WD’s new SSD is the Steam Deck upgrade you’ve been waiting for

Western Digital has announced the new SN770M SSD, which is built for devices like the Steam Deck and ROG Ally, and sounds blistering fast.

JaneWalter

Sep 12, 2023 - 21:05

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WD’s new SSD is the Steam Deck upgrade you’ve been waiting for

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By Jacob Roach September 12, 2023 7:45AM

The WD Black SN770M hard drive on a Steam Deck.

Western Digital

The SSD upgrade you’ve been waiting on for the Steam Deck and ROG Ally is here. Western Digital revealed its WD_Black SN770M, which is an M.2 2230 SSD that’s built specifically for handheld gaming devices.

The new drive is available in three capacities: 500GB, 1TB, and the coveted 2TB size. It’s tough to find M.2 2230 SSDs for the Steam Deck, and even tougher to find them at 2TB. Up to this point, popular options have included the Sabrent Rocket and Corsair MP600. Otherwise, you’d have to stalk retailers like Newegg and Amazon to find a good deal on a Micron drive repurposed from another device.

Western Digital is undercutting the competition, as well. The 2TB model comes in at $220, while Sabrent’s 2TB Rocket — the only readily available drive in this capacity — comes in at $250. Here’s how the rest of the range shakes out:

500GB — $75, available from Western Digital 1TB — $110, available from Western Digital and Best Buy 2TB — $220, available from Best Buy

Those are the prices Western Digital set, but it’s worth pointing out that the SN770M is currently available at Best Buy for pre-order for $130 and $240 for the 1TB and 2TB models, respectively.

Western Digital

The SN770M is a PCIe Gen 4 drive with four lanes, and it’s bolstered by Western Digital’s TLC 3D NAND. The company also says the drive supports Microsoft’s DirectStorage, which is an important feature to have in games like Ratchet and Clank Rift Apart.

Western Digital says the drive has a sequential read performance of 5,150MB/s and a sequential write performance of 4,900MB/s. That’s even faster than the base SN770, as well as faster than WD_Black’s SN750 (among the best SSDs you can buy).

In addition, all versions of the drive come with Western Digital’s limited 5-year warranty. The company also points to its Western Digital Dashboard software for management, allowing you to tune the drive if it’s installed on a Windows device. Some thin laptops and 2-in-1s, like the Microsoft Surface Pro 9, use a 2230 SSD, as well.

The 500GB and 1TB models are available for purchase from Western Digital now, while the 2TB model should arrive in short order. It’s available for preorder at Best Buy now, and you can sign up for a notification to be alerted when the drive is in stock on Western Digital’s website.

Editors' Recommendations

After four months with the ROG Ally, I’m going back to my Steam Deck Refurbished Steam Decks are now official — here’s how to buy one Don’t worry; Armored Core VI is ‘fully supported’ on Steam Deck Nope, I still don’t regret buying my Steam Deck If the leaked Asus ROG Ally price is real, the Steam Deck is in trouble

Jacob Roach

Jacob Roach is a writer covering computing and gaming at Digital Trends. After realizing Crysis wouldn't run on a laptop, he…

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