Best Xbox Ally microSD cards 2025: Large capacity, UHS-I & UHS-II compatibility, fast read speeds, and more

The Asus ROG Ally and Ally X handheld gaming devices both have a microSD card slot. You can use UHS-I and UHS-II cards with them, supporting storage capacities up to 2TB.

The Xbox Ally and Ally X work perfectly with standard USH-I microSD cards. However, we strongly suggest using UHS-II cards instead, as they offer much faster speeds – up to three times quicker than older UHS-I cards.

UHS-II microSD cards can make your games load faster on the Xbox Ally and Xbox Ally X, resulting in a smoother and more enjoyable gaming experience.

UHS-II microSD cards can be hard to find, so UHS-I cards are a perfectly good alternative. They’ll still successfully add extra storage to your devices.

To pick the best microSD card for your Xbox Ally or Ally X, consider how much storage you need, the card’s type, and how fast it transfers data.

The storage capacity tells you how much data, such as games and videos, a device can hold. A larger capacity microSD card means you can store more games and files on it.

MicroSD cards come in different speeds, categorized as UHS-I or UHS-II. UHS-II cards are faster, but currently harder to find because they’re newer to the market.

MicroSD card transfer speeds determine how quickly data can be written to and read from the card. Faster speeds mean games will run better, with less lag and quicker loading times.

You can upgrade the internal storage of both the Xbox Ally and the Xbox Ally X by replacing the existing SSD with a faster, higher-capacity one.

Ultimately, it comes down to what you prefer. If you want quicker loading and transfer times, replacing the internal storage drive (SSD) in your Xbox Ally or Xbox Ally X is the way to go.

Upgrading the internal SSD in your ROG Ally can be tricky, so we’ve created a guide to help. The process is quite similar to upgrading an Xbox Series X/S.

If you’d rather avoid the hassle of replacing the internal storage and just want a simple, fast way to add more space, a microSD card is a good option.

The Xbox Ally and Xbox Ally X have been designed with improvements to address and prevent the microSD card problems experienced by the original ROG Ally.

The ROG Ally has a problem with its microSD card slots being located too close to the device’s vents. This causes the cards to overheat and stop working, particularly when the device is charging or running in turbo mode.

The ROG Ally X addressed a previous issue by moving the microSD card slots away from the ventilation fan. Both the Xbox Ally and the Xbox Ally X now include this improved design, along with better cooling systems, to keep the microSD card from overheating and potentially being damaged.

As an analyst, I can confirm that the Xbox handhelds are fully compatible with Windows 11. This means you can easily install and play games from popular PC platforms like Steam, the Epic Games Store, and Battle.net, and even run them directly from a microSD card. It offers a really flexible gaming experience.