Camera Memory Speed
Memory Card Comparison & Performance Tests for Digital Cameras

Review: Samsung EVO 32GB SDHC Memory Card 48MB/s

Samsung EVO 32GB SDHC Card Samsung EVO 32GB SDHC Card Back

Introduction

The Samsung EVO series represents the middle choice in the new-for-2014 Samsung SD memory card line. The EVO is touted for its "Ultra-fast Performance," however it is not the fastest card from Samsung, that attribute is reserved for the Samsung PRO SD card. The EVO sits between the PRO and Standard cards.

The EVO features a white plastic case with bright orange and grey printing. It is available in 16 and 32 GB capacities. It supports UHS-I transfer protocol and is rated as Class 10. Its transfer speed is advertised as up to 48 MB/s, however no number is given for write speed which we found to be significantly lower.

The EVO series uses Samsung NAND flash Triple Level Cell (TLC) memory flash which stores eight bits of data per cell. TLC costs less to manufacture compared with MLC or SLC memory because it requiress less silicon. Samsung is the largest NAND flash memory producer in the world and in May 2014 opened a new $7 billion NAND flash memory factory in Xi'an, China.

Performance

Benchmark testing was performed in eight different USB 3.0 SD card readers. Sequential reads averaged 47MB/s maximum and sequential writes averaged 28MB/s maximum. In benchmarks it revealed an interesting benefit. It has relatively high random write speed up to 24MB/s. For photographers this is of little benefit. Small random writes are beneficial for applications in computing were small files or pieces of files are read and written such as when running a program. In photography relatively large files are written sequentially.

Card: Samsung EVO 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

Samsung EVO 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 SR147.65629.42445.02623.5607.5001831.11.744425.78.0091955.41.360332.1
Transcend SD Card Reader RDF5 Black47.52928.93744.82621.8175.9501452.61.607392.36.0951488.11.364333.1
Lexar Professional Workflow SR2 UHS-II47.52629.45044.89922.2768.0041954.11.738424.48.9372181.81.312320.4
SanDisk Extreme Pro UHS-II SD Reader/Writer47.40820.16544.76721.6268.2112004.61.961478.78.9992197.11.798439.0
Lexar Professional Dual Slot UHS-II Card Reader47.37028.72044.88521.8988.0471964.51.689412.28.9262179.11.349329.3
Lexar LRWM04U-7000 UHS-II Reader47.35921.99244.70821.9268.2452012.91.920468.88.9582186.91.576384.7
Delkin Travel Reader47.34029.04244.32322.3687.9991952.81.773432.88.9272179.51.706416.5
Lexar Professional Dual Slot Reader47.31829.80645.23520.1587.6771874.31.718419.38.2862022.91.342327.7
Transcend Multi-Card Reader RDF8 Black47.28629.41545.19021.6997.6611870.31.735423.68.2552015.51.457355.8
Kingston MobileLite G4 UHS-II47.19119.89944.54724.9908.2002002.01.800439.58.9622187.91.425348.0
Delkin Dual Slot SD UHS-II and CF Card Reader47.14420.06844.56222.3348.0161957.01.880459.08.8792167.81.642401.0
Kingston FCR-HS4 Card Reader47.11021.45244.57623.3027.9521941.51.928470.88.8452159.51.515369.9
Delkin Universal Memory Card Reader47.09929.97845.04822.3837.3791801.61.634398.98.2102004.51.457355.6
Transcend Multi-Card Reader RDF947.08020.07044.51823.6138.0041954.11.860454.28.8842169.11.424347.6
Kingston Multi-Card Reader FCR-HS346.97728.80937.22018.5958.3082028.41.958478.18.9882194.31.450354.0
SanDisk ImageMate All-In-One USB 3.046.72029.05442.17920.7614.6061124.61.400341.84.6981146.91.017248.4
Sony MRW-E90 XQD 2.0 / SD UHS-II Card Reader45.92419.81843.15821.7587.2171762.01.847450.98.2552015.51.490363.7

In addition to several benchmarks, we tested the Samsung EVO in many different digital cameras. Here we found it offers moderate performance at best. It fell well short of other UHS-I SD cards and ended up being the slowest card by a significant margin. In most cameras this card only performed at 16 to 18 MB/s write speed. Its highest write speed (21.9MB/s) was measured in the Canon 7D Mark II. While the Samsung EVO rates above Class 10 performance (10MB/s write minimum) it is far from the "Ultra-fast Performance" implied on the packaging.

Samsung EVO 32GB
Tested in Camera
Write Speed
(MB/s)
Nikon D720022.6
Canon 7D Mark II21.9
Canon Rebel T6i/T6s21.6
Canon 80D21.5
Fuji X-Pro219.8
Canon 5D Mark IV19.6
Canon 5Ds19.6
Nikon D710019.2
Nikon D550019.1
Nikon D50019.1
Nikon D330018.9
Olympus E-M118.3
Olympus E-M5 II18.2
Sony A600018.1
Samsung NX118.1
Olympus PEN-F18.0
Nikon D75017.8
Nikon D81017.8
Fuji X-T1017.6
Sony A7R II17.4
Sony A630017.1
Nikon D60017.0
Nikon D530017.0
Canon 70D16.8
Canon 6D16.7
Olympus E-M1016.2
Pentax K-3 II16.2
Nikon D80016.2
Olympus E-M516.0

Cameras tested with this card: Canon 5D Mark IV, Canon 5Ds, Canon 6D, Canon 7D Mark II, Canon 70D, Canon 80D, Canon Rebel T6i/T6s, Fuji X-Pro2, Fuji X-T10, Nikon D500, Nikon D750, Nikon D810, Nikon D800, Nikon D600, Nikon D7200, Nikon D7100, Nikon D5500, Nikon D5300, Nikon D3300, Olympus E-M1, Olympus E-M5, Olympus E-M5 II, Olympus PEN-F, Olympus E-M10, Pentax K-3 II, Samsung NX1, Sony A7R II, Sony A6000, Sony A6300

Samsung EVO 32GB SDHC Memory Card Package Front Samsung EVO 32GB SDHC Memory Card Package Back

Samsung backs the new EVO series SD cards with a 10-year warranty. The card we tested is marked, "Made in Korea."

The following table contains information encoded in the SD card.

Samsung EVO 32GB SD — Internal Card Information
Serial number (PSN)3418444885
Product Name (PNM)00000
Product Revision1.0
Manufacturer ID (MID)0x00001b
OEM ID (OID)SM
Manufacture Date (MDT)03/2014
Total capacity31,440,502,784 bytes

Available sizes and prices

Compare prices on the Samsung EVO SD card. The lowest prices are highlighted in the table below. Prices are updated daily.

CardSize
GB
Lowest
$ / GB
Prices
AmazonB&H PhotoAdorama
Samsung EVO SD16$0.94$14.99Check priceCheck price
Samsung EVO SD32$1.38$44.00Check priceCheck price
Samsung EVO SD64$0.77$49.00Check priceCheck price