Sure thing, let me give this a whirl:
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Okay, so get this. There’s this gamer genius (or maybe just a tinkerer with too much free time) who’s been messing around with an adapter project they’re calling the SDEX2M2 – catchy, right? Now, if you’re scratching your head wondering what in the world that means, join the club. Essentially, they’re trying to make it so you can take the Nintendo Switch 2’s MicroSD Express card slot and plug an M.2 NVMe SSD in there. Why? Well, probably because they can. The crazy part? It’s open source! Anyone with a curious mind (or just a healthy desire to void warranties) can wander over to GitHub and dive into all the nitty-gritty details and random bits and bobs they used.
Nintendo’s got this rep for being super protective of their gadgets, so seeing this floating around while the Switch 2 is still fresh out of the box? Yeah, that’s like sweet, sweet music to modders everywhere.
The trick to this sorcery (and I’m still kind of amazed by it) is that the Nintendo Switch 2 uses this whiz-bang SD Express 7.1 standard. Apparently, it opens up a PCIe Gen3 x1 interface using NVMe protocols. Fancy speak aside, it means the adapter just lines up the dots – er, pins – between the Switch’s card slot and a regular M.2 2230 NVMe SSD. No need for crazy translating or anything, the Switch 2’s got it all figured out. Wild.
Oh, and if you’re craning your neck for bargains, there’s talk of substantial savings here. Think hitting speeds up to about 1 GB/s. That’s speedier than a caffeinated squirrel. So instead of forking over 56 bucks for a measly 256GB microSD card, you could snag a whole terabyte for not much more. That sounds good, BUT there’s always the “But” isn’t there? You gotta whip up or hunt down this SDEX2M2 doodad first.
Couple of things though – listen up! Don’t go slapping on any ol’ M.2 SSD. If it’s too power-hungry, you could end up with a fancy-looking paperweight instead of a Switch. Stick to low-voltage drives, okay? And whatever you do, don’t mix this adapter up with older Switch models. That thing doesn’t fit there. Seriously, don’t.
And then there’s this wild idea floating around about maybe, possibly, hooking up an eGPU using this setup. Sure, PCIe isn’t just about storing stuff. It’s also for almost everything else tech wizards can dream up – network cards, sound gadgets, graphics cards, you name it.
But hold on, there’s a teeny tiny problem – like a speed bump the size of a mountain. The PCIe Gen3 x1’s just got 1 GB/s to play with. That’s nothing compared to the ludicrous speeds of other setups. And even if you get around that, you’d have to tinker some more to get it to work. It’s like trying to squeeze a giraffe in a Mini Cooper. Possible? Maybe. Likely? Hmm…
Anyway, if this is your jam, keep an eye on Tom’s Hardware. Who knows what other mind-blowing stuff might pop up next?
