Selecting the bottom storage capability Steam Deck or different PC gaming handheld then upgrading to a high-capacity SSD is commonly cheaper than selecting the highest-tier storage choice out of the gate, and may even present higher efficiency too.
If that is smart to you, we noticed a ten% low cost on the WD SN740, a stable PCIe 4.0 choice that works nicely within the Steam Deck and even higher within the ROG Ally, Legion Go and MSI Claw gaming handhelds that assist sooner PCIe 4.0 speeds. After the low cost at Scan within the UK, the SN740 is accessible for £81 for 1TB.
The WD SN740 is certainly one of a number of SSDs we advocate for PC handhelds just like the Steam Deck, coming in that trademark 2230 (22x30mm) kind issue that is a fraction of the dimensions of a conventional PC NVMe SSD (these are 2280 drives). Meaning there is no house for a DRAM cache, however you continue to do get high-quality TLC NAND flash reminiscence and a quick PCIe 4.0 controller, able to some spectacular speeds.
This explicit drive is rated as much as 5150MB/s reads and 4900MB/s writes sequentially, a formidable feat for a drive of this dimension. The SN740’s random learn/write stats are additionally aggressive, at as much as 740K IOPS reads and 800K IOPS writes.