As a Steam Deck owner, the decision to upgrade my storage to the XPC Technologies 2TB M.2 2230 NVMe PCIe SSD was a significant one. This SSD grabbed my attention with its 2TB 176 Layer NAND, single-sided drive, and its compatibility with PCIe Gen 4 and NVMe 1.4, making it compatible with all PCIe Gen 3 slots and systems. With a sequential read performance of up to 4500 MB/s and write performance of up to 4000 MB/s, I was eager to experience the promised speed.
When the package arrived, the installation was a breeze. The SSD slid into the Steam Deck's NVMe slot perfectly, and the Steam OS recognized it without any hitches. After the installation, I had about 1.8 TB of usable storage space, a major upgrade from the base storage on my Steam Deck.
The first thing I did was to move my existing game library to the new SSD. The transfer speed was impressive, with games being transferred in a fraction of the time it used to take with the previous storage. The SSD also made a noticeable difference in the game load times. Games that used to have long loading screens were up and running in no time.
XPC Technologies 2TB M.2 2230 NVMe PCIe SSD Review
However, it wasn't all smooth sailing. One issue I encountered was with energy efficiency. The system seemed to struggle with sleep and hibernation energy regimes, leading to a few random restarts and freezes. After some research and a few attempts, I managed to resolve these issues, but the energy inefficiency remained.
Another thing I noticed was the temperature. The SSD heated up during heavy gaming sessions, but it never got to a point where it was unbearable or caused performance issues. The built-in cooling system of the Steam Deck managed to keep things in check.
About two months in, I started experiencing hardware errors and random reboots. They were intermittent at first but got progressively worse. At its worst, the system would only stay stable for about 20 seconds. To confirm it was the SSD causing these issues, I put back the original SSD and the problems disappeared.
Despite the issues, I have to say that the XPC Technologies 2TB M.2 2230 NVMe SSD is an impressive piece of hardware. It provided the extra storage space I needed for my growing game library and significantly improved game load times. However, the energy inefficiency and instability issues are things to be wary of.
Overall, on a scale of 1 to 10, I would rate the XPC Technologies 2TB M.2 2230 NVMe SSD a 6. It's a great product with impressive speed and storage space, but the issues I experienced cannot be ignored. I hope this review helps other Steam Deck owners in making an informed decision about this SSD.
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This article was originally published on 18 Jun 2023. Product specifications, prices and availability may have changed. We sometimes receive review products and may earn commission through affiliate links. We are not obliged to publish a positive review. How we review and disclose partnerships.
