Silicon Power Superior Pro 256GB microSDXC Memory Card

Model: Silicon Power Superior Pro 256GB microSDXC Memory Card
Manufacturer: Silicon Power
Provided By: Silicon Power

Silicon Power is a relatively new name in the storage industry. Founded in 2003 by a group of professionals specializing in international business, global marketing and technical engineering, the company has already established itself as one of Taiwan's top manufacturers. With an eye for attractive and versatile design, Silicon Power has built its brand around the concept that its customers deserve products that represent who they are in life and mirror their personality. The end result is a variety of uniquely designed storage products including USB flash drives, memory cards and solid-state drives (SSD).

One of the latest additions to Silicon Power's line of microSD cards is the Superior Pro. Available in 64GB, 128GB, 256GB and 512GB capacities, this microSDXC card meets the UHS Speed Class 3 (U3) and the Video Speed Class 30 (V30) standards and, with 100 MB/s read and 80 MB/s write speeds, it can be used to capture high-quality images and extended lengths of Full-HD and 4K Ultra HD video. The Superior Pro is also optimized for app performance on smartphones, tablets and other mobile devices. With its A1 rating, the card is capable of 1,500 random read and 500 random write IOPS which equates to faster launches and enhanced operation. To top it all off, the Superior Pro is waterproof, shockproof, temperature-proof and X-ray-proof for use in extreme environments.

Needless to say, this is only a taste of what the Superior Pro microSDXC card has to offer. To give you an idea of what to expect, we'll take a closer look at Silicon Power's new memory card and then see how well it performs. Can it deliver the value and performance we've come to expect from Silicon Power? Keep reading as we find out.

Packaging:

Like most other memory cards, Silicon Power's Superior Pro microSDXC card comes packaged in a cardboard blister pack. The front of the packaging advertises many of the card's key features including its capacity and speed class ratings. On the back, there is a bit more information regarding the capabilities of the card as well as its 5 year warranty.

Physical Features:

As you'd expect, Silicon Power's Superior Pro microSDXC card is quite small. It measures 15.0 x 11.0 x 1.0 mm and weighs in at about 0.3g. The card is constructed out of black plastic and has a brightly colored label printed on top. Along with the SP logo, the label shows the capacity and speed class ratings.

On the back of the card, you can see a row of connectors as well as the production batch and serial numbers. Oddly enough, there is no country of origin printed on the card.

Silicon Power's new microSDXC card also ships with an SD adapter. Simply insert the card into the adapter and you can use it with SD-enabled devices such as digital cameras, laptops, printers, etc. This especially comes in handy if you ever need to transfer photos, music and video content from a mobile device to a PC or device with an SD slot.

Performance:

The test system used in this review is equipped with an AMD Ryzen 3 3100 CPU, MSI B550 GAMING PLUS motherboard, 16GB (8GB x 2) of Crucial Ballistix 3200 MHz DDR4 memory, Crucial P5 1TB SSD, GIGABYTE GeForce GTX 1060 WINDFORCE OC 6G graphics card and a Transcend TS-RDF5K USB 3.0 card reader. For the operating system, I used the latest version of Windows 10 Pro.

To test the performance of Silicon Power's Superior Pro microSDXC card, I ran a series of benchmarks using CrystalDiskMark, ATTO Disk Benchmark and PCMark 10. To get a feel for the "real world" performance, I also copied and pasted 1GB of random files and directories as well as a single 4GB ISO file in Windows Explorer.

CrystalDiskMark 5.1.2:

First, I ran a few quick tests using CrystalDiskMark. This benchmark tool measures the performance of a storage device by testing its sequential read and write speeds as well as its random read and write speeds using blocks 512K and 4K in size.

Silicon Power Superior Pro 256GB microSDXC

Samsung PRO Plus 128GB SDXC

According to Silicon Power, the Superior Pro microSDXC card is capable of reading at 100 MB/s and writing at 80 MB/s. While the card had no problems reaching its rated write speed, it came up short in CrystalDiskMark's sequential read speed test. 

ATTO Disk Benchmark 2.46:

I also used ATTO Disk Benchmark to test the Superior Pro microSDXC card's sequential read and write speeds. The test was run using blocks ranging in size from 0.5KB to 8192KB and the total length set to 256MB.

Silicon Power Superior Pro 256GB microSDXC

Samsung PRO Plus 128GB SDXC

When tested with ATTO, the Superior Pro microSDXC card's read speeds topped out at about 97 MB/s and its write speeds at 92 MB/s.

PCMark 10 - Data Drive Benchmark:

PCMark 10's Data Drive Benchmark is designed to test drives that are used for storing files rather than applications. You can also use this test with NAS drives, USB sticks, memory cards, and other external storage devices. This benchmark produces an overall score as a measure of drive performance. Comparing devices is as simple as comparing scores. The tests also measure and report the bandwidth and average access time for the drive.

Thanks to its high bandwidth and low latency, the Superior Pro was able to take the top spot in PCMark 10's Data Drive Benchmark.

"Real World" Benchmark:

To test the "real world" performance of Silicon Power's Superior Pro microSDXC card, I copied and pasted 1GB worth of randomly generated files and directories. All of the files are between 1KB and 95MB in size and no more than five directories deep. To see how well the card handled large files, I also copied and pasted a 4GB ISO file.

Silicon Power's new card performed very well here, taking 19 seconds to write 1GB worth of test data and 17 seconds to read it back.

Final Thoughts:

Silicon Power's Superior Pro microSDXC card is an excellent choice for the consumer looking for fast, yet affordable, storage for their digital camera, camcorder or mobile device. The card is waterproof, dustproof, temperature-proof and X-ray-proof and, with capacity options ranging from 64GB to 512GB, you can store up to 77,300 songs, 150,300 photos or 24 hours of 4K Ultra HD video. The Superior Pro microSDXC card is also UHS Speed Class 3 (U3) and Video Speed Class 30 (V30) rated and is capable of delivering some impressive performance numbers. In our tests, the 256GB version of the card was able to read at speeds as high as 97 MB/s and write at more than 91 MB/s. Furthermore, the Superior Pro microSDXC is A1 rated and has been optimized to deliver faster application performance on your smartphone, tablet or handheld gaming console.

Silicon Power's Superior Pro microSDXC card is available now in 64GB, 128GB, 256GB and 512GB capacities. Prices on Amazon currently range from $9 up to $65, with the 256GB version reviewed here retailing for about $25.

Highs:

• Available in 64GB, 128GB, 256GB and 512GB capacities
• Meets Class 10, U3, V30 and A1 standards
• Excellent read and write speeds
• Waterproof, dustproof, temperature-proof and X-ray-proof
• Includes SD adapter
• Reasonably priced
• 5 year warranty

Lows:

• Nothing