Camera Memory SpeedMemory Card Comparison & Performance Tests for Digital Cameras
Review: Kingston Ultimate 600x 32GB CompactFlash Memory Card
Introduction
The Kingston Ultimate 600x CompactFlash is a high performance UDMA-7 card. It is the highest level Kingston CF card as of 2014. It is available in 16 and 32 GB capacities. In 2015 the 16GB capacity appears to be discontinued and a 64GB capacity card has been added.
Visually, the card appears as a typical CompactFlash with a black plastic case with metal top and bottom plates. The label features the Kingston "Phantom" Anti-Counterfeit mark, a holographic-type circle that shows the Kingston head logo.
Performance
The Ultimate 600x card is advertised with read and write speeds of “up to 90MB/s.” In our tests the Ultimate 600X 32GB exceeded those numbers. It measured a best 131.5 MB/s read speed in the Lexar Professional Workflow CFR1. Sequential write speeds were equally as impressive, surpassing 110 MB/s in several card readers, well above advertised speed.
Card: Kingston Ultimate 600x 32GB
Benchmark: CrystalDiskMark 3.0.3 x64
Program settings: 1000 MB, 5 passes, random test data
Operating system: Windows 10 Pro
Motherboard: Gigabyte GA-Z77X-UD3H
Processor: Intel Core i7-3770K @ 4.40GHz
RAM: 32GB DDR3 1600
| Kingston Ultimate 600x 32GB Card Reader Benchmarks | Seq. Read 1000MB MB/s | Seq. Write 1000MB MB/s | Rand. Read 512KB MB/s | Rand. Write 512KB MB/s | Rand. Read 4KB MB/s QD1 | Rand. Read 4KB IOPS QD1 | Rand. Write 4KB MB/s QD1 | Rand. Write 4KB IOPS QD1 | Rand. Read 4KB MB/s QD32 | Rand. Read 4KB IOPS QD32 | Rand. Write 4KB MB/s QD32 | Rand. Write 4KB IOPS QD32 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Lexar Professional Workflow CFR1 | 131.483 | 111.278 | 83.677 | 3.467 | 4.745 | 1158.5 | 0.024 | 6.0 | 4.934 | 1204.6 | 0.028 | 6.7 |
| SanDisk ImageMate All-In-One USB 3.0 | 130.436 | 79.317 | 56.311 | 3.193 | 3.389 | 827.5 | 0.026 | 6.3 | 3.466 | 846.1 | 0.028 | 6.9 |
| Kingston FCR-HS4 Card Reader | 129.630 | 110.493 | 110.850 | 3.297 | 4.910 | 1198.8 | 0.024 | 5.9 | 5.126 | 1251.6 | 0.028 | 6.7 |
| Transcend Multi-Card Reader RDF9 | 128.660 | 111.184 | 112.415 | 3.043 | 4.900 | 1196.2 | 0.024 | 5.9 | 5.202 | 1270.0 | 0.023 | 5.5 |
| Lexar Professional Dual Slot UHS-II Card Reader | 128.628 | 110.284 | 112.175 | 2.988 | 4.876 | 1190.5 | 0.025 | 6.2 | 5.122 | 1250.6 | 0.025 | 6.1 |
| Delkin Universal Memory Card Reader | 126.533 | 112.629 | 112.175 | 3.330 | 4.475 | 1092.4 | 0.033 | 8.0 | 4.874 | 1189.9 | 0.026 | 6.4 |
| Transcend Multi-Card Reader RDF8 Black | 126.016 | 112.327 | 110.686 | 3.053 | 4.770 | 1164.6 | 0.027 | 6.5 | 4.975 | 1214.5 | 0.023 | 5.5 |
| Lexar Professional Dual Slot Reader | 125.925 | 112.327 | 110.850 | 3.303 | 4.796 | 1170.8 | 0.025 | 6.2 | 5.096 | 1244.0 | 0.022 | 5.5 |
| Kingston Multi-Card Reader FCR-HS3 | 122.369 | 60.918 | 49.062 | 3.036 | 4.990 | 1218.3 | 0.024 | 5.9 | 5.302 | 1294.4 | 0.025 | 6.1 |
| SanDisk ImageMate Pro Multi-Card Reader/Writer | 91.196 | 94.060 | 81.567 | 3.121 | 4.065 | 992.5 | 0.024 | 5.8 | 4.409 | 1076.5 | 0.029 | 7.2 |
In cameras, the Kingston Ultimate CF card continued its high performance. It measured 96.6 MB/s actual write speed in our Canon 7D Mark II CF card comparison. A write speed of 62.8MB/s was found in the Nikon D800. We were not able to test this card in the Nikon D810; inserting the card resulted in a Card Error message.
| Kingston Ultimate 600x 32GB Tested in Camera | Write Speed (MB/s) |
|---|---|
| Canon 7D Mark II | 96.6 |
| Canon 5Ds | 93.4 |
| Canon 5D Mark IV | 88.3 |
| Canon 1D X | 75.3 |
| Nikon D800 | 62.8 |
| Nikon D810 | Card error |
Cameras tested with this card: Canon 1D X, Canon 5D Mark IV, Canon 5Ds, Canon 7D Mark II, Nikon D810, Nikon D800
Kingston has been producing memory modules for computers and related devices since 1987. The company was founded Southern California by two engineers who immigrated from Taiwan. Today the company has annual sales of $6 billion US (2013).
Kingston memory cards carry a lifetime warranty.
Assembled in Taiwan.
The following table contains information about the tested card. Card information including a unique serial number, name (often a model number) and firmware version is encoded in the card. Cards are often engraved or printed with an identifier on the outside, but it is often a batch or lot number and not an individual serial number.
| Internal Card Information: Kingston Ultimate 600x 32GB CF | |
|---|---|
| Serial number | 5B460DD900072 |
| Name | ULTIMATE CF CARD |
| Firmware | Ver7.54C |
| Highest DMA supported | UDMA7 |
| Total capacity | 31,138,136,064 bytes |
| External Card Identifiers | |
| Engraved on end of card | 04524-006A02LF6645875TW1424 |
Available sizes and prices
Compare prices on the Kingston Ultimate 600x CF card. The lowest prices are highlighted in the table below. Prices are updated daily.
| Card | Size GB | Lowest $ / GB | Prices | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Amazon | B&H Photo | Adorama | |||
| Kingston Ultimate 600x CF | 16 | $4.59 | $73.44 | Check price | Check price |
| Kingston Ultimate 600x CF | 32 | $11.29 | $361.41 | Check price | Check price |
| Kingston Ultimate 600x CF | 64 | $2.40 | $153.28 | Check price | Check price |