To celebrate my new GPS 10.

[Bokkie]

Unfortunately I could not swing this one through work but I just got a 2Gb CF card for my HX4700 today. This means I can pile the entire CS7 maps onto it, and still leave my 512 SD card for other things.:)

[0gopogo]

Bokkie,

What brand and model is your card? Could you benchmark it in a card reader?

[Bokkie]

It's a rebranded card marketed by Jessops in the UK. They are of course a rip-off company not reknowned for value for money. Therefore I take 'consolation' in knowing that it's probably a crap card that they stuck their silly decal on and ramped up the price to make it seem you are getting something special.

I have no card reader so unless there is something I can run on the PDA directly it's performance will remain unknown. And, taking the previous paragraph into consideration, it's probably better that I never find out!:)

[0gopogo]

If it turns out to be crap like your original SD card for the iQue you can still take consolation in sheer size. And - if history does repeat itself - in the fact that your next card will be four times faster and larger.

Pocket Mechanic is the benchmark tool they use at the aximsite. It is shareware and some of its results disagree with my practical results as well as those coming out of other benchmark programs.

Spb Benchmark (http://www.spbsoftwarehouse.com/products/benchmark/?en) is free for non-commercial use. Each test is repeated in a loop for statistical relevance, so tests can take a long time to run. Therefore I run just one test at a time i.e. uncheck all tests except the CF/SD/built-in card test of interest.

The x50 r/w rates are rather pathetic compared to those achieved in my card readers. The best read rate I got from three different cards (1 CF, 2SD) for large files (1 MB) is 2.77 MB/s (SimpleTech 1GB SD). The best write rate (1 MB) is 1.61 MB/s (SimpleTech). For small files (size 10 kB) I get a best read rate of 1.62 MB/s (SimpleTech), and a best write of 207 KB/s (SanDisk Ultra 2). The CF card (X Digital Media Redline 1GB CF) ranks behind the SD cards in all tests. Maybe I got the turd? ;)

[Bokkie]

Thanks, Mr. Palindrome!

I'll check that out. BTW, what kind of stats do you get for your card? The only way I know if mine is truly crap or not is to compare it to one that is known to be good.

[0gopogo]

Sorry, try as I might I am unable to slot my CF card into the iQue for a VFSMark run, neither forward nor backward! :D Instead of a single number I must give you many, therefore.

The card's full name is something like X Digital Media PROFormance Redline 70x 1GB CF. What a mouthful. Here are the results. They show the card is OK but nowhere near a 70x speed rating. SimpleTech (in the PDA) and SanDisk Ultra 2 (in a card reader) clearly outperform it.


--- Redline 70x ---
HDBench:
Read Write RRead RWrite (sequential and random R/W rates in MB/s)
7297 5168 7241 2148
Spb Benchmark:
Writing 1 MB file 2656 ms 386 KB/sec
Reading 1 MB file 547 ms 1.83 MB/sec
Writing 100 of 10 KB files 10880 ms 94.1 KB/sec
Reading 100 of 10 KB files 743 ms 1.35 MB/sec
Directory listing: 2000 files 129 ms 15.5 thousands of files/sec

SD cards for comparision:

--- Dane-Elec 1GB (given away) ---
HDBench:
Read Write RRead RWrite (sequential and random R/W rates in MB/s)
7264 5748 7249 1370

--- Ridata 66x 1GB (FAT32) ---
HDBench:
Read Write RRead RWrite (sequential and random R/W rates in MB/s)
7952 5753 5497 1769
Spb Benchmark:
Writing 1 MB file 18467 ms 55.5 KB/sec
Reading 1 MB file 743 ms 1.35 MB/sec
Writing 100 of 10 KB files 25851 ms 39.6 KB/sec
Reading 100 of 10 KB files 739 ms 1.35 MB/sec
Directory listing: 2000 files 188 ms 10.7 thousands of files/sec

--- Sandisk Ultra 2 512 ---
HDBench:
Read Write RRead RWrite (sequential and random R/W rates in MB/s)
9038 7682 8903 3020
Spb Benchmark:
Writing 1 MB file 1139 ms 899 KB/sec
Reading 1 MB file 412 ms 2.43 MB/sec
Writing 100 of 10 KB files 4938 ms 207 KB/sec
Reading 100 of 10 KB files 618 ms 1.62 MB/sec
Directory listing: 2000 files 132 ms 15.2 thousands of files/sec

--- Simpletech 1GB ---
HDBench:
Read Write RRead RWrite (sequential and random R/W rates in MB/s)
7506 6912 7481 1591
Spb Benchmark:
Writing 1 MB file 635 ms 1614 KB/sec
Reading 1 MB file 362 ms 2.77 MB/sec
Writing 100 of 10 KB files 10224 ms 100 KB/sec
Reading 100 of 10 KB files 562 ms 1.78 MB/sec
Directory listing: 2000 files 131 ms 15.2 thousands of files/sec


The Ridata is OK in a card reader. It is fast in my digital camera, too, but write rates suck in the x50v and the iQue. In the latter I get a miserable VFSMark of 430.