Question 2230 SSD recommendation for Steam Deck ?

[MutualBenefits]

I got a question; I want to upgrade my Valve Steamdeck and I need to ask what’s the best budget (but good) 2230 SSD that I could purchase particularly from Amazon or Microcenter. The size I’m looking for is 512GB - 1TB since the majority of my gaming will be fighting titles on the go.

Some choices I was told about from brands: Inland, Western Digital, DogFish, Addlink, Kioxia, Sabrent, Corsair, and SK hynix.

 

[Maxxify]

TN446, Rocket for 512GB. 1TB, wait for the firmware fix if going TLC, but those two + MP600 MINI. I Guess the S91 uses TLC for 512GB, too, though. This is excluding OEM. Can go QLC for 1TB, too, usually a little cheaper.

 

[DeNachtwacht]

It’s basically simple, the Deck has a PCI-e gen 3 connector, a lot of SSD’s now are already PCI-e gen 4. That means read/write speeds up to 5000 mb/s, but because of the PCI-e 3.0 4x of the deck only about 3500 mb/s read/witte is supported.

On aliexpress you can find 1TB’s for as cheap as $45, but they have read/write speeds of 1800-2000 so are slower than the deck supports. A budget friendly choice now for me in the Netherlands is the Western Digital SN740, goes for around $75 on AliExpress for 1TB, shipping included. But since I don’t know retail prices in the US I don’t know if that’s a good deal for you too.

In general; look for the cheapest SSD that supports 3500mb/s read/write speeds, and I’d say go for 1TB because the price differences are small.