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You know, these MicroSD Express cards are going for a fortune these days. Ridiculous, right? It’s no surprise that all those DIY folks are on the hunt for storage solutions for the Switch 2 that won’t break the bank. There’s this YouTube channel, Better Gaming, that tried something a bit different. They got their hands on this open-source doohickey—an adapter built just for the Switch 2. It lets you use those chunky M.2 NVMe 2230 SSDs. Sounds cool, but spoiler alert, it didn’t exactly pan out.
So here’s the scoop: we’ve been talking about this open-source gadget they’re playing with. It’s called the SDEX2M2 project—catchy, right? It taps into MicroSD Express’s PCIe connections and NVMe voodoo to juggle NVMe M.2 SSDs with ease. It rides on the SD Express 7.1 standard, which cozies up to a PCIe Gen 3×1 interface with NVMe protocol support. Super techy stuff.
Anyway, Better Gaming grabbed the blueprints for this wild contraption and had a batch of PCBs churned out by some third party. Then there was some serious soldering action—like a lot. We’re talking four attempts before the darn thing decided to work. They paired it with a Corsair MP600 Mini NVMe SSD and popped it into the Switch 2. From my view, it was a snug fit, and the Switch 2 seemed happy for a moment.
But, oh boy, then things went south fast. An error code, “2016-0641,” reared its ugly head. Basically, the Switch 2 was like, “Nope, can’t find the microSD card.”
So, after a bunch of guesswork, Better Gaming realized that these passive adapters can’t chat with the Switch 2 to handle M.2 NVMe SSDs. MicroSD Express cards have their own brainy controller. And well, the Switch 2 kinda expects to have a conversation with that controller when you plug in a MicroSD Express card or its stand-in adapter. And guess what? M.2 NVMe SSDs have their own controllers, of course, but they’re speaking a different language—one that’s not SD Express 7.1-friendly.
But wait, there’s more. The folks behind the SDEX2M2 project already spotted this hiccup. Rumor has it, they’re working on a new design. This time they plan to slap in an FPGA to mimic a MicroSD Express controller.
If this FPGA trick fixes things, gamers might finally have an affordable option to expand that puny 256GB space in the Switch 2. And yeah, it might be a bulky add-on—a bit of a clunker when you’re trying to game on the go. Fact is, MicroSD Express cards are pretty pricey—like 20 to 25 cents per GB. A 256GB card would set you back more than 50 bucks. Meanwhile, you can snag a 1TB NVMe SSD like the Corsair MP600 Mini for just about $89.99. Not too shabby!
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