The 1TB PNY microSD Express Card loaded up Pokemon Pokopia faster than the Switch 2, and now it's my go-to SD card

The 1TB PNY microSD Express card is just one of many Switch 2-compatible cards that have been released since the handheld came on the scene, but it's also one of the best of the bunch.

Out of all the best Nintendo Switch 2 microSD Express cards out there, PNY is one of the only brands offering up 1TB worth of storage with a competitive price and blistering speeds to match. At $199.99, it's still not cheap, but other well-known storage brands like Lexar dropped their cards for $219.99, so it was a relief to see a $20 difference in the US. Especially during a time when storage for other consoles and platforms (I'm looking at your M.2 SSDs) is on the rise.

Out of all the best Nintendo Switch 2 accessories out there, a Switch 2 SD card is one that not every player is going to need. Yet, if you're specifically on the hunt for a 1TB card, this is the one you should grab. It's not only slightly cheaper than the rest, but it will load up your Switch 2 titles in no time, and at other times, even faster than the handheld itself can muster.

Key specs

Design

With the minuscule amount of design real estate that a microSD Express card has to play with, there's not a lot going on here with its design. Unless you're looking at the officially licensed 256GB Samsung microSD Express Card, that's pretty much going to be the case for all Switch 2 SD cards right now.

There's no flashy Super Mario design here, or the use of any art and iconography from any other Nintendo property. This is just a plain white microSD Express card with black and red text and the 'PNY' logo plastered at the top for all to see, and that's pretty much it. As much as I am a sucker for aesthetically pleasing gaming gadgets, once you're actively using this card, you aren't going to see it anyway, so it doesn't really matter if it's got an exciting design or not.

Features

This card has a capacity of up to 1TB, which is the maximum for any microSD Express cards currently on the market as of typing up this very review. This line of PNY cards also includes smaller capacity models ranging from 128GB, 256GB, and 512GB, which all have varying average read and write speeds.

That's the norm for SD cards, and even the best SSDs for gaming, with this card in particular bringing blistering fast 890MB/s read and 850MB/s write speeds to the table. If you want the fastest Switch 2 SD card PNY has to offer, this would be it, as PNY states the 512GB below it can only muster up to 890MB/s read, and 810MB/s write speeds instead.

Additionally, the brand boasts that this 1TB Switch 2 card is designed to "maximize cooling efficiencies through heat dissipation" and adaptive thermal tech, and is incredibly durable for gaming on the go. PNY states that in addition to being shock proof, temperature proof, waterproof, drop proof, x-ray proof, and wearout proof, it's also humidity proof. The latter of which is handy to know when I happen to live in an old Scottish house that likes to trap in moisture at any given opportunity.

Performance

To see what the 1TB PNY Switch 2 SD card was truly capable of, I popped it into the card slot of my handheld and made it the one-stop location for all my screenshots and game clips, as well as the new location for any upcoming game downloads and updates.

Pokemon Pokopia launched mid-way through my testing time, and so I first used it to see how long it'd take to transfer over, especially as the game is a digital-only release. The 6.1GB of Pokemon Pokopia took approximately 40.46 seconds to move off the 256GB onboard storage to the PNY microSD card, which was significantly less than the 1 minute the Switch 2 insisted it would take. That quick transfer time is pretty expected for such a small file size, so I also moved the 21.9GB of Mario Kart World to the card, which took 3 minutes 58 seconds, and the 7.4GB of Super Mario Party Jamboree, which took 1 minute and 4 seconds.

These speeds were significantly faster than the officially licensed 256GB Samsung microSD Express card. That has quoted read speeds of up to 800 MB/s, with its write specs being quizically difficult to discover. During my review, it required an additional 1 minute and 17 seconds to get into some Mario Kart World action, so this is a speedier option for those who get impatient transferring over data. Hi, it's me, I'm the problem, it's me.

When it came to loading times, Pokemon Pokopia took an average of 34.34 seconds to boot from the Switch 2 user select screen to its start menu while on the PNY Switch 2 card. Meanwhile, Mario Kart World took an average of 20.39 seconds. I used the stopwatch app on my phone over three tests and stopped it immediately when I saw both game start screens appear, and took an average time over those three tests. It's not an exact science, but it still gave me the gist of the loading times the card was able to muster.

If you compare it to the load times straight off the Switch 2, Pokemon Pokopia took an average of 32.30 seconds during my testing, and Mario Kart World took an average of 17 seconds. Pokopia was a little quicker to load up from the PNY card, which was a nice discovery. Every time I finished a shift here at work, I was able to dive into building my Poke-pals the cutest habitats in literal seconds - just the way I wanted it.

The overall difference is pretty minimal, all things considered. Not to mention that Mario Kart World was still much faster to boot up on the Switch 2, so it's entirely dependent on the game and its file size. However, you're gonna be hard-pressed to find any microSD Express card right now that can beat the Switch 2's native load times for every game. With that in mind, it was a relief to see such a high-quality card almost match that of the hardware itself. That's exactly what I had hoped to find on a piece of tech that costs as much as $199.99 / £189.99.

Should you buy the 1TB PNY Switch 2 microSD Express card?

I like to have the majority of my Switch and Switch 2 game library installed and ready to go at all times, as I'm never quite sure if I'm gonna be in the mood for some Mario Kart World, some Pokemon Unite or some Pokemon Pokopia. With up to 1TB to play around with with this PNY card, there's little to no worry about having to uninstall anything to make room for something new - so if that sounds like your playstyle, the 1TB PNY Switch 2 SD card is a wise investment.

It's not just the capacity of this card that makes it so grand, but its transfer and loading times were lightning fast, and in some cases even faster than the onboard storage of the handheld itself. If you care about speed, this card can rival that of the Switch 2, and get you drifting around corners in Mario Kart World in seconds flat.

Of course, $199.99 / £189.99 is still a big investment for a Switch 2 accessory that not everyone needs. I suspect if you're on this page however, that you've already made the decision that a 1TB card is right for you, and if it is, this is the one I'd recommend for your Ninty gaming adventures. For the rest of you, if you stick to playing one game at a time, you can easily make do with PNY's other options, like its own 256GB card that's available for $59.99 at Amazon or even its 128GB variant. The speeds won't be up to the same standards, but the high-quality set by PNY undoubtedly will be.

How I tested the 1TB PNY Switch 2 microSD Express card

The 1TB PNY Switch 2 microSD Express Card has been sitting nice and snug in my handheld for over two weeks worth of testing. In that time, I used the card as my one-stop location for storing all my screenshots and game clips, and used it to store and run games like Pokemon Pokopia, Pokemon Fire Red, Mario Kart World, and more.

During those two weeks, I spent time transferring large Switch and Switch 2 games to and from the card, and timed the seconds it took to load up those games on the card, as opposed to via the onboard 256GB storage of the console. Additionally, I took the Switch 2 with me while gaming on the go and checked on the card's status to test its durability. For more information on how we test Nintendo Switch 2 microSD Express cards and storage, please read our full GamesRadar+ Hardware Policy.

Our team has also rounded up the best Nintendo Switch 2 cases, the best Nintendo Switch headsets, and the best Nintendo Switch 2 controllers if you're on the hunt for only the best Ninty accessories.