Looking for SD card size advice

bfollowell

I'm curious about SD card size. I'm putting together a RetroPie system using a Raspberry Pi 3B+ and trying to decide between a 32 and 64GB SD card. I know most 32GB cards work without much trouble, but 64GB cards start to get a little flaky. I plan to use this system mainly to emulate NES/SNES/Genesis along with Atari 2600/5200/7800/Lynx systems, with maybe a select few games from Atari 8-bit, Atari ST & Amiga and some pre-90s arcade titles, mainly early to mid-80s classics; probably no PS1 or PS2 or other disc-based systems. I'm not a collector, so I won't be trying to get every game ever released for those systems, just old favorites, but I could easily see the total number getting to a few hundred.

What do you guys think? 32GB or 64GB?

mitu

As long as you're getting a good SD card, the size factor does not impact the compatibility with the RPI. For the systems you want to emulated, I think 32GB should fit all games ever released. If you don't want videos/snaps for all games, you should be ok with 32 Gb.

bfollowell

Thanks. I appreciate your advice. I think I'll give a 32GB a try. If I wind up bumping the upper limit, I can always upgrade to a 64GB later.

Nathan1031982

As you don't currently plan to put any CD based games on your system, a 32GB card would be fine.

Neo-Rio

Without any CD games, 128GB is all you need. I have full collections of all major systems and a few of the working experimental ones all fit within that limit.

Beyond that you have diminishing returns of what full system collections you can put on the card.
Plus the sd cards get expensive.

SEGA CD games and PC engine CD games would be what I added next reaching to 256GB ....but beyond that - full collection of PS1 games reaches over 1TB, as does PSP... so that’s not going to happen until microSDs get more capacity (if ever)

SuperPitendo

@bfollowell said in Looking for SD card size advice:

Thanks. I appreciate your advice. I think I'll give a 32GB a try. If I wind up bumping the upper limit, I can always upgrade to a 64GB later.

I recommend the Samsung 32 Gb EVO+. It is pretty cheap and has very good random read/write values. Take a look at this --> https://www.geek.com/chips/a-geek-tests-12-micro-sd-cards-with-a-raspberry-pi-to-find-the-fastest-1641182/

I use the 64 gb EVO+ since a week or two and I am happy with it. It is a bit slower than the 32 gb Version (still faster than others ;) ) but if you need more space, this should be your number 1 choice.

Neo-Rio

Just be careful when buying micro SD cards off ebay that you don't end up with fakes. I'm sure some of us have been stung by these.

XVO

I've once bought a "San Disk 64gb" from AliExpress. I wouldn't recommend you do the same for your retropie system.
It is terrible slow in loading, and disc games stutters. Now I'm using it for my complete music library on Kodi :D.

Eldrethor

@neo-rio said in Looking for SD card size advice:

Without any CD games, 128GB is all you need. I have full collections of all major systems and a few of the working experimental ones all fit within that limit.

I find that 128 GB is a bit much, and if you don't count any CD-based consoles, 32 GB is more than enough for the average user, especially if he/she isn't intending on adding full collections to the card.