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All of the IGN Steam Deck demo games were running off the SD card

GuinGuin

Banned
Death Stranding loads in 25 seconds from $20 SD card. And in 10 seconds from nvme Samsung 980 Pro. Not an earth shattering difference.

Now obviously as games start requiring SSDs to even function properly, this will change, but it will be a while yet.

I can wait a couple of extra seconds. Especially since the Steam Deck has a standby function. Turn it on and resume where you left off.
 
Now obviously as games start requiring SSDs to even function properly, this will change, but it will be a while yet.
Which is happening as we speak. Just save yourself the headache and avoid the 64 GB version that only exists so they can advertise "starts at $399".
 

Zannegan

Member
The 64 GB one I ordered seems like the right choice regardless of how hard it is to swap the internal drive. đź‘Ť


Well, damn. Seems like I may have spent unnecessarily.

Oh well, at least my load times should be more or less nonexistant, and I'll have the option of trading it somewhere for the upgrade.

Still...
 
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Great Hair

Banned


The 64GB version makes no sense, needs to be cheaper ($299).

A much slower useless storage for indies only aka you have to buy a bigger internal microsd? or what ever it supports (if you plan on installing games natively on the steam deck).

Get the 256GB or 512GB.
 
It's too slow. Get the higher tiers or don't bother.


The 64GB version makes no sense, needs to be cheaper ($299).

A much slower useless storage for indies only aka you have to buy a bigger internal microsd? or what ever it supports (if you plan on installing games natively on the steam deck).

Get the 256GB or 512GB.
Not sure if paid shills, or just really enthusiastic about wanting people to pay more for the more expensive models despite having fully justified reasons not to 🤔
 


The 64GB version makes no sense, needs to be cheaper ($299).

A much slower useless storage for indies only aka you have to buy a bigger internal microsd? or what ever it supports (if you plan on installing games natively on the steam deck).

Get the 256GB or 512GB.

64 Gb one is possibly the best choice. $400 + 1 TB 2230 m.2 SSD is ~200 or less.
 

MrFunSocks

Banned
I don't. There is also no guarantee there will be graphics drivers for Windows. Are they still charging for Windows these days?

You've been able to use Windows 10 for free since day 1, the evaluation expires but it is still a fully functional os. Nothing wrong with them charging though, you're not entitled to it for free.
 

ReBurn

Gold Member
If it really loads quickly from SD then why not get the lower tier? Add a 512 GB card for a hundred bucks and save some cash. Then when the SD card dies just pop in a new one and redownload.
 

Kenpachii

Member
Nvme drive gives you.

1) faster loading
2) make games like star citizen and bdo playable without hanging mid air or stuttering everywhere.
3) resolve microstutter as much as possible
4) more future proof for future games that require more speed which they will as games already exists today
5) not sure if this possible, but swap data from a sd card to the nvme drive in order to swap games around.
 
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5) not sure if this possible, but swap data from a sd card to the nvme drive in order to swap games around.
In the Windows client at least, the process is fairly simple. Open a game's Properties, then under Local Files select Move Install Folder. Choose a library folder to move to, and Steam will handle the process. So on the Deck, I imagine you can move games from the main drive to an SD card, and vice versa. It'll just take a while for the bigger games. Even at 100MB/s of UHS-1, some of the AAAs will take upwards of 10 minutes to move.
 

GuinGuin

Banned
In the Windows client at least, the process is fairly simple. Open a game's Properties, then under Local Files select Move Install Folder. Choose a library folder to move to, and Steam will handle the process. So on the Deck, I imagine you can move games from the main drive to an SD card, and vice versa. It'll just take a while for the bigger games. Even at 100MB/s of UHS-1, some of the AAAs will take upwards of 10 minutes to move.

Honestly I'm not sold in this thing playing the latest and greatest games. I think I'm going to try Xcom 1994 first and go from there.
 
Honestly I'm not sold in this thing playing the latest and greatest games. I think I'm going to try Xcom 1994 first and go from there.
If that's the case I'd recommend you go with OpenXCom. Best version of the game bar none, and works with the Steam version of the original content.
 

Buggy Loop

Member
Death Stranding loads in 25 seconds from $20 SD card. And in 10 seconds from nvme Samsung 980 Pro. Not an earth shattering difference.

Now obviously as games start requiring SSDs to even function properly, this will change, but it will be a while yet.

Sadly a 980 pro is not possible on this device because of the M.2 2230. It actually limits quite a lot the choice of SSDs to put in.

The price for the 512GB NVME ends up being fair because of the SSD form factor and the ridiculous prices of them. You won’t get the kind of deals that you find on normal 2280 NVME versions.

Also performance wise, these are laptop SSDs, they’re way slower than their desktop counterparts with much more latency. It’ll be interesting how it fares when we start to have directstorage games..
 
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Xmengrey

Member
Which is happening as we speak. Just save yourself the headache and avoid the 64 GB version that only exists so they can advertise "starts at $399".
You won't be playing any games that require a SSD on the system at all unless you want the battery to last like maybe 3 hours and to play those games at like 480p resolution.
 

GuinGuin

Banned
You won't be playing any games that require a SSD on the system at all unless you want the battery to last like maybe 3 hours and to play those games at like 480p resolution.

I don't think accessing the SSD will have any impact on battery life.
 

Dampf

Member
I strongly recommend going for the 256 GB version atleast.

Current games will run fine with the Micro SD card, but these are way too slow for next gen games which are programmed with next gen console's NVMe SSDs in mind
 

Daymos

Member
We'll see what you think when your game crashes, it takes a full minute to load, and then it immediately crashes again. 2second load times on an annoying crashing game like dragon age inquisition is a life saver.

It's worth the money to have 2000 mb/sec on an nvme SSD instead of 100mb/sec on an SD card. The 64gb with like 500mb/sec speed is irrelevant, that's so small it's useless.

Honestly get the 512gb SSD or just wait for a revision of the system.
 
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PhaseJump

Banned
The 64GB one isn't enough if you intend to run Windows.

We don't know how Windows 10 or 11 will perform on it, if there's any heavy reliance on the SD card. There can be a lot of drive indexing, and other crap dealing with services running and/or touching the file systems. It could potentially wreck and corrupt SD cards over a period of time.
 

IntentionalPun

Ask me about my wife's perfect butthole
Nvme drive gives you.

1) faster loading
2) make games like star citizen and bdo playable without hanging mid air or stuttering everywhere.
3) resolve microstutter as much as possible
4) more future proof for future games that require more speed which they will as games already exists today
5) not sure if this possible, but swap data from a sd card to the nvme drive in order to swap games around.
Steam let’s you easily do this with a regular drive, although not sure how well it would work with a removable SD.
 

GuinGuin

Banned
We'll see what you think when your game crashes, it takes a full minute to load, and then it immediately crashes again. 2second load times on an annoying crashing game like dragon age inquisition is a life saver.

It's worth the money to have 2000 mb/sec on an nvme SSD instead of 100mb/sec on an SD card. The 64gb with like 500mb/sec speed is irrelevant, that's so small it's useless.

Honestly get the 512gb SSD or just wait for a revision of the system.

Meh. Just don't play broken games.
 

TLZ

Banned
We'll see what you think when your game crashes, it takes a full minute to load, and then it immediately crashes again. 2second load times on an annoying crashing game like dragon age inquisition is a life saver.

It's worth the money to have 2000 mb/sec on an nvme SSD instead of 100mb/sec on an SD card. The 64gb with like 500mb/sec speed is irrelevant, that's so small it's useless.

Honestly get the 512gb SSD or just wait for a revision of the system.
If it's not a problem on the Switch, it's not a problem here
 
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