Good news, there is more to the upgrade of the Retroid Pocket 5 compared to the 4 than just a nicer screen, better body, and more efficient processors. It also reads memory cards about twice as fast.
Although the random read and write speeds come in a little slower than the previous gen Retroid Pocket.
I’ve tested most of the most popular microSD memory cards in the Retroid Pocket 5, but like the Retroid Pocket 4 Pro, I still recommend Samsung cards; they still have the best bang for the buck with the best overall performance.
I would go with 256GB cards or 512GB cards if you have a lot of games you want to load it up with. However, my daughter mostly uses hers for Roblox, Minecraft, and YouTube, so I gave her only a 128GB card.
Recommended Micro SD Memory Cards Retroid Pocket 5 Pro
I have a few recommendations for the best performers or the best value cards.
The Top 3 Best Micro SD Cards
Playing Newer Emulators: You will want a higher-end card if you’re playing bigger games, such as Wii, Switch, or even some bigger Android games. Some of these games are several gigabytes large, and for these games, you can benefit from having cards with faster random read and write speeds, which the more premium cards offer.
These cards had the best Random Read speeds.
I would go with the Samsung Pro Plus over the Pro Ultimate since they performed the same in the RP5, and the Pro actually scored better with random write speeds and only slightly less with random read speeds.
Samsung Pro Plus V30 A2
The Samsung Pro Plus V30 A2 UHS-I SDXC Micro SD Memory Card comes in sizes between 128GB and 512GB.
Tested Write Speed: 38.32 MB/s
Tested Read Speed: 88.24 MB/s
Random Write: 2.51 MB/s
Random Read: 7.34 MB/s
Warranty: Limited 10-Year Manufacturer Warranty
The Lexar Silver Plus is a really great bang for the buck and is available in sizes up to 1TB. It’s only slightly slower with read speeds compared to the Samsung cards.
Lexar SILVER PLUS V30 A2
The Lexar 128GB Professional SILVER PLUS UHS-I SDXC Micro SD Memory Card comes in sizes between 64GB and 1TB.
Tested Write Speed: 35.33 MB/s
Tested Read Speed: 71.72 MB/s
Random Write: 3.3 MB/s
Random Read: 6.49 MB/s
Warranty: Limited 10-Year Manufacturer Warranty
The Kingston Canvas Go! also had some great performance, which is very close to Samsung Pro cards, but only buy this card if it’s less expensive than the above cards. With this Kingston card, you are also limited by a max size of 512GB.
Kingston Canvas Go! Plus V30 A2
The Lexar 128GB Professional SILVER PLUS UHS-I SDXC Micro SD Memory Card comes in sizes between 64GB and 512GB.
Tested Write Speed: 40 MB/s
Tested Read Speed: 85.91 MB/s
Random Write: 2.87 MB/s
Random Read: 6.34 MB/s
Warranty: Limited Lifetime Manufacturer Warranty
Best Value Memory Cards
Playing Older Emulators: You really don’t need fast cards to play old games. Samsung EVO Plus or EVO select cards are great value cards here, and really, their random speeds are only slightly slower than the above cards. If you find a really good deal on these cards, just go for it; you likely won’t even notice any difference in performance.
Samsung EVO Plus V30 A2
The Samsung EVO Plus V30 A2 UHS-I SDXC Micro SD Memory Card comes in sizes between 64GB and 512GB.
Tested Write Speed: 35.2MB/s
Tested Read Speed: 88.18MB/s
Random Write: 1.42MB/s
Random Read: 6.34MB/s
Warranty: Limited 10-Year Manufacturer Warranty
Samsung EVO Select V30 A2
The Samsung EVO Select V30 A2 UHS-I SDXC Micro SD Memory Card comes in sizes between 64GB and 1TB.
Tested Write Speed: 39.11 MB/s
Tested Read Speed: 87.99 MB/s
Random Write: 1.76 MB/s
Random Read: 5.33MB/s
Warranty: Limited 10-Year Manufacturer Warranty
Retroid Pocket 5 Memory Card Benchmarks
I tested each card in the Retroid Pocket 5 Pro using the Android app called Cross Platform Disk Test App. I did two tests on each card to let the card warm up. The random speeds always improved on the second test.
Some of the cards here are also really good, and the only reason they didn’t make the recommendation list usually just comes down to price. But the prices always fluctuate, so some cards in this list might be better deals.
I’ve also tested all these cards in Windows 11, which you can find in the MicroSD memory card guide. Most of the cards I tested are of the 128GB size.
Values are in MB/s (Megabytes per second).
| Retroid Pocket 5 Micro SD Memory Cards | Speed Class | RP5 W | RP5 R | RP5 RW | RP5 RR | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| UHS-II | SEQ W | SEQ R | Rand W | Rand R | ||
| Lexar 1000x V60 | UHS-II | 28.9 | 84.27 | 0.36 | 4.62 | Amazon |
| Lexar Gold V60 A1 | UHS-II | 42.37 | 82.89 | 1.82 | 3.88 | Amazon / B&H |
| ProGrade V60 | UHS-II | 42.12 | 84.39 | 0.19 | 5.39 | Amazon / B&H |
| Delkin Power V90 | UHS-II | 53.06 | 79.57 | 1.09 | 4.13 | Amazon / B&H |
| Angel Bird A1 V60 | UHS-II | 38.1 | 76.58 | 1.5 | 3.74 | Amazon / B&H |
| UHS-I | 1 | |||||
| Sandisk Extreme Pro U3 A2 | UHS-I | 40.73 | 84.71 | 1.7 | 3.95 | Amazon |
| Sandisk Extreme Plus U3 A2 | UHS-I | 44.11 | 86.44 | 1.77 | 4.37 | Amazon / B&H |
| Sandisk Outdoors 4k V30 A2 | UHS-I | 46.54 | 87.01 | 1.81 | 4.66 | Amazon / B&H |
| Sandisk Extreme U3 A2 256GB-1TB | UHS-I | 44.93 | 86.49 | 1.5 | 5.03 | Amazon / B&H |
| Sandisk Ultra U1 A1 - 0ld | UHS-I | 30.55 | 86.54 | 1.75 | 4.44 | B&H |
| Sandisk Nintendo Switch V30 A1 | UHS-I | 39.52 | 85.25 | 1.71 | 4.05 | Amazon / B&H |
| Sandisk High Endurance V30 | UHS-I | 40.38 | 84.39 | 1.72 | 4 | Amazon / B&H |
| Sandisk Max Endurance V30 | UHS-I | 32.27 | 86.48 | 1.68 | 4.25 | Amazon / B&H |
| Samsung Pro Ultimate v30 A2 | UHS-I | 38.22 | 87.14 | 1.38 | 8.85 | Amazon / B&H |
| Samsung Pro Plus V30 A2 | UHS-I | 38.32 | 88.24 | 2.51 | 7.34 | Amazon / B&H |
| Samsung EVO Plus V30 A2 | UHS-I | 35.2 | 88.18 | 1.42 | 6.34 | Amazon / B&H |
| Samsung EVO Select V30 A2 | UHS-I | 39.11 | 87.99 | 1.76 | 5.33 | Amazon / B&H |
| Samsung Pro Endurance V30 | UHS-I | 33.65 | 87.43 | 1.66 | 6.08 | Amazon / B&H |
| Kingston Canvas Go! Plus V30 A2 | UHS-I | 40 | 85.91 | 2.87 | 6.34 | Amazon / B&H |
| Kingston Canvas Select Plus V30 A1 | UHS-I | 42.49 | 80.45 | 2.02 | 4.67 | Amazon / B&H |
| Lexar Silver Plus V30 A2 | UHS-I | 35.33 | 71.72 | 3.3 | 6.49 | Amazon / B&H |
| Lexar Silver1066x A2 | UHS-I | 39.94 | 88.12 | 1.66 | 5.17 | Amazon / B&H |
| Lexar Blue 633x V30 A1/A2 | UHS-I | 43.38 | 88.04 | 2.4 | 4.89 | Amazon / B&H |
| Lexar FLY V30 A2 | UHS-I | 41.38 | 88.9 | 2.36 | 5.02 | Amazon / B&H |
| Lexar PLAY U3 A1 256GB | UHS-I | 42.77 | 88.6 | 1.66 | 5.59 | Amazon / B&H |
| Lexar PLAY U1 A1 128GB | UHS-I | 16.9 | 85.14 | 1.85 | 5.74 | Amazon / B&H |
| Delkin Black V30 | UHS-I | 38.12 | 83.1 | 1.61 | 5.29 | B&H |
| Delkin Hyperspeed V30 | UHS-I | 40.13 | 86.11 | 3.4 | 6.45 | Amazon / B&H |
| Delkin Select V30 64GB | UHS-I | 38.75 | 82.86 | 1.89 | 4.19 | Amazon / B&H |
| Transcend 300s V30 A1 | UHS-I | 31.64 | 87.54 | 1.18 | 4.94 | Amazon / B&H |
| PNY Premier-X A2 V30 | UHS-I | 45.95 | 88.24 | 1.71 | 4.88 | Amazon / B&H |
| PNY PRO Elite U3 A2 | UHS-I | 22.06 | 88.48 | 1.41 | 4.99 | Amazon / B&H |
| PNY PRO Elite U3 | UHS-I | 45.2 | 81.57 | 0.89 | 4.87 | Amazon / B&H |
| PNY Elite-X V30 A1 | UHS-I | 34.51 | 86.34 | 1.36 | 6.11 | Amazon / B&H |
| Amplim 667X V30 A1 | UHS-I | 38.11 | 83.2 | 1.94 | 4.37 | Amazon |
| Netac Pro A1 U3 | UHS-I | 35.46 | 86.09 | 0.81 | 3.39 | |
| Patriot EP A1 V30 | UHS-I | 33.32 | 87.63 | 1.05 | 6.61 | Amazon / B&H |
| Silicon Power Superior V30 A2 | UHS-I | 29.76 | 88.17 | 2.31 | 6.84 | Amazon / B&H |
| Silicon Power Superior V30 A1 | UHS-I | 38.4 | 87.99 | 1.72 | 5.51 | |
| Silicon Power 3D NanD V30 A1 | UHS-I | 37.55 | 87.5 | 1.85 | 5.2 | Amazon / B&H |
| Silicon Power GAME V30 A1 | UHS-I | 51.53 | 89.92 | 2.86 | 6.1 | Amazon / B&H |
| Silicon Power High Endurance U3 | UHS-I | 53.47 | 89.48 | 2.57 | 5.75 | Amazon / B&H |
| Ritz Gear V30 A1 | UHS-I | 38.51 | 82.43 | 1.98 | 4.99 | Amazon |
Learn more about microSD memory cards in this guide.
Emulator Size Estimations
The card size you need to buy depends entirely on your game selection.
NES games are around 250KB in size.
SNES games are usually around 2-3MB in size.
Nintendo 64 Games are usually around 12MB to 32MB in size.
Dreamcast Games are around 1.5GB in size.
PlayStation Games are usually around 500MB-1GB in size.
Wii Games are around 1GB up to 7GB but usually around 2-3GB.
PSP Games are usually around 1 to 2GB in size.
Playstation 2 Games are usually 2 to 5GB in size, but up to 8GB for games like God of War.
Nintendo Switch Games are usually around 5 GB.
Playstation 3 Games can be 16-30GB in size.
If you’re running more modern titles or have a lot of Android games, you’ll want a 512GB microSD card as a starting point or even a 1TB card if you’re a game hoarder. The Retroid 5 can play more advanced games than the 4 Pro so that you can install newer titles.
I think most people will be fine with a 512GB card. And if you’re just buying one of these for your kids to play Minecraft and Roblox, you really won’t even need an external card. That will all run off the internal drive without any problems.
