The demand for fast storage on cameras has been unwavering with higher-resolution cameras needing to dump the data somewhere quickly. This also leads to a demand for cheaper yet reliable media since the cost of these cards adds up quickly. To tackle this corner of the market, Lexar has been releasing CFexpress cards under the Professional Silver lineup
The demand for fast storage on cameras has been unwavering with higher-resolution cameras needing to dump the data somewhere quickly. This also leads to a demand for cheaper yet reliable media since the cost of these cards adds up quickly. To tackle this corner of the market, Lexar has been releasing CFexpress cards under the Professional Silver lineup.
The Professional Silver products take a more affordable approach to the Professional Gold products, with a slight performance hit. The performance rating hit on CFexpress type A comes at about 100MB/s on max read and write and sustained write, and the video class rating is dropped from VPG 400 to VPG 200. Though this is the hit on the rating, we will have to see what the numbers are in the benchmarks.
The Lexar Professional CFexpress Type A Silver is complemented by the Type A / SD USB 3.2 Gen 2 reader tailored to their CFexpress Type A cards. Since these cards run on the PCIe Gen3x1 interface, they can hold up to high-speed loads from professional cameras. The USB reader is the same model that we used in the Lexar Professional CFexpress Type A Gold Review. This is also currently the only model reader from Lexar that supports CFexpress Type A.
Lexar Professional CFexpress Type A Silver Specifications
| Lexar Professional CFexpress Type A Silver | |
|---|---|
| Capacity | 160GB | 320GB |
| Form Factor | Type A |
| Interface | PCI Express Gen 3×1 |
| Max Read | 800 MB/s |
| Max Write | 700 MB/s |
| Sustained Write | 600 MB/s |
| Operating Temperature | -10C ~70C (14F ~ 158F) |
| Storage Temperature | -25C ~ 85C (-13F ~ 185F) |
| Warranty | 10-year limited warranty |
| Video Class | VPG 200 |
| Product Number | LCAEXSL160G-RNENG (160GB) | LCAEXSL320G-RNENG (320GB) |
Lexar Professional CFexpress Type A Silver Design and Build
This card is built almost identical form-wise to its Gold counterpart, with different labeling to differentiate the series and the max speed. These CFexpress Type A cards have a metal face, a metal back halfway up the case, and a plastic frame around the perimeter. The label format helps you easily see your card’s make, model, series, capacity, and rated speeds. This ease of differentiation helps you quickly find the card you need for the application.
The rear of these cards doesn’t have much to show, but we still take a look nonetheless. On the back of the card, you can see the pins and more of the metal body. The Metal portion is where Lexar prints the certifications, serial number, and country of origin.
Lexar Professional CFexpress Type A Silver Performance
We will be comparing the Lexar Professional CFexpress Type A Silver Series Drive to the Lexar Professional CFexpress Type A Gold Series Both of these cards are also tested in the Lexar Professional CFexpress Type A / SD USB 3.2 Gen 2 Reader.
| Lexar Professional CFexpress Type A Silver 320GB | Lexar Professional CFexpress Type A Gold 160GB | |
|---|---|---|
| Max Read | 800 MB/s | 900 MB/s |
| Max Write | 700 MB/s | 800 MB/s |
| Sustained Write | 600 MB/s | 700 MB/s |
| Video Class | VPG 200 | VPG 400 |
| Warranty | 10-year limited warranty | limited-lifetime warranty |
The largest difference between these two cards is the VPG rating of 200 on the Silver compared to 400 on the Gold. The VPG rating is the Video Performance Guarantee, meaning that number is the lowest sustained write speed the card should perform at. Other than that, the Silver is rated for 100 MB/s slower in all regards, but the practical numbers will come out in the testing.
Blackmagic Disk Speed Test
Our first test is the popular Blackmagic Disk Speed Test. This test will measure transfer speeds to the card using a 5GB test file. We also get ratings for what types of video the card can support reading and writing. Here we saw 673.6 MB/s Write, and 776.0 MB/s Read which is extremely close to the advertised 700 MB/s write and 800MB/s read speeds.
When compared to the Professional Type A Gold which has advertised speeds of 100 MB/s higher, it gets extremely close in speed. Speed-wise, the Silver was 3.3 MB/s higher on write, with the Gold 22.9 MB/s higher on Read. This close of performance between the two cards is impressive from a budget model card.
| Blackmagic Disk Speed Test | Lexar Professional Type A Silver | Lexar Professional Type A Gold |
|---|---|---|
| Write | 673.6 MB/s | 672.3 MB/s |
| Read | 776.0 MB/s | 798.9 MB/s |
IOMeter 1-Thread
IOMeter is a test we run on most storage devices we review. This test is broken into two sections, a single-thread test and a 4-thread test. The 4-thread portion of this test gives storage devices a little more legroom to show their full potential.
In the performance, the write speeds slow down, closer to the sustained write speed of 600MB/s. Surprisingly, we see faster read speeds across the board from the Silver than the Gold. We also saw a little faster write on the 4K Random Write test.
| IOMeter (1-Thread) | Lexar Professional Type A Silver | Lexar Professional Type A Gold |
|---|---|---|
| 2MB Sequential Write | 641.15 MB/s | 604.89 MB/s |
| 2MB Sequential Read | 765.88 MB/s | 741.84 MB/s |
| 2MB Random Write | 627.99 MB/s | 593.28 MB/s |
| 2MB Random Read | 705.19 MB/s | 698.35 MB/s |
| 4K Random Write | 12,798.83 IOPS | 12,414.43 IOPS |
| 4K Random Read | 4,278.58 IOPS | 4,195.29 IOPS |
IOMeter 4-Thread
The 4-thread IOMeter workload shows us some higher speeds than the single-thread. Surprisingly, the Silver was ahead of the Gold in every test except the 4K Random Read. Where the Gold did pull ahead, it was only by 263.28 IOPS
| IOMeter (4-Thread) | Lexar Professional Type A Silver | Lexar Professional Type A Gold |
|---|---|---|
| 2MB Sequential Write | 717.79 MB/s | 715.98 MB/s |
| 2MB Sequential Read | 816.22 MB/s | 598.77 MB/s |
| 2MB Random Write | 716.62 MB/s | 578.20 MB/s |
| 2MB Random Read | 814.42 MB/s | 541.43 MB/s |
| 4K Random Write | 52,287.29 IOPS | 50,195.44 IOPS |
| 4K Random Read | 14,471.48 IOPS | 14,734.76 IOPS |
Conclusion
The Lexar Professional CFexpress Type A Silver brings excellent value when sat next to the Type A Gold, which is also a great option. Though the speeds are extremely close, the Gold still has its value. Lexar offers a 10-year warranty with the silver and a lifetime warranty on the Gold cards. The lifetime warranty can be huge if you are using these cards day in and day out, but 10 years on the Silver cards is nothing to balk at either.
When paired with the Lexar Professional CFexpress Type A / SD USB 3.2 Gen 2 Reader, you can get maximum performance out of these cards with ease. It is to be noted that under sustained load the Type A cards do get quite warm in this reader. We believe the cards typically pass heat through a camera body and the reader doesn’t handle the heat the same way.
Overall, the Lexar Professional CFexpress Type A Silver brings great value without sacrificing too much performance from the Gold cards. At this time, the Silver 320GB card will run you about $279, and the same capacity Gold will run about $429. The slight performance tradeoff for roughly a 30% price reduction, makes the value huge if you buy many of these cards. Again, bundled with a 10-year warranty, the silver cards bring tremendous value without breaking the bank.
Lexar Professional CFexpress Type A Silver Series Product Page
Lexar Professional CFexpress Type A / SD USB 3.2 Gen 2 Reader Product Page
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