At Computex 2023, which is currently taking place in Taiwan, the manufacturer ADATA presented the first SXDC 7.0 memory card – a standard also called SD Express – which makes it possible to achieve very high speeds thanks to the use of a PCI Express bus. Gen.3 on a single line (1x). In theory, this new standard makes it possible to reach a speed of 985 MB/s. Available in 256 and 512 GB versions, the memory card presented by ADATA compatible NVMe 1.3 displays a maximum speed of 700 MB/s in writing and 800 MB/s. s in reading. That’s twice as much as a UHS-II SD card (SD 4.0 standard). This memory card had also been officially presented by ADATA in October 2021… It will therefore have taken almost two years for the manufacturer to market this model.
Under the umbrella of the SD Association, SD memory cards continue to improve. It must be said that new, much more efficient cards have appeared in recent years, such as CF Express memory cards which also use a PCI Express Gen.3 bus and NVMe 1.3. The Type B format used by most hybrid cameras such as the Nikon Z6 and the Canon R5 allows speeds of 800 MB/s in writing and 1.5 GB/s in reading (PCIe 2x), but it is bulkier than an SD card. The CF Express Type B card is almost 4cm wide. The CF Express Type A format first used by Sony on the A7S III is closer to the format of an SD card, but is also content with a PCI Express line (PCIe 1x).
The ADATA Premier Extreme SD 7.0 memory card is already sold in a 256 GB version for around €200. The 512 GB version should be available in the coming months. Of course, to take advantage of the improved speeds, you must have a camera and an SD Express compatible card reader. The SD Association communicates the list of compatible controllers (Bayhub BH770GG7, Realtek RTS5261 and Genesys GL9767), but not the products that use them. Compatible products should arrive slowly during the year. Of course, the strength of SD cards is backwards compatibility and this card is no exception since it is compatible with all UHS-I readers.