Calling all Steam Deck users

[Mike_Shaver]

1. I got a 512GB Deck
2. It’s been enough space so far but I doubt it will be forever.
3. MicroSD has been fine, even remembered to remove it when I opened the case up.
4. I haven’t replaced the SSD, but I did install Hall effect joysticks and that process was straightforward enough.

(Hi, Nirav!)

[David_Flowers_II]

@nrp

• What capacity did you order?
• Are you finding that you need more space?
• Have you used a MicroSD card to expand storage, and if so, how has that experience been?
• Have you swapped out a larger M.2 2230 SSD, and how was that experience?

• I ordered a 64GB
• Most definitely, I ordered the lowest one knowing I was going to replace the internal storage.
• I thought about this, but in my experience SD cards die super quick for me, so I tend not to bother
• Painless, I swapped the 64GB EMMC to a 512GB NVMe. I just wish the screws weren’t self tapping, but thats valves issue.

[Ravioli]

1. 64GB
2. Yes, I want to expand storage and ordered the lowest capacity with the intention of doing so.
3. SD has been fine but I still want to expand the primary storage device
4. Haven’t been bothered to swap the SSD yet, mainly because of 2230 availability.

[Calvin_Smith]

@nrp

1. What capacity did you order?
2. Are you finding that you need more space?
3. Have you used a MicroSD card to expand storage, and if so, how has that experience been?
4. Have you swapped out a larger M.2 2230 SSD, and how was that experience?

1. 256GB
2. Yes.
3. Surprisingly nearly identical to the SSD.
4. No, I have been waiting for a reasonably priced 1TB/2TB option.

[Antonio_Hudson]

64
Yes
Yes, a 500gb SanDisk ultra and it was very easy
No, would love a 2tb drive

[Redcodi]

1. 512GB
2. No as I have another 512GB MicroSD card
3. Perfect
4. No

[Meikel_Howell]

I am super interested and I know at least 5 more people with steam decks who would be.

[Dice]

1. 64GB
2. Yes
3. Yes. Performance from the SD card has been great and loading times have not been an issue, however the internal emmc drive still gets filled up easily with shader caches which have caused me to want to upgrade the storage. Many programs and game mods i have tried also only work with internal storage.
4. No. I don’t feel comfortable buying one from ebay. I would absolutely buy one from framework and swap it myself though, as its buying it that is my only problem right now.

[Serhii_Mumriak]

1. 512 GB
2. Not yet
3. No, planning to use 1TB from sandisk
4. Not yet, but considering

Side note: my deck is from batch that is using x2 pci-e for m.2 drive, I have not experienced any uncomfortable performance issues with it

[Ryan3]

1. 64GB with the intention of replacing it myself.
2. Yes. Even with the upgraded storage, it’s hard to fit more then a handful of big games on the SSD and I have to shuffle things around a lot.
3. Yes. Honestly love it the SD card seems to be just as fast as the internal SSD. They can be easily swapped out and the OS does a pretty good job of mounting everything properly. I’m using a 512GB and a 256GB for various games.
4. Yes. I actually swapped mine out before I ever even turned it on! I got a 512GB as it as the easiest to find and had the cost value at the time but, again, I would love to upgrade to something bigger if they were available and priced right.

[Will_Clarke]

I would love one

[nrp]

Uhhh… did someone post this thread on a Steam Deck community? Getting a lot of responses today!

[ElKrasso]

The outcome is that many people like to have the SSD upgraded. Is the possibility of getting (and selling) SSDs in 2230 factor still a thing?

[Aloehart]

I purchased the lowest model of deck. Storage was not enough right away so I purchased an SD card.

SD performance is fine most of the time but in games that actively load and unload during gameplay it makes them unplayable. An example is final fantasy 7 remake, which runs smoothly in small arenas like summon fights, but anywhere else in the game constantly freezes as it accesses the SD to load and unload assets.

I have not replaced the HDD yet. That’s planned for after I get my framework laptop, a new desktop GPU, and a new monitor. The steam deck is great as is so it’s a low priority purchase

[Brendan_Perry]

1. 64GB
2. Yes
3. Good, got a 512GB samsung evo
4. Not yet

I will get an ssd at some point. I would love to buy a 1TB ssd from framework as opposed to eBay or amazon. This would be amazing for the community! You may also want to gauge interest from users of surface laptops. Maybe could convert some of them on their next laptop purchase

[SteveHeist]

@Brendan_Perry

You may also want to gauge interest from users of surface laptops.

Fun fact, the M.2 2230 SSDs I’ve been eyeing for a potential Steam Deck upgrade are typically either OEM replacements for Surface notebooks, or drives harvested FROM Surface notebooks. There’s also an option from Dell at the moment but they want like $180 for 512 GB which is more than SK Hynix’ll sell it to you directly off Amazon (and more than some eBay sellers list 1TB for, although eBay comes with it’s own risks)

[Cheese]

@Brendan_Perry

You may also want to gauge interest from users of surface laptops.

The storage upgrade prices are insane! My surface only has 128gb and the SD card slot broke! Will be buying an external storage card from FW when they are available in my country.

[Adam4]

1. 64GB
2. Yes
3. Yes, works well until you run into issues with the shader cache…
4. No, but I want too and the main reason for not having done this already is the difficulty/cost of sourcing a drive.

[ElKrasso]

@nrp

We’ve seen feedback that it is extremely difficult to find 1TB and 2TB M.2 2230 SSDs. We actually have a really easy path to get them in volume. We want to gauge whether there is interest from Steam Deck customers around that (since they aren’t the right size for Framework Laptop customers).

Any news about the M.2s? @nrp

[nrp]

This is now live Framework | Western Digital SN740 NVMe - M.2 2230