deck devices, not that u will ever get decent responses but more detailed whys will always help, also if u allowed prefetch data downloads, then expect any storage to take up to a 1/3 of that for prefetch data which is a choice sadly

[Mahjik]

Originally posted by Esukho:

Originally posted by RSebire:

I use the Samsung PRO Plus 512GB microSDXC UHS-I U3 160MB/s Full HD & 4K UHD Memory Card.

If you are saving your games, and running them from the SD disk, just make sure its of U3 Quality.

And yes, speed matters.

But why should I choose a higher speed than the card reader supports. If it only supports 100mb/s, 160, 200, etc. would be pointless. Or am I wrong ? At least that's what I've read a lot

The majority of card makers are quoting peak speed, not necessarily average. That means that the card is likely averaging much lower speeds. Using a faster card will provide faster average speeds which is more of the true performance rather than the peak sales numbers.