Couple Questions About Sd-Memory

[mindlord]

That's my plan.

 

[aesir911]

will there be any intense games that will not be able to run off say a class 2 sdhc card? would it be better to put those games straight onto the pandora hardrive?

 

[Squidge]

The Pandora doesn't have a harddrive, and you shouldn't have a problem with a class 2 sdhc card.

 

[WizardStan]

will there be any intense games that will not be able to run off say a class 2 sdhc card?

not likely, unless the programmer did some wonky things that required very specific timing. Massive resource intensive games may take a little longer to load, but I don't see it actually stopping them from running.
As a comparison, assuming the read speed is at least as fast as the write speed (a reasonable assumption) the absolute slowest speed you can read of a class 2 card is equivalent to about 1.5x DVD. A PS2, by comparison, has a 4x DVD. If you find a class 2 that actually reads at 6MB/s (which wouldn't be unexpected) you've exceeded the PS2s data read speed. If you think it is able to load data off the DVD fast enough, such a "slow" card would be adequate.

 

[yannv]

I write "guarantee" because that's what the class rating tells you: the absolute minimum write speed. Most cards, under normal conditions, do a lot better. Even that class 2 can probably write your 700mb in a couple minutes. So unless you absolutely need to write a lot of really large files in a fairly short period of time where every extra minute counts, even a cheap and slow card should be sufficient.

I wish that was the guarantee. The actual guarantee is that it can sustain that write speed if written in a very specific, somewhat card-defined pattern. You'll usually get it doing linear writes. The exact details are intentionally removed from the public specs, so you can NOT confirm if a card matches its class rating. Calling it "minimum write speed" is however too broad, as that would imply it can keep that speed up on any write - and it certainly can't for small writes, and might have great trouble with fragmented files.

 

[DaMummy]

speaking of sdhc cards, i bought a small batch of 32gb sandisk ultras that read at 15mb/sec that ill be selling for $90 or so, if anyones interested, let me know...

 

[Pleng]

Depending on where you sourced the cards from, and after confirmation that they're genuine, I might be interested in a couple.

 

[Grench]

speaking of sdhc cards, i bought a small batch of 32gb sandisk ultras that read at 15mb/sec that ill be selling for $90 or so, if anyones interested, let me know...

15 read... isn't that a class 4 card? Are they this one?
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820171359&cm_re=32gb_sdhc-_-20-171-359-_-Product

Depending on where you sourced the cards from, and after confirmation that they're genuine, I might be interested in a couple.

If you're concerned about provenance on the card, the above newegg link might help you out. No affiliation. I've purchased through them before though and have never had an issue.

I've decided not to buy cards until the device actually starts shipping. The 32GB cards seem to keep getting faster and cheaper. At this rate by the time I get my Pandora the Class 10 cards will possibly be the norm.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820220452&cm_re=32gb_sdhc-_-20-220-452-_-Product

So, hopefully this round of cases will be 'right' and we'll get this ball moving.

 

[Kramy]

I picked up a 16GB class-6 A-DATA card a year ago for $29.99

It reads and writes at around 10MB/sec. Plenty for all my Pandora uses.

 

[DaMummy]

sd cards arent really dropping in prices, theyre increasing if anything...

 

[Prometheus]

sd cards arent really dropping in prices, theyre increasing if anything...

Indeed they are, which unfortunately raises a question in my mind relating to your previous post, if you don't mind me asking.

Given that flash prices are rising, and given that it's pretty much impossible to make a profit on flash media unless you move in large volume, how did you come to a price of $90 for the SanDisk cards that you mentioned before?

I trust that you've already run them through H2Testw, of course, and ascertained that they're genuine - I'm just curious because even a buying-power giant like Amazon who can make a profit on flash media starts them at $100.

 

[Grench]

sd cards arent really dropping in prices, theyre increasing if anything...

Indeed they are, which unfortunately raises a question in my mind relating to your previous post, if you don't mind me asking.

Given that flash prices are rising, and given that it's pretty much impossible to make a profit on flash media unless you move in large volume, how did you come to a price of $90 for the SanDisk cards that you mentioned before?

I trust that you've already run them through H2Testw, of course, and ascertained that they're genuine - I'm just curious because even a buying-power giant like Amazon who can make a profit on flash media starts them at $100.

I've seen this repeated a few times about how flash is going up... I just don't see it from glancing at consumer prices.
I -have- seen that OLD cards that used to be 'top of the line' have gone up from their most discounted state. Shrug.

$90 is not really a 'bargain' for a 32GB class 4 (15MB/sec read) Sandisk card. They're $79 with free shipping from NewEgg.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820171359&cm_re=32gb_sdhc-_-20-171-359-_-Product

What I've been seeing come -down- in price are cards meeting the class 6 and class 10 specs.
The Sandisk 32GB Class 10 cards started life close to $400. They're down to $269 now.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820171413&cm_re=32gb_sdhc-_-20-171-413-_-Product

Alternatively, There is a Patriot 32GB class 10 card (looks not quite as fast as the above Sandisk) that is $105.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820220452&cm_re=32gb_sdhc-_-20-220-452-_-Product

So, by my watch, 32GB Class 10 cards have gone down from nearly $400 to $105 in the last 6 months.

I didn't bother to shop around - the examples above came from the first place I looked. I'm not affiliated with NewEgg - I shop there occasionally so they're towards the top of my list for checking on stuff like this.

So, whenever the Pandora actually starts shipping, I'll be looking for the fastest 32GB SDHC cards I can find that don't have a 'bleeding edge' premium on them. If the Pandora shipped tomorrow, I'd have two of the Patriot class 10 cards on their way. Since shipping time for the Pandora is a constant state of flux, I'm waiting - who knows what will hit in the next month. If the cards Toshiba displayed at CES are any indication, they're going to get MUCH faster in the near future. 60MB/sec read and 35MB/writes would be overkill - and far beyond what the device's bus can handle. BUT it is a nice direction for these to be headed in.
http://www.engadget.com/2010/01/13/toshiba-demonstrates-64gb-sdxc-pledges-spring-release/
(No, I'm not referencing the SDXC card in the link - look at the other two SDHC cards in the press photo.)

Back to it.

 

[Prometheus]

I've seen this repeated a few times about how flash is going up... I just don't see it from glancing at consumer prices.

The information is gleaned by looking at roundups like this, and stuff like this. The latter link is a more "real-time" look at it - note that the spot prices for flash chips (that is, without controller hardware, casings, etc.) tend to be written in Gigabits, so remember to divide by eight to get the consumer figure.

Consumer prices probably differ a little bit depending on factors like a store's overheads, buying power, older stock, or the culture of a given market (i.e., stores in some places may be expected to provide prices that border on unrealistically low, but due to moving huge volumes, they can still profit). Anecdotally, consumer prices over here rose a few times around the middle of last year, and then stabilised and haven't changed since - for example, the prices of Play.com's own-brand Class 4 cards (they're very good quality and value, and are quite popular, hence their use in this example) haven't changed for around a year, and stabilised at a level that's a few pounds higher than they were before the prices started climbing. For example, their 16GB cards were formerly £14.99, and I'm fairly sure that the 32GB ones were briefly ~£55 at one point - they're now £17.99 and £64.99 respectively.

I'm glad I bought mine from them early, or I'd've paid more - enough to allow me to buy at least one more smaller card, in fact.

Either way, the point is that even if flash prices aren't rising at a given time, it's certainly a myth that the prices are ever-dropping. (And the perpetuation of that myth contributes to people buying fakes, which is why I, at least, mention this about flash prices fairly often.)