ADATA Technology has launched the industry’s first SD 8.0 Express specification memory card with the Premier Extreme SD 8.0 Express memory card delivering up to 1,600 and 1,200 MB/s read and write speeds using a PCIe Gen3 x2 interface and the NVMe transfer protocol.
The SD 7.0 specification was introduced in 2018, adding the SD Express standard using PCIe and NVMe Interfaces for speeds of up to 985 MB/s. Since then, the SD 9.0 specification was ratified in 2023 upping the speed to 4GB/s with SD 8.0 Express. But while the specifications have evolved over the years, and some SD and microSD Express cards were unveiled, including 256GB and 512GB Samsung microSD Express cards, market adoption has been slow since hosts need to support the new format, but few manufacturers do.
You’ll find SD Express or microSD Express card readers, high-end cameras with an SD Express slot, and the upcoming Nintendo Switch 2 portable game console. Other devices can read and write the SD Express card in compatibility mode (U3 V30 video class speed). SD Express card would be great in SBCs due to their small size, but again, those are not price competitive due to low market adoption. For instance, it’s easy to find a 512GB M.2 NVMe SSD for about $40, but SD Express cards are harder to find, and a previous generation 256GB ADATA SD 7.0 Express card goes for over $100. Another issue with SBCs is that the number of PCIe interfaces in most SoCs is rather limited.
But if you have the hardware for it, and the price is not an issue, SD Express memory cards provide NVMe SSD performance in a much smaller and thinner form factor. ADATA says the new Premier Extreme SD 8.0 Express memory card is twice as fast as the SD 7.0 Express cards, twelve times faster than UHS-I SD memory cards, and four times faster than UHS-II cards.
The company further adds that SD Express 8.0 supports multi-device simultaneous access, and the card implements LDPC ECC automatic error correction technology. It has also passed multiple waterproof, shockproof, anti-static, and high and low temperature resistance tests to ensure your data is secure under most conditions.
ADATA has not provided pricing for the new 512GB SD 8.0 Express memory card, but I’d expect a price range between $150 and $200 based on the $107 price tag for the 256GB ADATA SD 7.0 card on Amazon.
Via Tom’s Hardware
Jean-Luc started CNX Software in 2010 as a part-time endeavor, before quitting his job as a software engineering manager, and starting to write daily news, and reviews full time later in 2011.
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Nintendo Switch 2 may singlehandedly save the SD Express format. As in we’ll see more single board computers adopt the slots simply because more Express cards and slots are being made and sold.
Too bad they didn’t adopt SDUC at the same time. I would like to see 16 TB microSD cards in my lifetime (that are usable in at least some devices).