Whilst a pictures and tech journalist, I am unable to faux that even the perfect reminiscence card readers are probably the most thrilling gadgets. Prograde Digital’s PG05.6 CFexpress Sort B reader is moderately extra particular than your common card reader although. It might look pedestrian, however that is considered one of a particularly uncommon breed of readers to make use of the cutting-edge USB4 interface. This offers it the potential to be 4x quicker than a typical CFexpress sort B reader based mostly round USB 3.2 Gen 2 know-how, and subsequently this may be the quickest reminiscence card reader on the planet.
A part of my indifference in direction of the common-or-garden card reader is that the majority have a tendency to supply primarily the identical efficiency, being based mostly across the now ubiquitous USB 3.2 Gen 2 interface. This implies they’re going to all be able to a theoretical 10Gbps switch pace – or round 800-900MB/s in the true world. For an SD card reader, that is completely enough, however on the subject of CFexpress Sort B, 800-900MB/s simply is not sufficient. Even the ‘slowest’ Sort B playing cards are able to over 1200MB/s, which means a USB 3.2 Gen 2 CFexpress reader will noticeably bottleneck a Sort B card.
The ProGrade PG05.6 alternatively ought to be able to as much as 40Gbps, or 5000 Megabytes per second – that is sufficient to theoretically max out even the newest era of CFexpress 4.0 playing cards which are able to speeds approaching 4000MB/s.
Externally there’s not a lot to say in regards to the PG05.6 – it is an not noticeable darkish grey sq.. Nonetheless it does really feel like a top quality product within the hand, with a reassuring weight, and a solidity to the plastic casing not often present in a card reader. A standing mild alongside the cardboard slot retains you knowledgeable about knowledge switch exercise, and on the rear is a single Sort-C connection. The reader is provided with a 0.8-meter lengthy USB cable, and it is vital this actual cable is used with the reader if you wish to keep the quickest switch speeds, as it is a high-quality USB4-certified cable.
(Picture credit score: Future)
Efficiency
It might appear apparent, however for the avoidance of doubt: you possibly can’t simply plug this card reader into any previous USB port in your laptop or laptop computer and count on to get USB4 switch speeds. Whereas the reader is backward-compatible with USB 3.2, your laptop might want to assist USB4 in an effort to unleash the complete potential of the PG05.6. Test your laptop computer’s specs intently, and realistically if it is older than a 2022 mannequin, it is extremely unlikely to assist USB4, no matter its pedigree.
Fortunately we have now a high-end HP Z-E book Studio laptop computer in our arsenal boasting full-on USB4 assist with which to check the PG05.6. We additionally wanted a quick CFexpress Sort B card in an effort to actually put the reader by way of its paces, and handily ProGrade additionally despatched us their CFexpress Sort B 4.0 Cobalt card. This blisteringly quick Gen 4.0 card is able to learn speeds as much as 3400MB/s, and 3000MB/s write speeds, making it one of many quickest Sort B playing cards in the marketplace – the best match for the PG05.6.
(Picture credit score: Future)
With our {hardware} in place, we then broke out the CrystalDiskMark storage benchmarking software program to see what the PG05.6 can actually do. We recorded a most learn pace of 2595MB/s, and a quickest write pace of 1613MB/s. Certain, these numbers are fairly a manner wanting the 3400/3000MB/s learn/write speeds that our check card is supposedly able to, however they’re additionally the fastest-ever speeds we have recorded from a reminiscence card reader, and by a large margin.
Switching to real-world file transfers, the identical Prograde CFexpress 4.0 Sort B card managed a sustained 1556MB/s learn pace, albeit with a barely disappointing 282MB/s sustained write charge. We additionally tried a SanDisk Professional Cinema Sort B card within the PG05.6, and regardless of it being slower on paper than the ProGrade card, it managed a sustained 538MB/s write pace. Though once more, it is a great distance wanting SanDisk’s marketed 1400MB/s minimal write pace for this specific Sort B card.
Verdict
The ProGrade Digital PG05.6 USB4 card reader is the quickest card reader we have ever examined. No USB 3.2-based Sort B reader will get near the switch speeds obtainable from this ProGrade reader. We had been considerably dissatisfied that the 2 Sort B playing cards we used to check the reader did not switch at their most marketed speeds. The reason for this may very well be a quirk with our check laptop, nevertheless we aren’t blessed with a plentiful provide of USB4-capable computer systems, in order that’s one variable we’re at the moment unable to verify. Even so, it is considerably of a moot level, because the PG05.6 is so fast that until you are transferring terabytes of information every single day, you may nonetheless be greater than happy with the efficiency it gives. Fairly merely, if you wish to even get near the pace potential of a Sort B reminiscence card, and you’ve got a USB4-capable laptop, the ProGrade PG05.6 is the one Sort B card reader value shopping for.
