By If you own a Nintendo Switch 2, expandable storage is a question of when, not if — and IGN’s latest review suggests SanDisk’s officially-licensed microSD Express card may be the fastest option on the market. After a week of testing, reviewer Wes Davis found it outdid IGN’s current budget pick, the Samsung P9 Express, in almost every benchmark thrown at it.
SanDisk microSD Express card for Nintendo Switch 2 (Credits: IGN)
Fastest on Paper, But Does It Matter?
On the spec sheet, the card looks like a monster: 880 MB/s sequential reads and 650 MB/s writes, faster than almost every competing card tested. Only PNY’s card is rated higher, at 890 MB/s reads and 750 MB/s writes. But IGN cautions that those headline sequential numbers are a poor reflection of real-world performance, where random reads and writes matter far more.
MicroSD Express as a standard is already leagues ahead of the older microSD cards still used on other gaming handhelds — Davis notes “it’s not even close.” SanDisk’s card is demonstrably faster than competing options from PNY and Samsung, but the catch is you likely won’t notice. Unless you’re regularly transferring game files back and forth between the card and the console, the extra speed is invisible in day-to-day play.
Capacity, Price and the Sweet Spot
SanDisk sells the card in 256GB, 512GB, and 1TB capacities. Davis pegs 512GB as the sweet spot, which nets you three quarters of a terabyte in total once you add the Switch 2’s internal 256GB storage. The trade-off is cost: SanDisk’s cards run pricier than similar options from PNY or Walmart’s Onn brand. Faster is better, the review concludes — but price and your actual usage pattern should drive the decision.
Also Read: The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time Remake Preorders Are $10 Off at Amazon
Source: IGN — read the full story there.
