X-bit labs

27 Card Readers Roundup (page 12)

Category: Multimedia

by Aleksey Meyev

[ 03/23/2008 | 11:11 AM ]

FC-Test 1.0

Other read diagrams:

• 1x100MB (chart)
• 100x1MB (chart)

Just as you’ve seen in the previous tests, there are five slow controllers while the others deliver similar performance.

Other write diagrams:

• 1x100MB (chart)
• 100x1MB (chart)

No changes in the writing test.

FC-Test 2.0

Other read diagrams:

• 1x100MB (chart)
• 100x1MB (chart)

Other write diagrams:

• 1x100MB (chart)
• 100x1MB (chart)

The diagrams speak for themselves: there are several controllers that cope superbly with SD cards, and there are five slow controllers. The SanDisk USB is reasonably slower than the leaders, but the AU6362 (with “slow” firmware), IC1210 and ND3260 are obviously slow.

Performance with SD Cards Summary

Summing up this section, I can tell you that most controllers coped well with Secure Digital format, delivering similar speeds in all the tests. On the losing side are the AU6362 (with firmware 01.26 and 01.29), IC1210 and ND3260. The SanDisk USB is not fast enough for modern SD cards, but its results are not so depressing.

Perhaps such a high level of performance is due to the fact that there are no SD cards that would be as fast as Compact Flash. On the other hand, SD cards are not slow. Their speed is enough for most modern devices, excepting modern professional-level reflex-lens cameras (Compact Flash is dominating in this field anyway). In most devices it is the integrated card-reader rather than the card that limits the data-transfer speed. As for ReadyBoost technology, modern SD cards deliver sufficient speed unless the card-reader is based on a slow controller. The main reason why memory cards of the first version of SD format are leaving the market is the limit on the maximum capacity of the card, only 2GB. Not much by today’s standards. That’s why SD is being replaced not with some new format, but with its logical follower Secure Digital High Capacity.

So, let’s see what we have with SDHC cards that are free from the capacity limitation problem. I should note that many card-readers are still unable to work with this format and do not recognize the inserted card. That’s why there are fewer devices in the next section of the review.