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Samsung announces new micro sd card faster than ssd
Zannegan
Member
I don't believe that for a second, but I'd like to.
EDIT: Can we get a link to the Nintendo/Switch 2 rumor? I don't want to call BS, but I didn't see it in my cursory sweep of the Reddit thread or the attached article.
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alucard0712_rus
Gold Member
It's interesting how it will work with Switch 
Sleepwalker
Member
Nintendo and cutting edge tech, pick one.
adamsapple
Or is it just one of Phil's balls in my throat?
I would like to see real world tests on this, theoretical maximums are always overblown.
Tal Shiar Agent
Member
If Nintendo was smart they'd use an M.2 2230, much faster than this and cheaper.
Elysium44
Banned
The random I/O response performance will be more meaningful than theoretical maximum transfer speed presumably. Even on PC with nvme drives games often don't even manage 800MB/sec in loading because the limiter is the CPU performance anyway. This is why SATA SSD is often little or no slower.
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Zannegan
Member
But there's nothing in the thread or the article indicating any link to Nintendo... at least not that I saw. Wouldn't be the first time I missed the obvious though.
JordiENP
Member
I would believe it considering they showed that breath of the wild demo without loadings and the matrix demo and you can't do that on a current SD card. Samsung phones don't accept micro sd card and the handheld pcs are too niche for mass production. So Nintendo is the answer.
Dr. Wilkinson
Member
Nintendo normally goes for older technology that is lower-cost but they apply it in unique ways.
This would be quite uncharacteristic for them, unless they were able to agree on lower pricing for it. I feel like faster-than-SSD speed microSD cards would be prohibitively expensive for some time.
This would be quite uncharacteristic for them, unless they were able to agree on lower pricing for it. I feel like faster-than-SSD speed microSD cards would be prohibitively expensive for some time.
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Dr. Wilkinson
Member
It wasn’t hinted it was outright reported by more than a few leakers.
darrylgorn
Member
The baseline steam deck keeps proving its value every day.
Kenpachii
Member
Probably won't happen for the simple reason it will up the cost of the switch 2 as u need a bigger start amount and expanding storage is a pain for consumers and it also likely means that games made for that SSD speed can no longer run on a SD card so consumers can't easily expand storage.
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S0ULZB0URNE
Member
A variant of this will be used in the next Nintendo device 
Jibran#one
Member
This is cutting edge tech , 100 percent sure won't be used in switch 2 , knowing Nintendo they used tech 1 gen behind even Xbox and ps.
I'll be pleasantly surprised if switch 2 is as powerful as a PS4 pro or a Xbox one x
I'll be pleasantly surprised if switch 2 is as powerful as a PS4 pro or a Xbox one x
Can't wait for threads about people struggling to figure out why their microSD cards won't work with their Switch 2 games.
Uses too much power, most SSD controller are in the 3-5W range during reads and often pretty high idle draws aswell. What you want a mobile-first power optimized storage solution like SD Express or UFS. When you have a device which will be like ~15W every watt matters.
There's nothing really new here. The SD Express specification which this uses has been around for like 5 years or so. What's new here is implementing it in a microSD card rather than standard-sized SD card. In the end it's just an interface for bog-standard PCI Express.
Uses too much power, most SSD controller are in the 3-5W range during reads and often pretty high idle draws aswell. What you want a mobile-first power optimized storage solution like SD Express or UFS. When you have a device which will be like ~15W every watt matters.
There's nothing really new here. The SD Express specification which this uses has been around for like 5 years or so. What's new here is implementing it in a microSD card rather than standard-sized SD card. In the end it's just an interface for bog-standard PCI Express.
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CamHostage
Member
SSD-fast I/O for Switch 2 is vital; the speed of modern consoles and PCs is game-changing and tough to go back from.
Unfortunately, this is just talking about the SD Express format, which is nothing new. (I talked about the format back in 2020.)
SD Express is out to buy already, and has not worked out as promised. Its theoretical bandwidth is transfer speeds up to 4GB/sec for standard cards and 2GB/s for Micro SD, but real-world performance typically isn't close and then there's still seek and write to deal with. There are compromises to the format in its efforts to maintain backward-compatibility with standard SD cards, and heat and file format and other issues throttle performance. I'd love to see it actually live up to the potential, and a big manufacturer like Samsung finally bringing out its own cards might come with some answers for a few of its issues (Samsung is focusing on the minimum with their first SD Express cards, which is smart to divert from the bogus max,) but so far, it's been a frustrating disappointment.
petapixel.com
Still, there's a lot of potential in these storage devices which might be a tweak or two away from unlocking. Nintendo might have to go proprietary on pin config or file system to actually get those throughput boosts (but pricing would be severe, plus heat is still a concern, although this first gen of Samsung cards specifically address heat concerns so maybe they do have something worked out?) but anything to actually have the loading speed advantage and the potential engine improvements of instant mass-data access is good for gaming if they can find the right solution in performance and price.
Unfortunately, this is just talking about the SD Express format, which is nothing new. (I talked about the format back in 2020.)
SD Express is out to buy already, and has not worked out as promised. Its theoretical bandwidth is transfer speeds up to 4GB/sec for standard cards and 2GB/s for Micro SD, but real-world performance typically isn't close and then there's still seek and write to deal with. There are compromises to the format in its efforts to maintain backward-compatibility with standard SD cards, and heat and file format and other issues throttle performance. I'd love to see it actually live up to the potential, and a big manufacturer like Samsung finally bringing out its own cards might come with some answers for a few of its issues (Samsung is focusing on the minimum with their first SD Express cards, which is smart to divert from the bogus max,) but so far, it's been a frustrating disappointment.
SD Express Got an Update But It Still Won't Make the Format Work
The dream of SD Express remains just that – a dream.
petapixel.com
Still, there's a lot of potential in these storage devices which might be a tweak or two away from unlocking. Nintendo might have to go proprietary on pin config or file system to actually get those throughput boosts (but pricing would be severe, plus heat is still a concern, although this first gen of Samsung cards specifically address heat concerns so maybe they do have something worked out?) but anything to actually have the loading speed advantage and the potential engine improvements of instant mass-data access is good for gaming if they can find the right solution in performance and price.
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Kataploom
Gold Member
Switch was cutting edge when it came out, you can't have high tech, affordability and form factor all at once, same for PS5, or was cutting edge when it came out but for the price and form factor out had, not in general
Panajev2001a
GAF's Pleasant Genius
800 MB/s is almost 10x slower than many PCIE-4 SSDs… I mean I like this standard for cards, but faster than SSD’s?
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Hudo
Member
I can believe it because there were quite a few third parties complaining about the game cartridges used for Switch in terms of size (and also speed, to a lesser degree). And maybe that's Nintendo going ahead. But there was also another rumor suggesting Nintendo going ahead with next-gen of Macronix cartridges for the next Switch. So who knows.
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Codeblew
Member
I think the keyword is SATA. They don't come close to M2 speeds.
Panajev2001a
GAF's Pleasant Genius
Oh yeah, touché.
JordiENP
Member
Yeah for some reason people struggle to understand you can't have a switch in 2017 with the power of a ps4 and a silent fan with 7 watts. I bought the steam deck at launch and the fan was literally a vacuum cleaner, and that's years after the switch.
Audiophile
Gold Member
Regarding the Nintendo rumour. On a cost basis I'd expect them just to have an internal SSD with a reserved partition to act as a buffer for physical games and then use a uhs-ii/iii-like spec for their game cards and sd add-on storage. With decent prioritisation and streaming systems it'd still be very fast.
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Magic Carpet
Member
I wonder if Switch 2 games are going to need to be installed onto these SD cards to play.
tkscz
Member
Remember who Nintendo sells to the most, an average audience. You think the average Joe and Jane know how to take a gaming console apart to replace an NVMe? Working in IT, even younger people don't know how to do that on a laptop. However, popping out an SD card to pop in another? Much easier. Plus using flash memory lowers the cost.
draliko
Member
sata SSD not nvme
Miyazaki’s Slave
Gold Member
Samsung made a proprtiary card called the UFS card. It worked with certain devices that Samsung made and used the micro sd slot on their Chromebooks and phones.
At the time (4+ years ago_ they had a read of 500mbs and write of 200mbs but they quickly stopped adding support to their devices.
https://www.samsung.com/us/computing/memory-storage/memory-cards/mb-fa256g-am-mb-fa256g-am/
At the time (4+ years ago_ they had a read of 500mbs and write of 200mbs but they quickly stopped adding support to their devices.
https://www.samsung.com/us/computing/memory-storage/memory-cards/mb-fa256g-am-mb-fa256g-am/
Having to install games to internal/expandable storage seems like the only option to me (and likely you'll have to download a decent chunk of the game aswell). Shipping games on SSD-class carts will be prohibitively expensive, and pretty wasteful in the age of on-going updates etc as you'll have to install decently big chunks of the game to internal storage anyway. The cart will just be a physical token that acts like a license for the game.
cash_longfellow
Gold Member
What Switch 2? Y’all keep talking about it, but I’ve never seen it 
JordiENP
Member
then who is it? Apple and Samsung doesn't support Micro sd cards and gaming pcs are still niche. Nintendo showed a Demo of BOTW with no loading screens and the matrix demo... now explain to me how are they going to do that without a new kind of micro sd card.
kiphalfton
Member
Buggy Loop
Member
How about digital camers/camcorders. Even though Apple and Samsung has no SD card slot what do you think is inside of them?
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HerjansEagleFeeder
Member
You've answered your question alreadyLet me put it in my ROG Ally and see what the results are
JordiENP
Member
Samsung specifically said it's a partnership with a customer. The reader needs to be specifically for this, for example the steamdeck only reads up to 100mb/s and Samsung is not going to mass produce for "cameras/camcorders" that aren't going to be able to utilize it.
JordiENP
Member
Exactly, this will be for new devices that will have a new reader with some kind of cooling.You've answered your question already
efyu_lemonardo
May I have a cookie?
We're in for several months of speculation like this if Switch 2 launches in a year.
SegaSnatcher
Member
Paper specs don't usually relate to real world performance. It will not sustain those speeds.