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[fernoca]

I usually go eith either Adata or PNY. Worked wonderfully on the 3DS, so hopefully will be the same on Switch.

Sandisk is a good brand too, but across this and other forums, and people I know, the ones that their SDs stopped working out of nowhere on their 3DS (downloads didn't finished, error messages, corrupted files), all had Sandisk. So I just avoided it for the 3DS.

 

[nubbe]

The card that he was referring to in the link is UHS-I so it isn't irrelevant, and the A1 class is from the SD card association and requires that manufacturers show *minimum* read and write times rather than the "up to ___" peak performance numbers that are normally shown.

Rebranded class 10 card,
Minimum IOPS standard, also irrelevant since most cards are samey and sloooow
Get an U3 card or save money on an U1

 

[RichiRamjag]

You can't go wrong with the Sandisk 200GB micro SD card. Especially at that price. In fact, you could probably buy three for the price of a Sandissk 256GB micro SD card.

Got my 256 for $129! Sadly, that deal is over. I really don't want multiple cards as I hate managing physical media. That 200 is the best deal atm probably.

 

[Tripon]

Picked up a 128 GB Samsung card for $40. 80mb read/write. I'll survive on it for a couple of years before I have to upgrade again.

 

[jadjei]

Sorry about going slightly off topic but I'm looking into getting a new SD card for my 3DS (my 4 GB card is full). What size should I get? I've got some games that I had to delete and I see myself buying new games when they go on sale.

 

[tronic307]

Even the 128gb Samsung ones are slow? I always used Samsung ones, so I was going to buy these, but now I think I'll buy sandisk.

I have the Samsung Evo+ 128 and it has 80MB/s reads, the problem is the 20MB/s writes. Excellent bang for your buck and I don't think the SanDisk Ultras are much better than that if at all. Slow writes don't impact loading times but you may notice saving and maybe downloading may take a bit longer. Go with the SanDisk Extreme or Samsung Pro+ for speedy reads and writes, but none of them will read at more than 95MB/s unless the Switch supports UHS-II. Here's a good article with some benchmarks:

 

[fernoca]

Sorry about going slightly off topic but I'm looking into getting a new SD card for my 3DS (my 4 GB card is full). What size should I get? I've got some games that I had to delete and I see myself buying new games when they go on sale.

That depends on how many games you have and plan to own. Like, I had around 100 on a 64GB card at one point. Then upgraded to 128GB, but over the past months across all consoles, I'm only leaving the games I actually play... so went back to 64GB.

But that's still a lot, so either get a 16GB or get a 32GB if you know you'll buy a lot.

 

[dickroach]

Sorry about going slightly off topic but I'm looking into getting a new SD card for my 3DS (my 4 GB card is full). What size should I get? I've got some games that I had to delete and I see myself buying new games when they go on sale.

I got a whatever 32gb SanDisk on Amazon for like 10 bucks and it works fine

 

[ShadowFox08]

I have the Samsung Evo+ 128 and it has 80MB/s reads, the problem is the 20MB/s writes. Excellent bang for your buck and I don't think the SanDisk Ultras are much better than that if at all. Slow writes don't impact loading times but you may notice saving and maybe downloading may take a bit longer. Go with the SanDisk Extreme or Samsung Pro+ for speedy reads and writes, but none of them will read at more than 95MB/s unless the Switch supports UHS-II. Here's a good article with some benchmarks:

Interesting...

I think buying SDs only right when you need to is the best thing to do from a cost perspective. Micro SD cards will continue to drop in price. Perhaps 256GB cards will be $100 or lower by the holidays.

 

[japtor]

Rebranded class 10 card,
Minimum IOPS standard, also irrelevant since most cards are samey and sloooow
Get an U3 card or save money on an U1

The read/write IOPS aren't a requirement of class 10, that looks like the new thing here in addition to whatever other speed label. Found a test from a few years back for example:
http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/sdxc-sdhc-uhs-i,2940-9.html

Write IOPS:

Read IOPS:

Course it could all be very much moot in the Switch, cause this:

It should be noted that levels of performance of the App Performance Classes are only guaranteed on devices that comply with the SD 5.1 specifications, and are not general catch-all performance certification.

If the Switch doesn't support SD 5.1 then who knows how it'll perform. And even then devs will probably optimize when possible for large sequential actions rather than smaller random ones where these new cards would be better.

 

[eighty(one)]

Get the SanDisk 200GB micro SD card for $67

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00V62XBQQ/?tag=neogaf0e-20

Don't get the new evo Samsung mSD card,they are slow.
also,the bigger you go,the slower the card will get.

The 128GB on Amazon is cheaper,only $40

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B010Q57S62/?tag=neogaf0e-20

I ordered a 246GB Samsung Evo +, apparently has great reviews for speed

 

[JaseMath]

I'll grab this in a few weeks.

$50 for a PNY 128GB U-3
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00WWBCQEI/?tag=neogaf0e-20

 

[jadjei]

That depends on how many games you have and plan to own. Like, I had around 100 on a 64GB card at one point. Then upgraded to 128GB, but over the past months across all consoles, I'm only leaving the games I actually play... so went back to 64GB.

But that's still a lot, so either get a 16GB or get a 32GB if you know you'll buy a lot.

I got a whatever 32gb SanDisk on Amazon for like 10 bucks and it works fine

Alright 32 GB or 64 GB it is!!! Thanks for replying.

 

[Janet Restrepo]

Just buy every game physical, and if patches eat up the internal 32, buy another 32 for 9 bucks.

 

[Xdrive05]

I have a white and orange Samsung Evo 64gb "speeds up to 48mbps" card from a couple years ago. Is it basically worthless for the Switch because of the speeds?

 

[MadraptorMan]

I bought a Kingston 128GB card. Hope it's good enough.

 

[BlastProcessing]

I'll grab this in a few weeks.

$50 for a PNY 128GB U-3
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00WWBCQEI/?tag=neogaf0e-20

That's a full sized SD; the Switch takes Micro SD.

 

[hatchx]

Best advice is to wait as long as possible since the prices keep going down.

This for me. And maybe wait for a 512GB to hit good prices.


Does anyone plan to go ham on downloads from day 1? 32GB should suffice until the Fall atleast...and with Nintendo's sexy colourful boxarts I might have to go less digital outside of Indies.

 

[WadeitOut]

Yeah 64gb is the most you will probably need before Black Friday.

 

[Rootbeer]

Just because one card performs better in speed tests doesn't mean you will see that performance gain on your Switch.

We've done been through this with the 3DS/N3DS. The benefit of the more expensive 'pro' cards is basically nothing. we are talking about loading game data off the card not doing burst shooting on a camera or 4K video capture.

I think an EVO card would be fine. Just make sure it's sdxc since that is the latest technology and you probably won't notice much difference from card to card in actual usage.

Personally I'm gonna grab whatever is the most reasonable decent-rated 128GB microsdxc card between now and launch. Not even gonna spring for 200 despite the price difference. I have serious doubts I will even use the full 128 since I'm going 100% physical cartridges outside of DLC, patches and digital-only games which shouldn't amount for anywhere near 128 I bet.

Buy whatever you can afford now rather it be 32, 64 or 128... then, in about a year, cards that are double that size will be the same price or cheaper than what you paid for it, and you can upgrade if required.

 

[NeOak]

It's just rebranded Class 10 cards to create market confusion to charge different prices.

Unless the Switch supports UHS-II, it's pretty irrelevant.

Rebranded class 10 card,
Minimum IOPS standard, also irrelevant since most cards are samey and sloooow
Get an U3 card or save money on an U1

Jesus Christ dude. No. It isn't a rebranded Class 10. It has Class 10 markings because that is the highest speed class there is. Even the 95 MB/s ones say Class 10.

Read: http://www.anandtech.com/show/11062/sandisk-launches-a1class-microsdxc-card

The more interesting product was the 256GB SanDisk Ultra microSDXC UHS-I card. It is compliant with the recently-introduced A1 application-class which mandates minimum read and write IOPS. Beyond the usual numbers (reads of up to 95 MBps), the demonstration of the benefits offered by the A1-class card was more impressive. In particular, storage-bound scenarios like game loading times showed a marked improvement.

 

[DMONKUMA]

Probably don't need to get a microSD if you plan to go physical .....right? Of course down the line I imagine.

 

[Aztechnology]

Probably don't need to get a microSD if you plan to go physical .....right? Of course down the line I imagine.

Depends on patches. But for saves and some video 32GB is fine.

 

[pete_clarf]

Samsung 128GB 80MB/s EVO Select Micro SDXC Memory Card (MB-ME128DA/AM)

$39.99. I feel like that is the best balance between price and storage. The 200GB one is $89.99 now... though there is a PNY brand for $71.99.

 

[Kikorin]

I was thinking to go first with a 64gb and in future take a 256gb when will be really cheap. When I'll have to change my micro SD will be enough take all the file from the old one and paste on the new one? Any advice on a good one?

 

[timshundo]

If you grab the 200GB card from amazon make sure you select the right one under "used & new."

Currently $66.66, fulfilled by amazon, back-ordered until 3/5.

 

[mrklaw]

Seems sensible to at least check you're getting a 90MB/s read card. I think that's the fastest that non-UHS II cards get?

I'm still holding off to see what load times are like Vs physical, which might push me to be more physical than digital, and therefore mean I won't need a huge card anyway

 

[Lynd7]

Get the SanDisk 200GB micro SD card for $67

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00V62XBQQ/?tag=neogaf0e-20

Don't get the new evo Samsung mSD card,they are slow.
also,the bigger you go,the slower the card will get.

The 128GB on Amazon is cheaper,only $40

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B010Q57S62/?tag=neogaf0e-20

Damn really lol. I just bought one of those on the Aussie site, Catch of the Day for like half price. https://www.catchoftheday.com.au/pr...o-microsd-card-sdxc-404867/?st=2&sid=mircrosd

Hopefully its not that bad.

 

[Bluth54]

Probably don't need to get a microSD if you plan to go physical .....right? Of course down the line I imagine.

The Switch only has about 26 GB of memory available. Even if you just buy digital download only games,, DLC and patches you'll probably need to get a microSD card eventually.

 

[Conrad Link]

If a game gets a physical release I'll always get that version, the only time I ever digital is when there simply isn't a physical release.

I think I'm just gonna use a 32gb card to start with, no point wasting heaps more money right now on something I don't think I'll fill up for awhile. Right now I think about the only thing I want digital is Snipperclips - and that's only because there isn't a physical release lol.

Considering prices will always be going down on SD cards, by the time I need it/VC launches (GameCube stuff maybe!) I can get another one then.

 

[Mr. Pointy]

I got a 128GB 80MB/s Sandisk Ultra for cheap. I'll sit on that until I know the Switch can read UHS-II and/or 256GB+ 95MB/s cards come down in price to under $100AU.

 

[Mysterious Stranger]

heck i just use whatever works, but I makes sure its at least 64 gbs, on sale, and class 10 speed.

 

[Rootbeer]

For people still shopping around for cards, I've found this site really helpful. They do really thorough testing read/write speeds

http://www.cameramemoryspeed.com/reviews/sd-cards/

I personally bought an EVO 128GB Select (slightly faster write speeds than their basic cards), but that was before I started reading some more in-depth reviews. If I were buying today, I think I'd get a SanDisk Ultra 80MB/s microSDXC 128GB, because it has between 2x and 3x the write speed as the card I bought, at the same price. I'm not worried though; I think the card I picked will be just fine.

Basically, you should aim for a well-reviewed card that has 80MB/s read speed (or above), and a write speed as fast as you are willing to spend on... 20MB/s or more to be safe. A lot of cheaper cards have 10MB/s so do your research. The write speed may be a total non issue, depends on if the switch adds video recording and you care about that feature, as one example where it might be a bottleneck.

 

[Memorabilia]

It kinda depends on if you plan to go all digital or not. If so, get the 200GB Sandisk everyone is talking about. If you're going to do a mixture of physical and digital then a smaller size would be fine.

Personally, I plan on physical for basically everything except VC games when those are available. Since most old school games are tiny in size, I'm planning on sticking with a fast 64GB Sandisk I picked up recently at Costco for $20. If I want to upgrade in the future, I'll do it when the 200GB+ sizes are about that price.

Whatever you do, speed is arguably more important than size right now. Even BoTW is only 13GB.

 

[razgriz417]

I recommend not getting Samsung 64gb micro SD cards. My parents have had 2 become corrupt on them over the last 6 months making them lose a bunch of vacation photos.

 

[Kikorin]

I've found this that looks pretty good, what do you think?

https://www.amazon.it/gp/product/B01EAKAUUK/

 

[JoeNut]

I don't see any reason to buy one yet? There's no vc and are you really likely to download more than a couple of the eshop games at launch? I'd wait until you really need one

 

[Solidsnake32292]

I grabbed a 64gb Sandisk micro SD for $16 at Costco yesterday. It's great to start with and you can't argue with that prices.

 

[coughlanio]

Well, you'd think it would be simple, but you're going to have morons undocking while playing from the hard drive and causing all kinds of problems. You have to make it idiot proof somehow, or put 35 warnings in place.

They could just make it so a game has to exist either on internal memory or SD card before it can be launched. HDD would essentially be a local cache to save you from downloading a game again.

 

[Dagobert Duck]

I ordered the one in the op should've enough for the start I guess. I think most first party games will be bought physical (on my side) so there is that

 

[ncslamm]

I ordered the one in the op should've enough for the start I guess. I think most first party games will be bought physical (on my side) so there is that

Same. I missed the boat on the $70 200GB. 128GB is plenty of space considering most of the eShop titles I'll download are sub-10GB.

 

[ktroopa]

Are SDXC cards going to work day one? I bought a sandisk 256gb one and after read somewhere that xc support will come after via a firmware update. Whats the latest on this please?

 

[_PsiFire_]

Write speed isn't really something to worry about IMO.

We don't even know WHAT the Switch's read/write speed to the Micro SD slot IS.

Take a Samsung Note 7 for example - it:

Reads from Micro SD at 79MB / second.
Writes to Micro SD at 19MB / second.

That's what the Note 7 does regardless of the Micro SD card used.
At best the Switch will probably match in SD read/writes.

The SanDisk and Samsung SD cards have read speeds of ~90MB/s and write speeds of ~30MB/s.

Either one is more than adequate.

As for the size, I'd just get a 128GB. It has enough space for a while and prices of the 200/256GB cards will continue to drop..

Hell, for $13 more you could get two 128GB cards ($40 for 128GB, $67 for 200GB) and get an additional 52.2GB.

Also, don't forget.

It you buy a 128GB card you're really only getting 119.2GB... 200GB card is really only 186.2GB.

I'd rather swap cards and get more bang for my buck because I'm going to try any keep my digital purchases to smaller sized games because the game karts are going to be a HELLUVA lot faster than SD.

 

[JoeyJungle]

Are SDXC cards going to work day one? I bought a sandisk 256gb one and after read somewhere that xc support will come after via a firmware update. Whats the latest on this please?

I don't see why they wouldn't, the 3DS supports SDXC iirc.

 

[ShikabaneHime13]

Are SDXC cards going to work day one? I bought a sandisk 256gb one and after read somewhere that xc support will come after via a firmware update. Whats the latest on this please?

I've been wondering this same thing after I believe NintendoLife had this mentioned in one of their videos. I got the Sandisk 128 Ultra for my system but only heard about the update needed for SDXC cards after I purchased

 

[codhand]

will it support zip drives?

 

[Zafir]

As someone who doesn't buy digitally until forced due to the silly EU digital prices. I've just picked up a cheap 32gb class 10 sandisk one since it was on sale at Amazon UK for the time being and I'll pick up a bigger one later in the year when one drops to a good price.

Considering I survived with the 32gb internal storage and a 64gb SD card in my Wii U since I got it. I'm sure I'm fine for now.

 

[Boards of Canada]

That's a full sized SD; the Switch takes Micro SD.

Ugh. I bought a regular SDXC last week. Dammit.

 

[oneida]

Got the 200GB Micro SD for $65 a few days back.

 

[Jaded Alyx]

I don't see any reason to buy one yet? There's no vc and are you really likely to download more than a couple of the eshop games at launch? I'd wait until you really need one

Doesn't that depend on whether you're fully digital or not? Zelda alone takes up half the storage.