The new Transcend Ultimate UHS-II U3 SD cards are capable of outstanding read and write performance. These Secure Digital cards take advantage the UHS-II interface to deliver up to 285MB/s read and 180MB/s write speeds, according to Transcend. The cards also meet UHS Speed Class 3 (U3) specification and are suitable for recording 4K video. They are available in 32 and 64 GB capacities. The 64 GB SDXC version (TS64GSD2U3) is tested for this review.
UHS-II cards are backwards compatible and will work in UHS-I and standard SD devices, but the highest level of performance will only be realized in devices that support the UHS-II interface. The back of the card reveals two rows of contacts. The top row provides the standard SD interface that offers UHS-I support including SDR104 at up to 104MB/s bus speed. The bottom row of contacts provide the UHS-II bus interface that operates up to 312MB/s bus speed (HD312).
The Transcend Ultimate UHS-II U3 card has an understated matte black label with gold lettering. Internally the cards use MLC NAND flash memory that offers both high performance and durability. The card is made in Taiwan and is backed by a limited lifetime warranty from Transcend.
The Transcend UHS-II U3 64GB SDXC card was tested in a variety of card readers, including several that support UHS-II. In benchmark tests the sequential read speed reached 305.6 MB/s, while write speed peaked at 183.1 MB/s. Both read and write speeds exceed the ratings on the label. These speeds are only reached in devices with the UHS-II interface. When tested in UHS-I card readers the card revealed its performance in UHS-I mode and provided up to 93.2MB/s read and 91.2MB/s write speed. When used in cameras that support UHS-I only, the card will be limited to the lower UHS-I speeds, at best.
Card: Transcend Ultimate UHS-II U3 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
Transcend Ultimate UHS-II U3 64GB 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 |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Delkin Black Rugged Card Reader | 305.574 | 181.603 | 233.443 | 3.308 | 10.962 | 2676.4 | 2.938 | 717.3 | 11.143 | 2720.6 | 3.106 | 758.3 |
Lexar LRWM04U-7000 UHS-II Reader | 298.272 | 180.540 | 242.880 | 2.711 | 12.733 | 3108.6 | 3.384 | 826.1 | 14.217 | 3471.0 | 2.988 | 729.5 |
Lexar Professional Workflow SR2 UHS-II | 296.963 | 178.451 | 235.733 | 2.845 | 12.712 | 3103.4 | 3.404 | 831.2 | 14.157 | 3456.2 | 2.550 | 622.5 |
SanDisk Extreme Pro SD UHS-II Reader/Writer | 285.871 | 182.838 | 227.002 | 3.293 | 19.102 | 4663.6 | 3.254 | 794.4 | 13.910 | 3396.0 | 3.101 | 757.2 |
SanDisk Extreme Pro SD UHS-II USB-C Reader | 282.407 | 183.093 | 226.024 | 3.106 | 17.765 | 4337.3 | 3.148 | 768.5 | 13.711 | 3347.5 | 2.544 | 621.0 |
Sony S1 High Speed UHS-II Reader/Writer | 278.358 | 176.276 | 216.886 | 3.331 | 16.645 | 4063.7 | 2.974 | 726.1 | 12.279 | 2997.8 | 2.769 | 676.0 |
SanDisk ImageMate Pro Multi-Card Reader/Writer | 277.916 | 170.945 | 218.344 | 2.822 | 7.575 | 1849.4 | 2.768 | 675.8 | 7.493 | 1829.3 | 2.599 | 634.5 |
SanDisk Extreme Pro UHS-II USB-C Reader SDDR-409 | 275.325 | 175.420 | 218.126 | 3.226 | 15.448 | 3771.6 | 2.875 | 702.0 | 14.085 | 3438.8 | 2.660 | 649.4 |
Hama USB Type-C 3.1 UHS-II SD Card Reader | 269.349 | 177.619 | 214.422 | 2.898 | 20.021 | 4887.9 | 3.458 | 844.3 | 14.943 | 3648.2 | 3.191 | 779.1 |
Lexar Professional Dual Slot UHS-II Card Reader | 266.576 | 181.855 | 199.745 | 3.239 | 16.054 | 3919.3 | 3.102 | 757.3 | 14.694 | 3587.5 | 2.527 | 617.0 |
Hama USB 3.0 UHS-II SD Card Reader | 259.196 | 168.041 | 212.467 | 3.295 | 9.351 | 2283.1 | 2.925 | 714.2 | 13.726 | 3351.1 | 2.878 | 702.5 |
Delkin Multi-Card CFast SD UHS-II microSD Reader | 249.720 | 174.124 | 192.367 | 3.072 | 18.422 | 4497.7 | 2.888 | 705.1 | 15.619 | 3813.3 | 2.552 | 623.0 |
Sony MRW-E90 XQD 2.0 / SD UHS-II Card Reader | 248.802 | 169.453 | 221.322 | 2.632 | 13.603 | 3321.2 | 3.014 | 735.8 | 13.233 | 3230.7 | 3.393 | 828.4 |
Transcend Multi-Card Reader RDF9 | 245.597 | 174.472 | 196.094 | 2.957 | 17.621 | 4302.1 | 2.815 | 687.3 | 14.855 | 3626.7 | 2.571 | 627.6 |
Kingston FCR-HS4 Card Reader | 245.396 | 175.950 | 199.130 | 3.134 | 16.616 | 4056.7 | 3.053 | 745.3 | 15.612 | 3811.5 | 3.027 | 739.0 |
Delkin Dual Slot SD UHS-II and CF Card Reader | 244.566 | 178.102 | 199.481 | 3.265 | 15.929 | 3888.8 | 3.111 | 759.4 | 15.762 | 3848.1 | 3.358 | 819.8 |
Kingston MobileLite G4 UHS-II | 241.080 | 173.692 | 200.044 | 2.615 | 17.618 | 4301.4 | 2.985 | 728.8 | 15.850 | 3869.6 | 2.994 | 731.0 |
SanDisk Extreme Pro UHS-II SD Reader/Writer | 240.334 | 172.890 | 192.862 | 3.254 | 16.525 | 4034.5 | 2.982 | 728.0 | 15.796 | 3856.4 | 2.804 | 684.5 |
DriverGenius USB 3.1(G1) / 3.0 UHS-II SD Card Reader | 238.340 | 171.954 | 214.844 | 3.246 | 7.798 | 1903.8 | 2.716 | 663.0 | 13.880 | 3388.6 | 2.803 | 684.4 |
Lexar Professional Workflow SR1 | 93.215 | 89.783 | 88.862 | 1.199 | 10.252 | 2502.9 | 2.094 | 511.2 | 6.266 | 1529.7 | 2.056 | 502.0 |
Delkin Travel Reader | 93.083 | 90.177 | 87.754 | 1.596 | 12.488 | 3048.9 | 2.169 | 529.5 | 7.039 | 1718.6 | 1.752 | 427.7 |
Transcend Multi-Card Reader RDF8 Black | 93.066 | 91.101 | 90.230 | 1.634 | 10.623 | 2593.5 | 1.908 | 465.9 | 6.623 | 1617.0 | 0.954 | 233.0 |
Lexar Professional Dual Slot Reader | 92.852 | 91.157 | 90.409 | 1.107 | 11.049 | 2697.5 | 2.109 | 515.0 | 6.601 | 1611.6 | 2.163 | 528.0 |
Transcend SD Card Reader RDF5 Black | 92.778 | 89.722 | 88.981 | 1.436 | 7.788 | 1901.3 | 1.793 | 437.7 | 5.298 | 1293.5 | 1.690 | 412.5 |
Delkin Universal Memory Card Reader | 92.753 | 91.014 | 89.799 | 1.439 | 10.774 | 2630.4 | 1.922 | 469.2 | 6.754 | 1648.8 | 1.909 | 466.0 |
SanDisk ImageMate All-In-One USB 3.0 | 90.363 | 88.309 | 79.164 | 2.018 | 5.760 | 1406.3 | 1.626 | 397.0 | 4.404 | 1075.1 | 1.579 | 385.5 |
Kingston Multi-Card Reader FCR-HS3 | 87.571 | 80.902 | 62.148 | 1.096 | 12.425 | 3033.4 | 2.122 | 518.1 | 7.909 | 1931.0 | 1.954 | 477.1 |
This memory card will be included in upcoming camera tests. When results are available they will be added to the table below.
Transcend Ultimate UHS-II U3 64GB Tested in Camera | Write Speed (MB/s) |
---|---|
Olympus E-M1 II | 150.1 |
Canon EOS R | 145.6 |
Sony A9 | 139.0 |
Fuji X-T3 | 136.6 |
Nikon D500 | 130.9 |
Fuji X-Pro2 | 98.5 |
Panasonic GH5 | 90.5 |
Canon 77D | 78.9 |
Nikon D7500 | 77.9 |
Canon EOS M5 | 77.8 |
Canon Rebel T7i | 77.6 |
Canon 80D | 77.5 |
Canon 5D Mark IV | 76.0 |
Nikon D5600 | 75.6 |
Olympus PEN-F | 73.1 |
Fuji X-T10 | 57.9 |
Sony A6300 | 33.9 |
Nikon Coolpix P1000 | 29.6 |
Cameras tested with this card: Canon EOS R, Canon 5D Mark IV, Canon 77D, Canon 80D, Canon EOS M5, Canon Rebel T7i, Fuji X-T3, Fuji X-Pro2, Fuji X-T10, Nikon D500, Nikon D7500, Nikon D5600, Nikon Coolpix P1000, Olympus E-M1 II, Olympus PEN-F, Panasonic GH5, Sony A9, Sony A6300
The following table contains information encoded in the SD card.
Transcend Ultimate UHS-II U3 64GB SD — Internal Card Information | |
---|---|
Serial number (PSN) | 73400513 |
Product Name (PNM) | SD2U3 |
Product Revision | 2.0 |
Manufacturer ID (MID) | 0x000074 |
OEM ID (OID) | J` |
Manufacture Date (MDT) | 09/2015 |
Total capacity | 63,383,273,472 bytes |
Compare prices on the Transcend Ultimate UHS-II 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 | |||
Transcend Ultimate UHS-II U3 | 32 | N/A | Check price | Check price | |
Transcend Ultimate UHS-II U3 | 64 | N/A | Check price | Check price |
The Transcend UHS-II U3 64GB card (TS64GSD2U3) was recently released, and may not be widely available. In addition to the above links, it may be purchased from the following retailer:
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