Microsdxc samsung evo plus u3 review

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Recently, I was shopping around for a large microSDXC card when I noticed Samsung has a new version of their EVO Plus line. Previously, I reviewed their 128GB version and it became one of my favourite cards. Will the new card uphold its good performance, especially compared with the SanDisk Ultra PLUS that I just reviewed?

Unboxing

The new version of the Samsung EVO Plus seems completely different from the old, featuring a blue gradient background and mostly white/grey aesthetic. It feels cleaner and more elegant than the firey orange and black of old. This particular product is the 256GB version complete with SD adapter, obtained via Amazon AU for a very decent AU$29. Just like the SanDisk Ultra PLUS, it advertises a non-standard “up to 130MB/s” transfer (presumably read) speed which is outside the normal UHS-I bus speeds, perhaps just to remain competitive on face value. However, it does have the appropriate marks for Class 10, Class U3, Class A2 and Class V30 capabilities which already imply better performance compared to the Ultra PLUS.

The card has a model number of MB-MC256KA with the suffix of /APC as this is an Asia-Pacific market unit. The card does not have CPRM as indicated by the text in the bottom left – a feature of Secure Digital that is increasingly rarely used. The card comes with a 10-year limited warranty and can be authenticated using their software tool.

Inside, the card and adapter are packaged in a clear plastic clip-together tray, as is customary. I prefer this arrangement as it is easier to open but also provides the possibility of re-closing the package to keep both card and adapter safe.

The substrate of the card has a white spine, keeping in line with previous cards. The top surface is labelled in a “landscape” fashion but without the coloured stripe division which seemed to be a trend. The underside is black with the details etched into the card – this one claims to be Made in Philippines.

As required by the standard, the card is pre-formatted with exFAT and has a 256,288,751,616 byte partition capacity.

The card is MBR partitioned with the partition starting at sector 65536 for a 32kiB offset. The media capacity is 256,355,860,480 bytes.

CID: 1b534d454534533530db076351a15a23 CSD: 400e0032db79000775ff7f800a400021 Size: 256,355,860,480 bytes

I tested the card with the Samsung Memory Card / UFD Authentication Utility and it was validated as a genuine Samsung product.

Performance Test

Tests were performed using my new rig (AMD Ryzen 7 1700, Asus X370-PRIME-PRO, Windows 10) using a Transcend RDF9K reader. Benchmark results will vary depending on your equipment.

HDTune Pro

The card delivers a consistent 93.9MB/s sequential read fresh out of the box and after a full write. The speed is likely to indicate the limitation of the card reader and UHS-I bus in practice. As I do not own a newer, special reader that can run the UHS-I bus faster, the card does not show its 130MB/s capabilities.

The sequential write speed clocks in at 84.6MB/s which is very respectable considering the price and positioning of the card. Two small dips were seen, perhaps the result of internal card management tasks.

In the random access tests, the card showed decent read IOPS performance especially at small blocks, however, the 1MB and random read figures seemed more average. Perhaps USB latency may be at play here. The random access write tests show large block writes sometimes encountering longer delays of up to 436ms, but also seemingly inconsistent IOPS performance especially at 4kB.

Extra tests were also run, although the results are not as relevant for flash memory.

CrystalDiskMark

Running CrystalDiskMark on the card after it had been reformatted to original factory state resulted in the above result consistent with HDTune Pro results. Sequential read reached 98.75MB/s with sequential writes at 86.72MB/s. Small block 4kB accesses were around 14MB/s read and 4.3MB/s write which is noticeably superior to the Sandisk Ultra PLUS.

However, the first test after HDTune Pro did not show as good of a result – perhaps the controller understands the filesystem and needed the card to be properly cleaned to restore full performance. In this dirty state, write speeds fell noticeably to 33.84MB/s sequential – slower than the Ultra PLUS, but still enough to meet the U3/V30 requirements. This is not a likely scenario for most users as HDTune Pro tests are done without a filesystem which may have confused the card’s controller.

ATTO Disk Benchmark

ATTO showed full performance being reached at 64kB accesses but the card seems sensitive to workload as the later tests showed some inconsistent write figures. Repeating the test back-to-back, leaving the card no time to rest, results in even more inconsistent figures.

The dirty card post-HDTune Pro is on the left, showing diminished write performance, while having the card reformatted to FAT32 using Rufus is shown on the right. It seems that the card still performs well even if reformatted to another filesystem.

H2testW

The above shows the tested card after it had been cleaned after testing and it shows a 79.1MB/s write speed, 88.4MB/s read speed and no data integrity errors.

The dirty state card post HDTune, CDM and ATTO above registered a lower write speed of 64.1MB/s and a read speed of 88.5MB/s. The good news is that this is the higher than the ~32MB/s reported by the other benchmarks and the speed loss was recovered above after reformatting.

A fresh card straight out of the box delivered 80.1MB/s write and 88.5MB/s read which is marginally higher than a reformatted card post-tests.

Conclusion

The Samsung EVO Plus seems to remain a solid choice and the new-look version with 130MB/s claimed transfer rate capability is still an excellent card overall given the price with noticeably superior write speeds and IOPS performance although the write IOPS do show some inconsistencies due to the controller’s behaviour. While it may sound like it is on the same playing field as the SanDisk Ultra PLUS, the EVO Plus seems to have the upper hand at least based on the performance numbers.

Is Samsung EVO Plus SD card good?

The Samsung Evo Plus microSD card is the overall best microSD card, thanks to its reliable performance and tough, durable build. This is a well-protected microSD card with four-proof protection; it is waterproof and can stand up to varying temperatures with both an X-ray and magnet-proof design.

Is U3 the best SD card?

The first thing to consider between a U1 vs U3 MicroSD is the data transfer speed. Compared to the U1 Micro SD card, the U3 SD card has a faster data transfer speed. If you want to have a high write and transfer speed to record 4K Ultra-HD video, then the U3 SD card is the ideal choice.

Is Samsung EVO Plus better than SanDisk?

There is a newer version of the SanDisk Extreme out that is the A2 so if you do buy get the newer one. As you can see both tests are pretty similar in it's results. The budget EVO Plus has roughly 20MB/s slower write rate compared to the more expensive Extreme but for read speeds it's a pretty negligible difference.

What does U3 mean on SD card?

UHS Speed Class The next speed class up is the UHS (Ultra-High Speed) Speed Class and it's denoted with the “U” symbol. There are two ratings within the UHS Speed Class: U1 (UHS Speed Class 1): minimum write speed of 10MB/s. U3 (UHS Speed Class 3): minimum write speed of 30MB/s.