{"id":578264,"date":"2023-06-11T20:30:00","date_gmt":"2023-06-11T17:30:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/en.buradabiliyorum.com\/your-sd-card-might-slow-down-your-nintendo-switch\/"},"modified":"2023-06-11T20:30:00","modified_gmt":"2023-06-11T17:30:00","slug":"your-sd-card-might-slow-down-your-nintendo-switch","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/your-sd-card-might-slow-down-your-nintendo-switch\/","title":{"rendered":"#Your SD Card Might Slow Down Your Nintendo Switch"},"content":{"rendered":"<div id=\"ez-toc-container\" class=\"ez-toc-v2_0_84 counter-hierarchy ez-toc-counter ez-toc-custom ez-toc-container-direction\">\n<p class=\"ez-toc-title\" style=\"cursor:inherit\">Table of Contents<\/p>\n<label for=\"ez-toc-cssicon-toggle-item-6a278b5ff0a19\" class=\"ez-toc-cssicon-toggle-label\"><span class=\"\"><span class=\"eztoc-hide\" style=\"display:none;\">Toggle<\/span><span class=\"ez-toc-icon-toggle-span\"><svg style=\"fill: #dd3333;color:#dd3333\" xmlns=\"http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg\" class=\"list-377408\" width=\"20px\" height=\"20px\" viewBox=\"0 0 24 24\" fill=\"none\"><path d=\"M6 6H4v2h2V6zm14 0H8v2h12V6zM4 11h2v2H4v-2zm16 0H8v2h12v-2zM4 16h2v2H4v-2zm16 0H8v2h12v-2z\" fill=\"currentColor\"><\/path><\/svg><svg style=\"fill: #dd3333;color:#dd3333\" class=\"arrow-unsorted-368013\" xmlns=\"http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg\" width=\"10px\" height=\"10px\" viewBox=\"0 0 24 24\" version=\"1.2\" baseProfile=\"tiny\"><path d=\"M18.2 9.3l-6.2-6.3-6.2 6.3c-.2.2-.3.4-.3.7s.1.5.3.7c.2.2.4.3.7.3h11c.3 0 .5-.1.7-.3.2-.2.3-.5.3-.7s-.1-.5-.3-.7zM5.8 14.7l6.2 6.3 6.2-6.3c.2-.2.3-.5.3-.7s-.1-.5-.3-.7c-.2-.2-.4-.3-.7-.3h-11c-.3 0-.5.1-.7.3-.2.2-.3.5-.3.7s.1.5.3.7z\"\/><\/svg><\/span><\/span><\/label><input type=\"checkbox\"  id=\"ez-toc-cssicon-toggle-item-6a278b5ff0a19\" checked aria-label=\"Toggle\" \/><nav><ul class='ez-toc-list ez-toc-list-level-1 ' ><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-2'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-1\" href=\"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/your-sd-card-might-slow-down-your-nintendo-switch\/#Not_All_SD_Cards_Are_Equal_on_the_Switch\" >Not All SD Cards Are Equal on the Switch<\/a><\/li><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-2'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-2\" href=\"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/your-sd-card-might-slow-down-your-nintendo-switch\/#Nintendos_SanDisk_microSD_Cards_Are_Slower_Too\" >Nintendo\u2019s SanDisk microSD Cards Are Slower, Too<\/a><\/li><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-2'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-3\" href=\"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/your-sd-card-might-slow-down-your-nintendo-switch\/#Switch_Internal_Storage_vs_SD_Card_Benchmarks\" >Switch Internal Storage vs. SD Card Benchmarks<\/a><\/li><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-2'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-4\" href=\"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/your-sd-card-might-slow-down-your-nintendo-switch\/#Ensure_Your_Switch_Has_a_Speedy_SD_Card\" >Ensure Your Switch Has a Speedy SD Card<\/a><\/li><\/ul><\/nav><\/div>\n<div>\n<figure style=\"width: 1920px\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"type:primaryImage size-medium wp-image-888063\" data-pagespeed-no-defer=\"\" src=\"https:\/\/www.howtogeek.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/04\/52749705095_31c3c41b67_o.jpg?width=1198&amp;trim=1,1&amp;bg-color=000&amp;pad=1,1\" alt=\"Animal Crossing Nintendo Switch\" width=\"1920\" height=\"1080\"\/><figcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\"><span class=\"type:primaryImage imagecredit\">Hannah Stryker \/ How-To Geek<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>The only way to add more storage to the Nintendo Switch is with a microSD card. However, not all SD cards are created equal, and using some types of cards could slow down your <a href=\"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/category\/game\/\" data-internallinksmanager029f6b8e52c=\"7\" title=\"Game\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">game<\/a>s.<\/p>\n<p>Nintendo Switch and Switch Lite consoles have 32 GB of internal storage, with the OLED model bumping that up to 64 GB, but the operating system eats up some space on all models. That might only leave you enough room for a handful of games, which is why the Switch also has a slot for microSD cards up to 2 TB in size. Once you have a microSD card, you can <a href=\"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/category\/download-scripts-themes-apps\/\" data-internallinksmanager029f6b8e52c=\"9\" title=\"Download Scripts &amp; Themes &amp; Apps\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">download<\/a> new games or game data directly to the SD card, or you can move data back and forth as needed between internal and SD storage.<\/p>\n<h2 role=\"heading\" aria-level=\"2\"><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"Not_All_SD_Cards_Are_Equal_on_the_Switch\"><\/span>Not All SD Cards Are Equal on the Switch<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h2>\n<p>The main problem with SD cards is performance \u2014 even the fastest SD and microSD cards have a fraction of the read and write speeds of other flash storage. For example, <a rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.howtogeek.com\/885442\/samsungs-new-sd-and-microsd-cards-are-faster-than-ever\/\">Samsung\u2019s new line of Pro Plus microSD cards have read speeds of up to 180 MB\/s and write speeds of up to 130 MB\/s. That\u2019s faster than most USB flash drives, but less than half the read and write speeds of a typical SATA internal SSD\u00a0\u2014 the Samsung 870 EVO maxes out at around 560 MB\/s. The NVMe storage used in newer PCs and game consoles blow that out of the water, often pushing 7,000 MB\/s.<\/p>\n<p>Since we\u2019re dealing with such slow storage, every bit of performance matters, even if game performance is ultimately limited by the Nintendo Switch\u2019s other hardware. You should ideally have the fastest microSD card possible, especially one with an <a rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.sdcard.org\/developers\/sd-standard-overview\/application-performance-class\/\">A2 rating<\/a>.\u00a0The A2 badge means the card was designed for storing applications with decent read and write performance. Read speeds are far more important for gaming on the Switch, since that determines loading times, but faster write speeds can speed up downloads and copying data. The Nintendo Switch <a rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/redirect.viglink.com\/?key=e7eab128eb8d1c53e14db14f4c632447&amp;u=https%3A%2F%2Fen-americas-support.nintendo.com%2Fapp%2Fanswers%2Fdetail%2Fa_id%2F22289%2F%7E%2Fdata-management-faq&amp;cuid=xid:{xid}&amp;___trxnet=vg\">always uses internal storage for save files<\/a>.<\/p>\n<h2 role=\"heading\" aria-level=\"2\"><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"Nintendos_SanDisk_microSD_Cards_Are_Slower_Too\"><\/span>Nintendo\u2019s SanDisk microSD Cards Are Slower, Too<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h2>\n<p>Nintendo has a partnership with SanDisk to sell Nintendo-themed microSD cards for the Switch, with images from the Mario and Zelda <a href=\"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/category\/watch-movies-tv-seriess\/\" data-internallinksmanager029f6b8e52c=\"8\" title=\"Watch Movies &amp; TV Series\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">series<\/a>. Annoyingly, even though they are marketed as the recommended option for Switch gaming, they\u2019re not fast cards. Take the <a rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/shop-links.co\/link\/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.bestbuy.com%2Fsite%2Fsandisk-256gb-microsdxc-uhs-i-memory-card-for-nintendo-switch%2F6350363.p%3FskuId%3D6350363&amp;publisher_slug=howtogeek&amp;exclusive=1&amp;u1=888016&amp;article_name=Your+SD+Card+Might+Slow+Down+Your+Nintendo+Switch&amp;article_url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.howtogeek.com%2F888016%2Fyour-sd-card-might-slow-down-your-nintendo-switch%2F\">256 GB card with a super star from Mario, for example \u2014 it\u2019s only rated for read speeds of 100 MB\/s, and writes of 90 MB\/s. That\u2019s almost half the read performance of Samsung\u2019s latest Pro Plus series.<\/p>\n<h2 role=\"heading\" aria-level=\"2\"><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"Switch_Internal_Storage_vs_SD_Card_Benchmarks\"><\/span>Switch Internal Storage vs. SD Card Benchmarks<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h2>\n<p>How much do SD card speeds really matter for Nintendo Switch games? To answer that question, we tested game loading times with two different SD cards compared to the Switch\u2019s own internal storage. I used a <a rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/shop-links.co\/link\/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.bestbuy.com%2Fsite%2Fsandisk-extreme-plus-256gb-microsdxc-uhs-i-memory-card%2F6495766.p%3FskuId%3D6495766&amp;publisher_slug=howtogeek&amp;exclusive=1&amp;u1=888016&amp;article_name=Your+SD+Card+Might+Slow+Down+Your+Nintendo+Switch&amp;article_url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.howtogeek.com%2F888016%2Fyour-sd-card-might-slow-down-your-nintendo-switch%2F\">SanDisk Extreme 256 GB card to represent a modern A2-class card, and an old 128 GB Samsung Evo UHS-1 card as an example of a low-end option.<\/p>\n<p>This isn\u2019t the most perfect scientific test possible, since some game data can\u2019t be moved to external storage, and other factors like temperatures can affect performance. Still, it should give you a <a href=\"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/category\/general\/\" data-internallinksmanager029f6b8e52c=\"3\" title=\"General\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">general<\/a> idea of how SD card speeds affect gaming on a Switch.<\/p>\n<div class=\"moka-mce-table-wrap\">\n<table class=\"moka-mce-table-styling\" style=\"border-collapse: collapse; width: 100%;\" data-skiptableautocorrect=\"true\">\n<tbody>\n<tr>\n<td style=\"width: 25%;\"\/>\n<td style=\"width: 25%;\"><strong>Internal Storage<\/strong><\/td>\n<td style=\"width: 25%;\"><strong>A2 microSD<\/strong><\/td>\n<td style=\"width: 25%;\"><strong>Old microSD<\/strong><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td style=\"width: 25%;\"><strong>Disk Speed<\/strong><\/td>\n<td style=\"width: 25%;\">N\/A<\/td>\n<td style=\"width: 25%;\">Write: 94 MB\/s<br \/>Read: 152 MB\/s<\/td>\n<td style=\"width: 25%;\">Write: 18 MB\/s<br \/>Read: 45 MB\/s<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td style=\"width: 25%;\"><strong>The Outer Worlds<\/strong><br \/>(loading a save file)<\/td>\n<td style=\"width: 25%;\">0:46<\/td>\n<td style=\"width: 25%;\">0:56<\/td>\n<td style=\"width: 25%;\">1:23<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td style=\"width: 25%;\"><strong>Doom 3<\/strong><br \/>(loading a save file)<\/td>\n<td style=\"width: 25%;\">0:09<\/td>\n<td style=\"width: 25%;\">0:11<\/td>\n<td style=\"width: 25%;\">0:15<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td style=\"width: 25%;\"><strong>Apex Legends<\/strong><br \/>(game startup)<\/td>\n<td style=\"width: 25%;\">0:37<\/td>\n<td style=\"width: 25%;\">0:37<\/td>\n<td style=\"width: 25%;\">0:41<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td style=\"width: 25%;\"><strong>Apex Legends<\/strong><br \/>(loading Training Area)<\/td>\n<td style=\"width: 25%;\">0:06<\/td>\n<td style=\"width: 25%;\">0:06<\/td>\n<td style=\"width: 25%;\">0:06<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td style=\"width: 25%;\"><strong>Animal Crossing<\/strong><br \/>(game startup)<\/td>\n<td style=\"width: 25%;\">0:42<\/td>\n<td style=\"width: 25%;\">0:38<\/td>\n<td style=\"width: 25%;\">0:46<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n<\/div>\n<p><small>Notes: The test for <em>The Outer Worlds<\/em> was with the cartridge version, but that requires a large amount of the game to be downloaded. All tests were conducted with identical save profiles on a Nintendo Switch OLED Edition running in handheld mode. Disk benchmarks were tested with an Anker USB-C hub and\u00a0<a rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/apps.apple.com\/us\/app\/blackmagic-disk-speed-test\/id425264550?mt=12?at=1010l392g&amp;ct=htg888016\">Blackmagic Disk Speed Test<\/a> on an M1 Mac Mini.<\/small><\/p>\n<p>Broadly speaking, loading games from the SanDisk A2 card wasn\u2019t significantly different than the internal storage. The most significant difference was the 22% slowdown with loading a save file in <em>The Outer Worlds<\/em>, which makes sense \u2014 that\u2019s an open world game that needs to load many textures and other assets from storage, so fast read speeds are critical. The older SD card pushed loading times to 67% slower than the Switch\u2019s internal storage.<\/p>\n<p>In other games, the difference between a fast and reasonably-slow SD card is only a few seconds. Games with smaller levels, like <em>Doom 3<\/em>, don\u2019t need to load as much data at once, so the drive speed isn\u2019t as important. Other games might be bottlenecked by the Switch\u2019s aging processor and graphics, rather than the storage medium.<\/p>\n<h2 role=\"heading\" aria-level=\"2\"><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"Ensure_Your_Switch_Has_a_Speedy_SD_Card\"><\/span>Ensure Your Switch Has a Speedy SD Card<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h2>\n<p>If you already have an A1 card, or even one of the more basic\u00a0UHS-I cards sold by SanDisk with Nintendo branding, you probably don\u2019t need to toss it out and buy a new SD card right this second. Some games will load 2-3 seconds faster, but that\u2019s about it. If you need to buy a new SD card anyway, the speed is definitely something you should consider.<\/p>\n<p>On the other hand, using an old or <em>extremely<\/em> cheap microSD card in your Switch \u2014 especially one without any <a rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.howtogeek.com\/189897\/how-to-buy-an-sd-card-speed-classes-sizes-and-capacities-explained\/\">UHS (Ultra High Speed) rating \u2014 could very well be acting as a bottleneck for your Switch\u2019s performance. If you\u2019re not sure, go to your Switch\u2019s settings, move a game from your SD back to the internal storage, and try playing it for a while. If you notice faster loading times or generally snappier performance, it might be time to replace the card.<\/p>\n<p>The next time you buy an SD card for a Nintendo Switch, or really anything that will use the card for running apps or games, make sure it\u2019s an A2 card. I would recommend you <strong>don\u2019t purchase a card through Amazon<\/strong>, since counterfeit cards (which either stop working or have sub-par speeds) are still <a rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.reddit.com\/r\/hardware\/comments\/sd10h1\/counterfeit_sd_cards\/\">an<\/a> ongoing problem. Look for A2 microSD cards at Best Buy, Target, Samsung\u2019s online store, or really anywhere else.<\/p>\n<div class=\"product-box  \">\n<div class=\"product-img product-img-noaward\">\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" data-pagespeed-lazy-src=\"https:\/\/pisces.bbystatic.com\/prescaled\/500\/500\/image2\/BestBuy_US\/images\/products\/6495\/6495766_sd.jpg\" height=\"147px\" width=\"147px\" alt=\"\" role=\"presentation\" src=\"\/pagespeed_static\/1.JiBnMqyl6S.gif\" onload=\"pagespeed.lazyLoadImages.loadIfVisibleAndMaybeBeacon(this);\" onerror=\"this.onerror=null;pagespeed.lazyLoadImages.loadIfVisibleAndMaybeBeacon(this);\"\/>\n<\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p><script>\n setTimeout(function(){\n  !function(f,b,e,v,n,t,s)\n  {if(f.fbq)return;n=f.fbq=function(){n.callMethod?\n  n.callMethod.apply(n,arguments):n.queue.push(arguments)};\n  if(!f._fbq)f._fbq=n;n.push=n;n.loaded=!0;n.version='2.0';\n  n.queue=[];t=b.createElement(e);t.async=!0;\n  t.src=v;s=b.getElementsByTagName(e)[0];\n  s.parentNode.insertBefore(t,s) } (window, document,'script',\n  'https:\/\/connect.facebook.net\/en_US\/fbevents.js');\n   fbq('init', '335401813750447');\n   fbq('track', 'PageView');\n  },3000);\n<\/script><\/p>\n<blockquote><p><strong><span style=\"color: #ff6600;\">If you liked the article, do not forget to share it with your friends. 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However, not all SD cards are created equal, and using some types of cards could slow down your games. Nintendo Switch and Switch Lite consoles have 32 GB of internal storage, with the OLED&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":578265,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/www.howtogeek.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/04\/52749705095_31c3c41b67_o.jpg?height=200p&trim=2,2,2,2","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[18],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-578264","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-technology"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/578264","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=578264"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/578264\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/578265"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=578264"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=578264"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=578264"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}