SanDisk Extreme Pro 300MB/s UHS-II 64GB SDXC Memory Card Review

Introduction

The SanDisk Extreme Pro 300MB/s UHS-II 64GB SDXC card delivers maximum performance to improve shooting and workflow. The card is rated at 300MB/s read speed and 260MB/s write speed according to SanDisk. To reach these speeds the card uses the UHS-II interface. The card is backwards compatible and will operate in standard SD and UHS-I devices, however its speed will be reduced in these applications. The Extreme Pro 300MB/s UHS-II cards are available in 32, 64 and 128GB capacities. The 64GB SDXC card, model SDSDXPK-064G-ANCIN and UPC 619659141147, is tested in this review.

UHS-II cards incorporate a second row of contacts to provide a new 4-lane bus interface. The eight additional contacts are located next to the traditional SD contacts so the cards will work in older devices without UHS-II capabilities.

The Previous generation SanDisk Extreme Pro 280MB/s UHS-II cards had a major shortcoming when used in non-UHS-II devices. They were limited to 50MB/s bus speed in UHS-I mode. The new 300MB/s cards now support SDR104 UHS-I mode which enables up to 104MB/s bus speed.

There are only a limited number of cameras that can take advantage of UHS-II cards. These include high-end Fuji, Olympus and the Nikon D500 and an updated list of UHS-II capable cameras is available. Regardless of the camera, a major benefit of UHS-II cards is the fast read speed and when used in a UHS-II card reader. When connected through a USB 3.0 or 3.1 connection theses cards can provide nearly 300MB/s read speed.

Performance

The Extreme Pro 300MB/s UHS-II 64GB card was tested in several UHS-I and UHS-II card readers. Its maximum sequential read speed measured up to 307 MB/s, while write speed reached 247.7 MB/s. This is just above to the stated read speed but slightly below the 260 MB/s write speed claim. There is some improvement over the 279.3 MB/s read and 230.9 MB/s write speeds measured using the older Extreme Pro 280MB/s 32GB card. The old card was rated at 280MB/s read and 250MB/s write speed.

In card readers that do not support UHS-II the card reverts to UHS-I mode. In this mode the card reached 96.6 MB/s read speed and 88.4 MB/s write speed. This is much better than the previous-generation SanDisk Extreme Pro 280MB/s card which maxed out at 48.2 MB/s read and 46.1 MB/s write speed. The updated 300MB/s card supports SDR104 bus mode to reach higher speeds in UHS-I mode.

Card: SanDisk Extreme Pro 300MB/s UHS-II 64GB
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

In camera write speed tests will be conducted and the results will be added to a table below.

Cameras tested with this card: Canon EOS R, Canon 77D, Canon EOS M5, Canon Rebel T7i, Fuji X-T3, Nikon D7500, Nikon Coolpix P1000, Panasonic GH5, Sony A9

The following table contains information encoded in the SD card.

Available sizes and prices

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