If you’re one of the lucky few who’ve managed to secure a Steam Deck, then it’s worth thinking about grabbing one of the best MicroSD cards for it. It’s a great piece of tech, but sometimes you need a bit more memory to work with. If you’re looking to expand not only your horizons, but also the abilities of your shiny new Steam Deck, then you’ll want to know what to buy. That’s why we’ve put together this list of the best MicroSD cards for you, because you deserve more memory.
Best MicroSD Card: SanDisk Extreme MicroSDXC 1TB | $170
If you’re looking to maximize how much you can fit on the Steam Deck, the SanDisk Extreme comes with 1TB of storage. Out of the gate, you’ll be nearly tripling the capacity for Deck—and that’s if you’ve got the highest-end model. Not only are you getting a ton of more space, but the speeds offered here will allow you to load games pretty much just as fast as launching them straight off the Steam Deck’s internal flash memory.
Best MicroSD Card for Balance: Samsung Evo Select MicroSDXC 512GB | $134
You don’t always need the best of the best, because usually, the best of the best means the most expensive of the bunch. You’ll find similar performance to the SanDisk Extreme 1TB card from the Samsung Evo Select, but with about half the capacity and a much lower price tag. 512GB is still a significant amount of storage, and it’ll take you some time to fill up the internal storage along with it.
Best Budget MicroSD Card: SanDisk Extreme Pro MicroSDXC 400GB | $68
Now, you can still significantly expand your storage without spending too much cash. The 400GB SanDisk Extreme Pro is a good fit for any of the Steam Deck models if you’re not trying to drop over $100.
Best Cheap MicroSD Card: Lexar MicroSD 64GB | $11
You can definitely get away with something a bit smaller and cheaper as well. If you bought the 64GB Steam Deck and are cool spending a couple hundred more on storage, you probably should’ve just opted to get the fancier, higher-capacity Steam Deck. But if you’re trying to be frugal and 64GB still won’t cut it, this Lexar MicroSD card will be a good fit. It’ll double your capacity for only $11.
Best Bargain MicroSD Card: SanDisk Extreme MicroSDXC 256GB | $34
Okay, so maybe you’re willing to pay a bit more than $11 on an SD card. Well, this SanDisk Extreme variant is 256GB and still hovers at only $34. Not too bad. You’ll forget that $34 pretty quickly, but you won’t forget how thankful you are to have that extra space where you’re in the airport trying to play Elden Ring.
This story was originally published by Joe Tilleli on 02/25/2022 and was updated with new information by Jason Coles on 04/27/2022.