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Best CFexpress B Memory Cards
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Best CFExpress Type-B Memory Cards – Real Benchmarks with Thunderbolt

  • March 25, 2023
  • AGriffin

The latest CFexpress Type-B memory cards are some of the fastest and most robust types of media you can use for your cameras today. But just how fast are they?

This guide will look at the different performance metrics of the various brands of memory cards.

 

Best CFexpress Memory Cards – Benchmarks

CFexpress Type B cards can be very fast with USB 3.2 2×2 which runs at 20Gbps, or Thunderbolt 3. Mac Computers, even the new ones M2Pro in 2023 do not support USB 3.2 2×2 even the new computers that USB4 are only backward compatible with USB 3.2 10Gbps, but they do use Thunderbolt 3 or 4 at 20Gbps. PCs can be found with motherboards that support USB 3.2 2×2.

All USB-C CFexpress readers you buy for Mac will only run at 10Gbps, even though some advertise 20Gbps. For 20Gbps speeds you can buy Thunderbolt readers, there are only a few on the market.

 

Testing Method

For these benchmarks there are two column sets, one set is taken with USB 3.2 2×1 speeds on a Macbook Pro with an Angelbird or Prograde reader (whichever worked best), and the Second Row was tested with an OWC Thunderbolt 3 reader.

What you should pay attention to is the Heat column as this shows the card’s performance after thermal throttling or it’s sustained speed.

The software used was AJA System Test Lite. Resolution: 5120×2700 5k Red / Test File Size: 4GB / Codec Type 16bit RGBA, Single File, DMA Mode: Dual Engines.

USB and Thunderbolt speeds are taken by recording with a 4GB Test File Size to simulate burst shooting, since few cameras have a buffer larger than 4GB, and the heat column is taken with 64GB file sizes to simulate video recording.

Click the plus button to see rated read and write speeds as well as the rated sustained speeds – not all brands of cards advertise their rated sustained speeds, although they should all write it on their cards as Prograde now does since that’s the only spec that matters for videography.

Memory CardsRatedWRatedRSustainedUSB WriteUSB ReadTB3 WTB3 RHeatCFxA HideUHS-II HideUHS-I HideHideAmazonAdoramaB&HLinks
CFx-B
Lexar 512 Pro Diamond17001900160010111024132516251278B&H
Lexar 128/256/GB Diamond17001900160010131023132916011283Amazon/ B&H
Lexar Gold 1TB/2TB15001900130010191020133116051266B&H
Lexar Gold 512GB1000175010021020560*893*897Amazon/ B&H
Lexar Gold 64/128/256100017509571022530*894*927Amazon/ B&H
Sandisk Pro-Cinema 256GB14001700Amazon/ B&H
Sandisk Extreme 512GB14001700X
Sandisk Extreme 128/256GB1200170048910205261570316Amazon/ B&H
Sandisk Extreme 65GB8001500X
Sony Tough 128/256/512GB14801700989102411681245349Amazon/ B&H
Prograde Cobalt 165/325/650GB15001700140010021022134115691304Amazon/ B&H
Prograde 1TB gen31,50017001300
Prograde 512GB gen31,5001700850
Prograde 512/1TB gen215001700400
Prograde 256GB gen214001700300
Prograde 128GB gen2140017001406797787471361583Amazon/ B&H
Delkin Black 150/325/650GB153017001300*10031023134315681305B&H
Delkin Black 75GB124017259791022122715691195B&H
Delkin Black 128GB10001022133915691304XB&H
Delkin Power 128/256/512/1TB/2TB154017301300*9991022134115691305Amazon/ B&H
Delkin Prime 64GB9741023123615701205XAmazon
Nikon 660GB150017001300*9871022131815661278Amazon/ B&H
Hoodman Steel 128GB60810186081398176Amazon/ B&H
Wise Pro 640GB155017001400
Wise Pro 160/320GB1550170013009641024113515911106B&H
Wise 1TB Mk II155017001300
Wise 512GB Mk II15501700850
Wise 128GB1050170014019010231891352142Amazon/ B&H
Angelbird Pro 1TB/2TB/4TB MkII 1785155013008728359691601852Amazon/ B&H
Angelbird Pro 2TB MkI150017001000
Angelbird Pro 256GB8449618281354800XB&H
Angelbird Pro XT 330/660/1320GB1600178514809941020130916021260Amazon/ B&H
Angelbird Pro SE 512GB 85017858008228788301590796Amazon/ B&H
Angelbird Pro SX 160GB1600178514809731021125116001176Amazon/ B&H
OWC Atlas Ultra 165/325/650GB1500170013009961010132915621295Amazon/ B&H
OWC Atlas Pro 512GB/1TB/2TB15001700400
OWC Atlas Pro 256GB14001700300X
OWC Atlas Pro 128GB140017001402399782411328158Amazon/ B&H
Sabrent Rocket 512GB/1TB/2TB170018001300B&H
Sabrent Rocket 512GB/1TB15001700400XAmazon
RitzGear 256/512/1TB14001700Amazon
RitzGear 128GB550155025110192411481158Amazon
Pergear Ultra 1TB/2TB140016001300Amazon
Pergear Pro 512GB7501200700Amazon
Pergear Pro 256GB4001200360Amazon
Pergear Lite 128GB25010002003249783221486224Amazon
Pergear Lite 64GB9030080Amazon
Silicon Power Cinema 512GB/1TB15001700350Amazon/ B&H
Silicon Power Cinema 256GB120017003004539963801569319Amazon/ B&H
Silicon Power Cinema 128GB6001700150Amazon/ B&H
Transcend 820 512GB10001700B&H
Transcend 820 256GB13001700B&H
SunEast 512GB/1TB14001700X
CFx-AX
Sony Tough 640GBXAmazon/ B&H
Sony Tough 320GBXAmazon/ B&H
Sony Tough 160GBXAmazon/ B&H
Sony Tough 80GB641852XAmazon/ B&H
Lexar 320GB837885XAmazon/ B&H
Lexar 160GB825886XAmazon/ B&H
Lexar 80GBXAmazon/ B&H
Delkin Black 160GBXB&H
Delkin Black 80GB639852XB&H
Delkin Power 160GBXB&H
Delkin Power 80GB641847XB&H
ProGrade 160GB691845XB&H
UHS-II V90X
Sandisk Extreme Pro V90252279XAmazon/ B&H
Lexar 2000x V90219256XAmazon/ B&H
Toshiba Exceria Pro V90213244XAmazon
Transcend v90175263XAmazon/ B&H
Sony G Tough v90239275XAmazon/ B&H
Delkin Black v90253278XB&H
Delkin Power v90240275XB&H
Fujifilm Elite II V90158277 XX
Adata v90229268XAmazon
Hoodman Steel 2000x V90155249XAmazon/ B&H
ProGrade V90229270XAmazon/ B&H
PNY EliteX-Pro90 V90XXAmazon/ B&H
Amplim 2000x V90XXAmazon
Angel Bird V90 II257271XAmazon/ B&H
OWC Atlas Ultra V90XXB&H
OWC Atlas S Pro V90XXB&H
Kingston Canvas React V90256274XAmazon/ B&H
Kodak V90 64GB260272XAmazon
Ritz Gear VideoPro V90258273XAmazon
Wise V90 Pro256275XB&H
UHS-II V60X
Lexar 1800x V60176242XAmazon/ B&H
Lexar 1667x V6099242XAmazon/ B&H
Lexar 1000x V60108167XX
Sony M Tough V60155268XAmazon/ B&H
Sony M v60XXB&H
Sony E v60142252XAmazon/ B&H
Sony E v3073247XXB&H
Delkin Prime v6098275XB&H
Hoodman Steel 1500x V6099273XAmazon/ B&H
ProGrade V6098155XAmazon/ B&H
PNY EliteX-Pro60 V60XXAmazon/ B&H
Amplim 2000x v60136253XAmazon
Amplim 1900x V6097275XX
Angel Bird V60 II144243XAmazon/ B&H
OWC Atlas Pro V60XXB&H
FreeTail Evoke Pro V6096272XX
Ritz Gear Video Pro V60 A1XXAmazon
UHS-I U3X
Sandisk Extreme Pro U3144172XAmazon/ B&H
Sandisk Extreme Plus U361143XXAmazon
Sandisk Extreme U35193XAmazon/ B&H
Sandisk Ultra U1 Old2793XX
Kingston CanvasGo! Plus U3124161XAmazon
Kingston Canvas Select Plus U38493XAmazon
Lexar 633x U33593XAmazon
Sony Professional U38491XX
Sony U3 946091XX
Sony U3 958190XX
Transcend U3 High Performance A2XXAmazon
Transcend U37991XAmazon
PNY Pro Elite U3 256GB8793XAmazon
PNY Elite-X U3 128 GB5692XAmazon
PNY Elite Performance U36391XXAmazon
Delkin Black U38693XB&H
Delkin Advantage U37793XAmazon/ B&H
Toshiba Exceria Pro U37491X
Toshiba Exceria U32991X
Verbatim Pro+ U37791XAmazon
Verbatim Pro U34690XAmazon
Amplim 667x A1 V305093XX
RitzGear Extreme Performance A1 V306293XAmazon

Few notes. Some cards work better in different memory card readers. If a card was not performing well in one reader I would swap the reader to see if I could get better results. You probably should just buy the same reader as the cards you buy unless you buy an OWC reader or one of their docs that has the CFexpress slot. A few cards seemed to have some compatibility issues with the Thunderbolt OWC reader and I could not get proper speeds with them, these include the Lexar 512GB and 128GB cards.

 

Top 3 Best CFExpress Cards – The All-Around Best Brands For 2023

After benchmarking all the different cards in all the different cameras there have been a few brands that have stood as being better than others.

For Nikon shooters, my top picks of brands would be Lexar or Delkin, also the Prograde cards can be a nice option. 

Nikon shooters should stay away from OWC and Angel Bird cards since they are a little too thick for the Nikon card slots and can get stuck.

Sandisk has a new Pro Cine card that I’ve yet to test, but this could put Sandisk back on the recommendation list.

The Sony Tough card still thermal throttles too aggressively for it to be a top pick.

 

Why some cards were so much slower?

There are now a lot of options for CFexpress cards and some are intentionally designed slower to make them cheaper. These are great for photographers that are only concerned with casual photographers or low-bitrate video recording. Not everyone needs the fastest CFexpress card, especially if you’re on something like a Nikon Z6 II that only records video at 150Mbps.

Some cards have very aggressive thermal throttling profiles which were more apparent with the large file size tests vs smaller file size tests.

I performed these tests using the AJA System Test using 4GB file sizes. The reason I chose 4GB is that this is about the buffer we see in some of the best cameras like the Sony A1 or A9. The Nikon Z9, also a great camera, only looks to have about a 2GB buffer. This makes sense, it’s using faster CFexpress Type-B cards instead of Type-A cards.

If I chose a larger size than 4GB in these benchmarks, it could cause the card to engage the thermal throttling more aggressively, and it wouldn’t show the potential capabilities of a camera like the Sony A1 which would be limited to a 4GB buffer. However, cameras with a smaller buffer like a Nikon Z9, could show better performance with some of those slower cards because they would not be used as often under the throttled conditions. While these slower cards do show tested results significantly slower than their rated performance, their peak bursts were actually showing closer to those rated numbers.

In other words, if you have a Nikon Z6 or Z7 with only a 2GB buffer, you may not notice the difference between a super-fast card or a slower card, especially since those early CFexpress cameras were still only using one PCIe 3.0 lane anyway. The new cameras like the Z9 are looking like they are taking advantage of the dual lanes of the CFExpress Type B cards.

 

Best CFexpress Type-B Memory Card Reader

Although I can’t see the full speeds of USB 3.2 gen 2 2×2 with a 2018 Macbook Pro, the Lexar CFexpress Type-B reader is clearly performing better than the other brands. I have two other Prograde readers a Pergear reader, a Sandisk reader, and an Angelbird reader. If you’re on a USB 3.1 or M1 Mac, it won’t matter which reader you use since the speeds will be throttled by the bus throughput.

I recommend these two readers unless you use Angelbird cards, then go with the Angelbird reader so you can update the firmware. 

See the Best CFexpress Type B Memory Card Readers for more information.

 

USB-C CFexpress Type-B Readers

These are the readers I have and use. They all work great. Some can be slightly faster than others depending on what card is used, but for the most part they are all very close in speed.

Lexar CFxB + USB-C Reader – Amazon / B&H

If you can’t take full advantage of USB 3.2 setup or need UHS-II, the Prograde UHS-II + Cfexpress reader is only slightly slower, most would never notice the difference.

Prograde UHS-II + CFxB Reader – Amazon / B&H

The Prograde readers all now support the faster Sandisk interface so a lot of those UHS-I cards now run properly at the 170MB/s read speeds.

Angelbird CFxB Reader – Amazon / B&H

You’ll need an Angelbird Reader to upgrade the firmware in Angelbird Cards.

 

ThunderBolt Readers

OWC Thunderbolt 3 Reader – Amazon / B&H

OWC also has a few Thunderbolt 3 docs with a built-in CFexpress reader.

ProGrade CFxB + XQD Thunderbolt 3 Reader – B&H

 

Fastest CFexpress Type B Cards Bottom Line

Now that the CFxB space has matured, there are a lot of great options for cards at various prices. You don’t always need the fastest CFexpress card and can save a lot of money buying a card that only has the specs you need.

Keep an eye on thermal throttling with the higher-end cameras and cards as that’s going to be a better benchmark to look at compared to RAW speed if shooting video is the primary use of the camera.

**This website contains affiliate links and I will be compensated if you click them to make a purchase.
AGriffin

Professional editor, blogger and photographer from Los Angeles California.

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