Switch loading times compared – cartridges vs. microSD vs. internal storage
Digital Foundry published a new video today that compares the loading times on Switch. Zelda: Breath of the Wild was the test subject here. A cartridge, two types of microSD cards, and internal storage were used.
In all cases, it was the internal storage that came out on top. microSD was next, followed by the cartridge.
The results of Digital Foundry’s tests are below:
| Zelda/Switch Load Times | Cartridge | Internal Storage | Sandisk 16GB Ultra UHS-1 | Sandisk 64GB Extreme Plus UHS-3 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Temple of Time (Initial Load) | 35.7 | 30.7 | 34.1 | 34.4 |
| Kakariko Village (Initial Load) | 27.0 | 24.1 | 26.3 | 26.6 |
| Owa Daim Shrine (Initial Load) | 9.5 | 8.7 | 9.3 | 9.3 |
| Great Plateau Tower (Travel) | 32.6 | 27.7 | 30.9 | 31.2 |
| Dueling Peaks Tower (Travel) | 20.5 | 18.8 | 19.8 | 20.1 |
| Shrine of Resurrection (Travel) | 24.2 | 21.8 | 23.0 | 23.8 |
Digital Foundry points out how the microSD cards were unable to beat out Switch’s on-board storage in any of the loading times. This suggests that there’s a speed cap. No matter the read bandwidth, Switch won’t take advantage of high speeds. You’ll see about the same loading times so long as you’re using a minimum of UHS-1.
You can view Digital Foundry’s full analysis below.
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