Silicon Power Superior 128GB V30 SDXC Memory Card

Model: Silicon Power Superior 128GB V30 SDXC 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).

This past winter, Silicon Power introduced a number of new memory cards. In addition to four microSD cards, the company unveiled a pair of standard SD cards, the Superior and Superior Pro. Where the V90-rated Superior Pro is geared more towards the professional looking to capture 8K Ultra HD photos and videos, the Superior is designed for use in more consumer-oriented products like DSLR cameras and HD camcorders. The Superior 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. To top it all off, the card is waterproof, dustproof, temperature-proof and X-ray-proof for use in extreme environments.

Packaging:

Like most other memory cards, Silicon Power's Superior SDXC 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:

While not nearly as small as a microSD card, Silicon Power's Superior SDXC card isn't much larger than a postage stamp. It measures 24 x 32 x 2.1 mm and weighs in at about 2g. The card is constructed out of black plastic and has a white and gray label on top. Along with the SP logo, the label shows the capacity and speed class ratings.

Along the left hand side of the card, you can see a lock switch. When it is slid down, the data will be write protected. You will not be able to modify or delete the contents on the memory card until the switch is slid back up.

On the back of the card, you can see a row of connectors as well as the production batch and serial numbers and the country of origin. In this case, Silicon Power's Superior SDXC card is made in Taiwan.

Performance:

The test system used in this review is equipped with an Intel Core i7-6700K CPU, GIGABYTE GA-Z170X-UD3 motherboard, 32GB (16GB x 2) of Crucial Ballistix Sport LT DDR4 memory, Samsung 960 PRO 512GB 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 installed a fresh copy of Windows 10 Enterprise.

To test the performance of Silicon Power's 128GB Superior SDXC card, I ran a series of benchmarks using CrystalDiskMark and ATTO Disk Benchmark. 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 128GB SDXC

Samsung EVO Plus 128GB microSDXC

According to Silicon Power, the Superior SDXC 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 SDXC 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 128GB SDXC

Samsung EVO Plus 128GB microSDXC

When tested with ATTO, the Superior SDXC card's read speeds topped out at about 92 MB/s and its write speeds at 81 MB/s.

"Real World" Benchmark:

To test the "real world" performance of Silicon Power's Superior SDXC memory 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 27 seconds to write 1GB worth of test data and 15 seconds to read it back.

Final Thoughts:

Silicon Power's Superior SDXC card is a great choice for the consumer looking for fast, yet affordable, storage for their DSLR cameras and HD camcorders. 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 150,300 photos or 24 hours of 4K Ultra HD video. The Superior SDXC 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 128GB version of the card was able to read at speeds as high as 92 MB/s and write at more than 80 MB/s.

Silicon Power's Superior SDXC card is available now in 64GB, 128GB and 256GB capacities. Prices on Amazon.com currently range from $10 up to $35, with the 128GB version reviewed here retailing for about $18. There is no word yet on when the 512GB card will be available or how much it will be.

Highs:

• Available in 64GB, 128GB, 256GB and 512GB capacities
• Meets UHS Speed Class 3 (U3) and Video Speed Class 30 (V30) standards
• Excellent read and write speeds
• Waterproof, dustproof, temperature-proof and X-ray-proof
• Reasonably priced
• 5 year warranty

Lows:

• Nothing