Can you upgrade Steam Deck NVMe SSD storage?

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The Steam Deck is a robust, handheld PC that comes in a few sizes for storage capacity, which can be upgraded – as much as Valve doesn’t want you to.

In a teardown video, Valve made it very clear that they don’t want you to even open up the device, even though it is possible to do so. The reason being is that it is using parts that aren’t exactly readily available for consumer use. This is even down to the NVMe drive onboard the larger models.

The thing that you’ll need to take into account is the NVMe size, as across all three versions – the 32GB (eMMC), 256 and 512GB – all feature an M.2 NVMe in the 2230 size. While you can buy these, they’re not exactly actively available in sizes you’d want. They’re a stout version of the more traditional end-user versions you’d find while building a PC.

2230-m2-ssd

For this reason, we’re going to say yes, you can upgrade the SSD, but you really shouldn’t. Instead, take advantage of the SD card functionality and take it on the chin that you’ll need to deal with some slower loading times.