Depends.

-If it’s for ROMs only, then id use a MicroSD card as it’s cheaper and meets the needs

-If it’s for games within the past 8 years, I’d go for the SSD upgrade.

One thing I’d note, if it’s the SSD upgrade, I’d save and splurge for the 2TB NVME instead.

Been using 512G micro SD for mine, the price of a 1T is still a bit much. And I seem to see more posts about the 1T sized cards failing than the 512s.

If you have the skill and ability to upgrade the internal storage, go for it. But for my needs the 512 Internal+ 512 sd work fine.

You can get a 512gb Sd card for as low as 30 bucks that’s insane, the 1tb actually costs 3x

I have a 1tb SSD and a 512gb micro SD, which is 1.5tb total storage, and I find that to be enough. I’d go for the 1tb micro sd, and just be sure to use the 512gb you have internally to install the newer, more SSD-reliant games on like Cyberpunk. Most other games will run perfectly fine on the SD card.

I’m terrified to mess up my deck, so I’ve opted for just the sd card. No regrets. As others have mentioned, if a game works better on an ssd, just install that one on there and the rest on the SD card.

I personally did both. I got a 512gb SSD cheap, and a 512 GB SD card.

MicroSD or SSD?

Yes.

512GB internal is a lot, and your upgrade would only get you an additional 500GB. I would definitely add a 1TB SD card first, and upgrade the internal sometime later if you really need it.

Get an A2 speed 1TB SD card, and performance will be identical for 95% of games. You might notice slightly longer load times, but the games will still run the same. If you’re running the latest games that require SSD speeds, your internal storage is still there.

I personally have a 256GB internal and 2x 500GB SD card and my only regret is not getting a single 1TB card.

Get a 2TB SSD.

Wait for Black Friday to get either of those

both

It’s complicated. The internal SSD is noticeably faster in games that load a lot of assets. AAA titles, or games with more complex environments, will load much more slowly on an SD card.

Where this discussion gets more fun is comparing the more expensive A1 to A2 MicroSD cards. A2 is generally the default recommendation for Steam Deck users. But this isn’t as drastic as the difference between the internal and external expansion options.

I have an OLED arriving today; after testing extensively on my prior Deck and Ally, my recommendation is always to prefer upgrading the internal SSD first, which is more expensive, then pick up a MicroSD card that meets your needs for capacity, not speed, and save your money on that purchase instead.

In my case, I picked up the Sabrant 2tb SSD for my OLED, which is probably the best drive you can purchase for the device, but I went with the SanDisk A1 1.5tb drive for my MicroSD card. It’s pricy only because of the capacity — it was more important for me to have additional space for my roms/emulators than it was to have speed. But a simply 512gb or 1tb A1 card will probably work for most people.

I’ll be loading all of my Steam games from the internal drive, and all of my roms (and likely some indie titles) from the MicroSD. This setup worked well on my original Deck and Ally, and I never felt like I was missing out on loading times and overall performance.

SSD for heavier more demanding games, sd card for emulators/retro/indie light games.

I’ve upgraded my ssd to 1tb from day one and feels perfect having no need to use a slower sd card at all, it’s as easily as taking of a few screws and backplate off, changing the ssd card and placing the screws and backplate back, anyone can do it with the minimum knowledge of using a screwdriver.

Just use the SSD for more demanding games (ie open world AAAs and such) and delete them/move them to the MicroSD when completed.

Most other things can just be ran straight off the MicroSD.

Never understood the need for an SSD upgrade myself.

Why not both? I did a 2TB SSD and a 1TB microSD.