Memory cards can be used in a wide range of applications, from mobile phones, tablets, mirrorless cameras, action cameras, drones, home security cameras, dash cams, gaming handhelds, to development boards such as Raspberry Pi. Recently, YMTC consumer storage brand Zhitai has launched an original memory card product line to fill in this last piece of the puzzle.
If you look at the capacity-to-volume ratio, the storage density of memory cards is even higher than that of SSDs. Crystal stack XTACKING technology has brought a significant increase in storage density, and the performance of the memory card that made its debut is very impressive, and the product is described in detail below. “
The Ace memory cards we reviewed this time include the Pro series of professional high-speed memory cards and the Endurance series of highly durable memory cards. The easy-to-detach design on the back of the paper card packaging makes it easy to remove the memory card, improving the user experience.
The Zhizhi Pro Pro high-speed memory card uses the MicroSD small card specification, comes with the original SD large card adapter, can be installed in professional cameras, drones, action cameras, game handhelds and other devices, providing 64GB, 128GB, 256GB, 512GB capacity options, and a larger 1TB version will be available in the future. The Ace Pro Pro Pro memory card supports up to 10,000 mating cycles and comes with a lifetime warranty (not suitable for write-intensive devices).
Designed for continuous, uninterrupted** recording, the Endurance Highly Endurance card can be installed in write-intensive devices such as home surveillance cameras and dashcams for 24/7 use. Available in 64GB, 128B and 256GB capacity options with a 2-year warranty.
Test platform
cpu：intel core i9-13900k
Motherboard: ROG Maximus Z690 HERO
Memory: Lexar DDR5-6000 16GB*2
Hard disk: Samsung 980 Pro 1TB (system disk).
Memory card: Genic Pro 512GB
Endurance 256GB
System: Windows 11
Benchmarking
Benchmark 1: Theoretical bandwidth test.
Unlike the standard UHS-I SDR104 specification, the Positive Pro Pro high-speed memory card supports DDR200 operation mode, which can achieve higher sequential read and write bandwidth on compatible card readers. The nominal sequential read/write speed of the Zhizhi Pro series is 170 120 MB s, and our measured score is 180 123 MB s.
The Endurance High Endurance memory card uses a standard UHS-I SDR104 design with a measured sequential read/write speed of 95 84 MB s. For continuous write scenarios such as driving records and home monitoring, Zhizhi Innovation adopts a direct write architecture, which can provide stable and smooth write performance in the continuous write state.
Benchmark 2: FIO Full Drive Write Test.
SD cards have a variety of speed class nominal methods, they are basically identified for the minimum write speed of the memory card, including the ancient speed class (up to C10, that is, reaching and exceeding 10MB s), UHS speed class (including U1 and U3, which represent the minimum write speed higher than 10MB s and 30MB s, respectively), video speed class (the latest speed class identification, from V6 to V90, corresponding to the standard**, Full HD, 4K and 8K** recording). The write speed of an SD card determines the range it can work with.
This test uses a fio script to perform a full-capacity write speed test on a memory card to check the speed stability of the memory card, especially the minimum write performance. Memory cards can use SLC caching just like SSDs, so the minimum write speed may be much lower than what is measured in CrystalDiskMark. The full-capacity write test of the Prima Pro 512GB professional high-speed memory card was completed in 4393 seconds, with an average write speed of 113 MB s.
Through the write speed data recorded per second, it can be seen that the write speed of the Zhizhi Pro 512GB professional high-speed memory card is below 90MB s only in the process of writing to full capacity, at least through the V60 speed class in Video Speed Class There is no problem. However, due to the problem of SD card specification, UHS-I memory cards can only be marked with V30 at the highest, so this is also a kind of "reverse virtual standard": the actual capacity is higher than the nominal value.
The full-capacity write test of the Endurance 256GB High Endurance memory card was completed in 3109 seconds, with an average write speed of 796 mb/s。
According to the write speed data recorded per second, the write speed of the Endurance memory card is relatively smoother and more stable, which is more friendly to continuous writing scenarios such as driving records and home monitoring.
Real-world application testing
We tested the recording of the Zhitai Pro 512GB professional high-speed memory card on a Panasonic GH5 mirrorless camera as well as a DJI drone. Both the 4K** recording of the GH5 mirrorless camera (H264 format, 400Mbps bitrate) or DJI drone's 4K** recording (h.265 format, 150Mbps bitrate) all completed the test very smoothly.
Summary
Memory card is a seemingly low-end but very important storage product, as an original storage product, the reliability of the memory card has a natural advantage. The Pro high-speed series and Endurance high-endurance series memory cards launched by Zhitai are based on the YMTC crystal stack XTACKING architecture flash memory particles, in addition to the standard protection features of memory cards (cold resistance, heat resistance, water resistance, impact resistance, shock resistance, drop resistance, anti-static, X-ray protection, the PRO high-speed series supports DDR200 mode, higher data transmission speed, and has a built-in innovative power-off protection mechanism to avoid data loss and confusion caused by sudden power failureThe Endurance High Endurance series uses an innovative write-through architecture to provide smooth and stable write performance for continuous write scenarios such as driving records and home monitoring.