SP Superior Pro

  • Obtained from: Amazon
  • Price paid: $13.99
  • Advertised capacity: 128GB
  • Logical capacity: 124,383,133,696 bytes
  • Physical capacity: 124,383,133,696 bytes
  • Fake/skimpy flash: Skimpy (2.83% skimp)
  • Protected area: 134,217,728 bytes
  • Adjusted skimp: 2.72%
  • Speed class markings: U3, V30, A1
  • CID data:
    • Manufacturer ID: 0x9f
    • OEM ID: 0x5449 (ASCII: TI)
    • Product name: 0x5350434320 (ASCII: SPCC )
    • Product revision: 0x10
Sample #123Average
Serial number0x85540984Not yet testedNot yet testedN/A
Manufacture dateJun 2024Not yet testedNot yet testedN/A
Sequential read speed (MB/sec)91.41Not yet testedNot yet tested91.41
Sequential write speed (MB/sec)33.19Not yet testedNot yet tested33.19
Random read speed (IOPS/sec)2,597.13Not yet testedNot yet tested2,597.13
Random write speed (IOPS/sec)278.89Not yet testedNot yet tested278.89
Read/write cycles to first errorNot yet determinedNot yet testedNot yet testedNot yet determined
Read/write cycles to complete failureNot yet determinedNot yet testedNot yet testedNot yet determined
Total days to complete failureNot yet determinedNot yet testedNot yet testedNot yet determined
Card reader usedJJC CR-UTC4ACNot yet testedNot yet testedN/A
Package frontNot yet testedNot yet testedN/A
Package backNot yet testedNot yet testedN/A
Card frontNot yet testedNot yet testedN/A
Card backNot yet testedNot yet testedN/A

Discussion

After the somewhat disappointing endurance test results on the SP Elites, I wanted to see if the issue was more to do with 3D NAND in general, or if it was more to do with SP as a brand — so I picked up some (what turned out to be) SP Superior’s and SP Superior Pro’s.

Offhand, the CID information would seem to indicate that these are just a minor variant of the SP Superior’s — although it’s odd that the product revision went down for this version instead of up. The size is exactly the same, and the performance between the two is pretty similar — only a few MB/sec difference in sequential I/O speeds. Random read speeds are pretty good — putting it over the 80th percentile (as of this writing) — but the other scores are nothing to write home about. But…all of this is just based on one sample. Perhaps the other two samples will fare better.

Endurance tests for sample #1 are still in progress. It has not yet reached the 2,000 read/write cycle mark; it is expected to get there sometime in January 2025.

Samples #2 and #3 are still in the package, waiting to be tested.

September 13, 2024