We would like to thank at first Silicon Power for supplying their Elite 256GB Class 10 A1 UHS-I U1 microSDXC Card for testing and reviewing.

 

 

About Silicon Power:

 

"Founded in 2003 by a group of enthusiastic data storage industry experts, Silicon Power is committed to delivering outstanding product and service quality. Headquartered and with our own state-of-the-art production site in Taipei, we have become a leading manufacturer of flash memory cards, USB flash drives, portable hard drives, solid state drives, DRAM modules and industrial-grade products. As an international player with four branch offices around the globe, we continuously strive to offer the perfect data storage solution for all requirements of modern digitalized life. With a strong focus on combining innovative technology and award-winning design, we live up to our brand promise to reliably preserve and protect your most valuable data.

Because memory is personal."

 

Product Features:

 

Everyday Life in Full-HD

Your memories are invaluable, so entrust them with a reliable card. With a Class 10 performance rating, the Elite microSDXC UHS-I card enables uninterrupted recording of Full-HD 1080p video. Additionally, a Video Speed Class 10 (V10) rating allows a recording minimum of 10MB of video per second. That makes it the perfect card for recording memories on your everyday mobile devices in high quality, effortlessly.

Enough Capacity for All of Your Needs

Whether you're looking to store data on your digital camera, smartphone, drone, portable game console, tablet, or another device, the Elite microSDXC UHS-I card can fulfill all your needs. With up to 256GB storage capacity, it can store up to 39,400 songs, 75,200 photos, or 39 hours of Full-HD video. That's a whole lot of data.

Boost Your App Performance

The Superior microSDXC UHS-I card is equipped with an A1 rating, so it's primed for stellar app performance. Minimum random read of 1,500 IOPS and random write of 500 IOPS equate to quicker launches and improved operation. This translates to an overall superior user experience on your Android-based smartphone, tablet, and other app-running mobile devices. It also saves internal storage space on your device.

Get Out There, Worry Free

We know the best shots are usually not the easiest to obtain. That’s why we’ve engineered this card to be waterproof, shockproof, temperature-proof, and X-ray-proof. So, you can get out there and capture those amazing shots without needing to worry. From blizzards in the mountains to scorching hot deserts and the rainiest rainforests, this card is as durable as you are adventurous.

 

Product Specifications:

 

Capacity: 256GB

Dimensions: 15.0mm x 11.0mm x 1.0mm

Weight: 0.3g

Performance Read(max.): 100MB/s

Video Speed: C10, UHS-I U1, A1, V10

Durability: 10,000 insertions (minimum)

Operating Temperature: 0°C - 70°C

Storage Temperature: -40°C - 85°C

Humidity: 8% - 95%

Operation Voltage: 2.7V - 3.6V

Warranty: 5 years

 

In this article we will concentrate on another microSDXC card from Silicon Power’s Elite series, but this one also received the A1 certification, delivering a minimum random read of 1500 IOPS and a random write of 500 IOPS, as well as sustained sequential speeds of at least 10 MB/s.

 

The product arrived inside a simple cardboard/plastic packaging, which does show the read speed rating on top, while on the bottom we will note the supported standards and devices. The middle area comes with a small plastic compartment, which holds the card, along with an adapter:

 

 

 

On the back, Silicon Power has included a small product description in multiple languages, the product power rating, some details on the Silicon Power offices but also the product serial number and internal code name:

 

 

 

The plastic compartment is easily removable from the cardboard:

 

 

 

The included SD adapter does allow the card to be used on a large range of devices:

 

 

 

On the side, we will note the write lock slide button:

 

 

 

The bottom area holds the 9 gold-plated contacts:

 

 

 

The card sports an interesting color scheme, with the logos of the supported standards, but also the total capacity:

 

 

 

On the back, we will note the contacts but also some more serial numbers:

 

 

 

The testbench was composed from the following hardware:

 

CPU: Intel Core i7-13700K

CPU Cooler: be quiet! Silent Loop 2 360mm AIO

Motherboard: EVGA Z690 CLASSIFIED 2.06 UEFI

RAM: Sabrent Rocket 32GB (2x16GB) 4800MHz DDR5

Video: PowerColor Radeon 5700 8GB

Power Supply: Cooler Master 850W

SSD: Sabrent Rocket Q4 NVMe PCIe 4.0 M.2 2280 2TB

Case: Cooler Master ATCS 840

The Silicon Power Elite 256GB Class 10 A1 UHS-I U1 microSDXC Card comes formatted exFAT; we have used a Lexar UHS-II USB 3.0 card reader in order to perform the speed tests and formatted it NTFS:

 

 

To determine the flash drive read speeds, the HD Tune v5 utility was used:

 

 

 

Summary Graph (Read Performance)

 

To measure the real life performance, we have used the Total Commander application to copy to the card and from the card the same file and recorded the transfer speeds, when they have stabilized.

 

File Copy

File Read

Summary Graph (Real-life performance)

 

 

We have performed some other tests with tools we usually run during SSD reviews:

 

 

 

The Elite A1 256GB card from Silicon Power does offer a notable improvement in terms of writes versus the non-A1 variant we have tested before, while offering the same levels of protection against water, dust, high-temperatures, and X-rays. The 256GB of data should be enough for a large range of applications, while the recorded write speeds are considerably higher than the A1 UHS-I U1 standard is mentioning.

 

The Elite A1 can be found online for about 27 Euros in when bought in its 256GB format; the card is also available with capacities of 32GB, 64GB, 128GB in order to fit a large range of pricing/needs.

 

Silicon Power Elite 256GB Class 10 A1 UHS-I U1 microSDXC Card is Recommended for:

 

 

We would like to thank again to Silicon Power for making this review possible!