CFexpress Type-A memory cards are a new format that Sony has been adopting for many of their new full-frame mirrorless cameras.
CFexpress Type-A cards are slightly smaller, although thicker, and faster than UHS-II memory.
Many of the new Sony cameras take both CFexpress Type-A and UHS-II memory cards but require the faster CFx Type-A cards for some slow-motion video features like 4k120 to record in the S & Q mode.
Fastest CFx Type-A Memory Cards
Currently, there are only a few CFexpress Type-A cards and more will be added as they are released.
These benchmarks are taken with an AJA system test with a Macbook Pro, using the Prograde CFx Type-A reader.
Software used was AJA System Test. Resolution: 5120×2700 5k Red / Test File Size: 4GB / Codec Type 16bit RGBA. Speeds are listed in Megabytes per second.
Memory Cards | USB Write | USB Read | Links | |||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
CFx-B | X | |||||||||
Lexar 512 Pro Diamond | 1011 | 1024 | X | B&H | ||||||
Lexar 128/256/GB Diamond | 1013 | 1023 | X | Amazon | / B&H | |||||
Lexar Gold 1TB/2TB | 1019 | 1020 | X | B&H | ||||||
Lexar Gold 512GB | 1002 | 1020 | X | Amazon | / B&H | |||||
Lexar Gold 64/128/256 | 957 | 1022 | X | Amazon | / B&H | |||||
Sandisk Pro-Cinema 256GB | X | Amazon | / B&H | |||||||
Sandisk Extreme 512GB | X | X | ||||||||
Sandisk Extreme 128/256GB | 489 | 1020 | X | Amazon | / B&H | |||||
Sandisk Extreme 65GB | X | X | ||||||||
Sony Tough 128/256/512GB | 989 | 1024 | X | Amazon | / B&H | |||||
Prograde Cobalt 165/325/650GB | 1002 | 1022 | X | Amazon | / B&H | |||||
Prograde 1TB gen3 | X | |||||||||
Prograde 512GB gen3 | X | |||||||||
Prograde 512/1TB gen2 | X | |||||||||
Prograde 256GB gen2 | X | |||||||||
Prograde 128GB gen2 | 679 | 778 | X | Amazon | / B&H | |||||
Delkin Black 150/325/650GB | 1003 | 1023 | X | B&H | ||||||
Delkin Black 75GB | 979 | 1022 | X | B&H | ||||||
Delkin Black 128GB | 1000 | 1022 | X | X | B&H | |||||
Delkin Power 128/256/512/1TB/2TB | 999 | 1022 | X | Amazon | / B&H | |||||
Delkin Prime 64GB | 974 | 1023 | X | X | Amazon | |||||
Nikon 660GB | 987 | 1022 | X | Amazon | / B&H | |||||
Hoodman Steel 128GB | 608 | 1018 | X | Amazon | / B&H | |||||
Wise Pro 640GB | X | |||||||||
Wise Pro 160/320GB | 964 | 1024 | X | B&H | ||||||
Wise 1TB Mk II | X | |||||||||
Wise 512GB Mk II | X | |||||||||
Wise 128GB | 190 | 1023 | X | Amazon | / B&H | |||||
Angelbird Pro 1TB/2TB/4TB MkII | 872 | 835 | X | Amazon | / B&H | |||||
Angelbird Pro 2TB MkI | X | |||||||||
Angelbird Pro 256GB | 844 | 961 | X | X | B&H | |||||
Angelbird Pro XT 330/660/1320GB | 994 | 1020 | X | Amazon | / B&H | |||||
Angelbird Pro SE 512GB | 822 | 878 | X | Amazon | / B&H | |||||
Angelbird Pro SX 160GB | 973 | 1021 | X | Amazon | / B&H | |||||
OWC Atlas Ultra 165/325/650GB | 996 | 1010 | X | Amazon | / B&H | |||||
OWC Atlas Pro 512GB/1TB/2TB | X | |||||||||
OWC Atlas Pro 256GB | X | X | ||||||||
OWC Atlas Pro 128GB | 239 | 978 | X | Amazon | / B&H | |||||
Sabrent Rocket 512GB/1TB/2TB | X | B&H | ||||||||
Sabrent Rocket 512GB/1TB | X | X | Amazon | |||||||
RitzGear 256/512/1TB | X | Amazon | ||||||||
RitzGear 128GB | 251 | 1019 | X | Amazon | ||||||
Pergear Ultra 1TB/2TB | X | Amazon | ||||||||
Pergear Pro 512GB | X | Amazon | ||||||||
Pergear Pro 256GB | X | Amazon | ||||||||
Pergear Lite 128GB | 324 | 978 | X | Amazon | ||||||
Pergear Lite 64GB | X | Amazon | ||||||||
Silicon Power Cinema 512GB/1TB | X | Amazon | / B&H | |||||||
Silicon Power Cinema 256GB | 453 | 996 | X | Amazon | / B&H | |||||
Silicon Power Cinema 128GB | X | Amazon | / B&H | |||||||
Transcend 820 512GB | X | B&H | ||||||||
Transcend 820 256GB | X | B&H | ||||||||
SunEast 512GB/1TB | X | X | ||||||||
CFx-A | ||||||||||
Sony Tough 640GB | Amazon | / B&H | ||||||||
Sony Tough 320GB | Amazon | / B&H | ||||||||
Sony Tough 160GB | Amazon | / B&H | ||||||||
Sony Tough 80GB | 641 | 852 | Amazon | / B&H | ||||||
Lexar 320GB | 837 | 885 | Amazon | / B&H | ||||||
Lexar 160GB | 825 | 886 | Amazon | / B&H | ||||||
Lexar 80GB | Amazon | / B&H | ||||||||
Delkin Black 160GB | B&H | |||||||||
Delkin Black 80GB | 639 | 852 | B&H | |||||||
Delkin Power 160GB | B&H | |||||||||
Delkin Power 80GB | 641 | 847 | B&H | |||||||
ProGrade 160GB | 691 | 845 | B&H | |||||||
UHS-II V90 | X | |||||||||
Sandisk Extreme Pro V90 | 252 | 279 | X | Amazon | / B&H | |||||
Lexar 2000x V90 | 219 | 256 | X | Amazon | / B&H | |||||
Toshiba Exceria Pro V90 | 213 | 244 | X | Amazon | ||||||
Transcend v90 | 175 | 263 | X | Amazon | / B&H | |||||
Sony G Tough v90 | 239 | 275 | X | Amazon | / B&H | |||||
Delkin Black v90 | 253 | 278 | X | B&H | ||||||
Delkin Power v90 | 240 | 275 | X | B&H | ||||||
Fujifilm Elite II V90 | 158 | 277 | X | X | ||||||
Adata v90 | 229 | 268 | X | Amazon | ||||||
Hoodman Steel 2000x V90 | 155 | 249 | X | Amazon | / B&H | |||||
ProGrade V90 | 229 | 270 | X | Amazon | / B&H | |||||
PNY EliteX-Pro90 V90 | X | X | Amazon | / B&H | ||||||
Amplim 2000x V90 | X | X | Amazon | |||||||
Angel Bird V90 II | 257 | 271 | X | Amazon | / B&H | |||||
OWC Atlas Ultra V90 | X | X | B&H | |||||||
OWC Atlas S Pro V90 | X | X | B&H | |||||||
Kingston Canvas React V90 | 256 | 274 | X | Amazon | / B&H | |||||
Kodak V90 64GB | 260 | 272 | X | Amazon | ||||||
Ritz Gear VideoPro V90 | 258 | 273 | X | Amazon | ||||||
Wise V90 Pro | 256 | 275 | X | B&H | ||||||
UHS-II V60 | X | |||||||||
Lexar 1800x V60 | 176 | 242 | X | Amazon | / B&H | |||||
Lexar 1667x V60 | 99 | 242 | X | Amazon | / B&H | |||||
Lexar 1000x V60 | 108 | 167 | X | X | ||||||
Sony M Tough V60 | 155 | 268 | X | Amazon | / B&H | |||||
Sony M v60 | X | X | B&H | |||||||
Sony E v60 | 142 | 252 | X | Amazon | / B&H | |||||
Sony E v30 | 73 | 247 | X | X | B&H | |||||
Delkin Prime v60 | 98 | 275 | X | B&H | ||||||
Hoodman Steel 1500x V60 | 99 | 273 | X | Amazon | / B&H | |||||
ProGrade V60 | 98 | 155 | X | Amazon | / B&H | |||||
PNY EliteX-Pro60 V60 | X | X | Amazon | / B&H | ||||||
Amplim 2000x v60 | 136 | 253 | X | Amazon | ||||||
Amplim 1900x V60 | 97 | 275 | X | X | ||||||
Angel Bird V60 II | 144 | 243 | X | Amazon | / B&H | |||||
OWC Atlas Pro V60 | X | X | B&H | |||||||
FreeTail Evoke Pro V60 | 96 | 272 | X | X | ||||||
Ritz Gear Video Pro V60 A1 | X | X | Amazon | |||||||
UHS-I U3 | X | |||||||||
Sandisk Extreme Pro U3 | 144 | 172 | X | Amazon | / B&H | |||||
Sandisk Extreme Plus U3 | 61 | 143 | X | X | Amazon | |||||
Sandisk Extreme U3 | 51 | 93 | X | Amazon | / B&H | |||||
Sandisk Ultra U1 Old | 27 | 93 | X | X | ||||||
Kingston CanvasGo! Plus U3 | 124 | 161 | X | Amazon | ||||||
Kingston Canvas Select Plus U3 | 84 | 93 | X | Amazon | ||||||
Lexar 633x U3 | 35 | 93 | X | Amazon | ||||||
Sony Professional U3 | 84 | 91 | X | X | ||||||
Sony U3 94 | 60 | 91 | X | X | ||||||
Sony U3 95 | 81 | 90 | X | X | ||||||
Transcend U3 High Performance A2 | X | X | Amazon | |||||||
Transcend U3 | 79 | 91 | X | Amazon | ||||||
PNY Pro Elite U3 256GB | 87 | 93 | X | Amazon | ||||||
PNY Elite-X U3 128 GB | 56 | 92 | X | Amazon | ||||||
PNY Elite Performance U3 | 63 | 91 | X | X | Amazon | |||||
Delkin Black U3 | 86 | 93 | X | B&H | ||||||
Delkin Advantage U3 | 77 | 93 | X | Amazon | / B&H | |||||
Toshiba Exceria Pro U3 | 74 | 91 | X | |||||||
Toshiba Exceria U3 | 29 | 91 | X | |||||||
Verbatim Pro+ U3 | 77 | 91 | X | Amazon | ||||||
Verbatim Pro U3 | 46 | 90 | X | Amazon | ||||||
Amplim 667x A1 V30 | 50 | 93 | X | X | ||||||
RitzGear Extreme Performance A1 V30 | 62 | 93 | X | Amazon |
You can see these benchmarked in various Sony Cameras.
Sony A1 Memory Card Benchmarks
Sony A7sIII Memory Card Benchmarks
Sony A7IV Memory Card Benchmarks
Write Speed Results
The ProGrade 160GB card is slightly faster than the Sony 80GB or Delkin cards. My guess is because I only have a Prograde reader right now and their hardware is probably all in spec with each other.
Delkin is the latest brand to release CFexpress cards and their Power card might just be the best bang for the buck.
Both Delkin and Prograde are very good brands and their cards always perform well with Sony cameras.
Read Speed Results
When looking at Reading Speeds, it looks like the Delkin cards are performing the best right now, just ever so slightly faster than the Prograde cards. Delkin cards are the newest cards added to the benchmarks and it could just come down to slightly newer flash.
Current CFexpress Type A Cards Available
There aren’t too many CFexpress Type A cards on the market. Here are the options with some information about each card.
Sony Tough CFexpress A Memory Cards
Available At: Amazon / Adorama / B&H
The Sony CFexpress Type A memory cards come in two sizes, 80GB and 160GB. Each size is rated at the same read and write speeds and the size we benchmarked was the 80GB size.
Sustained write speed of 400MB/s (VPG 400).
Operating temperature of -13 to 158°F / -25 to 70°C, is shockproof, and X-Ray Proof.
IPX7 water ingress protection rating.
IP5X dust ingress protection rating (IP57).
Thermal Throttling occurs very quickly, after about a minute, much quicker than the Prograde card. I did test the Prograde card first so this quicker ramp up into the thermal throttling could be from the reader being slightly warmer to start.
The speeds drop to around 317.4MB /s Write, and 285.4MB/s read and the card is fairly painful to touch due to high temperatures. Slightly hotter than the Prograde card.
Thermal Throttlings Speeds
317.4 MB/s Write
285.4 MB/s Read
I/O Profile
Â
I/O Profile After Thermal Throttling
ProGrade CFexpress A Memory Cards
Available At: Amazon / Adorama / B&H
The Prograde Cfexpress Type A card currently comes in just one size, 160GB. It’s rated at an 800MB/s read speed and 700MB/s write speed.
Operating temperatures are not specified. It is shockproof and X-Ray Proof.
Built-in Thermal Throttling.
Once thermal throttling kicks after a few minutes of continuous reading and writing, speeds drop to around 436.8 MB/s Write and 334.2 MB/s Read.Â
It will go gradually go down to around 300MB/s read and write speeds if you continue to push it. At this point, the card will get hot enough where it slightly stings the skin.
It seems the Prograde card has a more gradual decline in performance as it thermal throttles, whereas the Sony card dropped quickly to around 300MB/s read and write.
Thermal Throttling Speeds
436.8 MB/s Write
334.2MB/s Read
I/O Profile
Â
I/O Profile After Thermal Throttling
How Are CFexpress Type A Cards Different Than Type B?
CFexpress Type A Cards use the NVMe PCIe 3.0 x4 bus with a single lane. The main difference between type A and type B cards other than their size is that Type B cards use a dual-lane system for speeds up to 1700MB/s whereas Type A cards only have a single lane throughput for a max speed of 800MB/s.
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