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  1. #1
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    Question Memory card speed: Does it make a difference?

    Hello everyone,

    I Have recently got myself a new double din car stereo running Igo software. The unit came with an 8Gb class 4 micro SD card and I started thinking, would a class 10 card allow for faster boot up times for Igo? I think its unlikely and the CPU in the unit will be the bottleneck but what do you clever chaps think, Have you tried it and noticed a difference or was it the same?

    Thanks!

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  3. #2
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    Based on my experience it doesn't matter, class 4 is fine that is what I am using. What does matter very slightly is if you delete any unnecessary files like support for different screen resolutions, including inside zip files like data.zip.

    How long does it take for your iGO to load? My WinCE iGO 2.4 takes ~30 seconds to load not including whatever it takes to acquire the satellites.
    Last edited by upsss; 21st June 2015 at 06:07 PM.

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    Thank for your reply upsss.

    That is interesting that deleting files that are not required could speed up the boot process slightly, I might do that (after I make a backup just to be safe!).

    I would guess it takes approximately 25 seconds, I might time it tomorrow and see if I can shave any seconds off by doing as you suggested.

  5. #4
    Global Moderator Memory card speed: Does it make a difference?
    Memory card speed: Does it make a difference?
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    If You have device that supports faster micro SD, than it would be good idea to use faster.
    Not all improvements will be visible at device boot, but it will surely be faster when navigating, as maps and other files will be processed faster with faster memory card.
    Processor is fast as it is, You can do nothing about it, but speeding up reading and writing process will speed up complete process little bit.
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    Thank you Midnight Blues I appreciate your thoughts on this subject,

    I think I will order a class 10 card as they are not expensive and see if it improves the navigation experience on my device at all. The card that came with the device is unbranded so I doubt it is a very good card.
    I will post an update once I have tried a faster card.


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    @rickyw88, unless you are having problems reading and writing to your card, I wouldn't waste my money. I have used a class 4 and a class 10 micro SD cards on my 2Din GPS and I could not tell any difference in performance. In addition, I had my old MIO GPS running side by side with my 2Din GPS and again, both ran practically simultaneously and identically. As long as your GPS can read reliably your SD card, it doesn't matter what is the speed of your SD card. Just to make it clear, I am not talking about a low quality reject no brand cards.

    My understanding is that all critical navigation processes are performed in RAM, therefore the SD card speed is immaterial. Also, the boot up time of identical Primo on my MIO GPS and the 2din GPS was also almost identical. BTW, my old MIO GPS processor runs at half the speed of my 2Din and its SD card is an old 2GB before they even started labeling the speed of the cards.

  8. #7
    Garmin/GPS Systems GMod. Memory card speed: Does it make a difference?
    Memory card speed: Does it make a difference?Memory card speed: Does it make a difference?Memory card speed: Does it make a difference?Memory card speed: Does it make a difference?Memory card speed: Does it make a difference?Memory card speed: Does it make a difference?
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    Agree absolutely with the above.

    Unfortunate popular 'folk law' has it that higher speed cards will always perform better in a device. They won't for a device only reading from the card. So as well as all of upsss's very valid comments, particularly in regard to avoiding use of low-quality 'no-brand' cards, it's worthwhile to note that 'speed class' refers only to the card's relative write speed, the read speed will be the same for a Class 4 or 10 as he's noted anecdotally above, ditto for Class 2 the 'original' unspecified speed. However, even though Class 10 can write at ~2.5 times faster than Class 4 and 5 times faster than Class 2, because devices such as a GPS doesn't write to the card in normal operation the everyday performance will be the same. The card's wear-levelling characteristics which over time results in fragmentation of stored data will certainly slow down it's write speed but i'm not so sure even that will noticeably affect it's practical read speed in operation other than perhaps right at the very end of its write-cycle life.

    Things are very different in devices which routinely write to the cards during normal operation, such as cameras. For instance, HD video cameras writing images to a card require very high speed cards [at least Class 10 or UHS-I] especially for recording fast-moving scenes. That's maybe the root of the incorrect folk law for other devices. Of course, having a faster writing card will allow the adding of data to it from a computer quicker provided it's in a high-speed reader. If the device's USB connection is USB1 for instance, a Class 10 card will under-perform greatly writing to it when inserted in the device compared to putting it in a USB3 reader plugged to a USB3 port. More info P#12/14 here: [Only registered and activated users can see links. ].
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  9. #8
    Global Moderator Memory card speed: Does it make a difference?
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    Yes friends,
    Another words, chain is strong as the weakest link.

    My experience with USB2/USB3 memory sticks is that all 2.0 sticks used on 2.0 interface are slower than interface itself.
    Best of USB 2.0 memory sticks I'm using (not ext HDD) have about 15 MB/s read and about 8 MB/s write speed, when HDD connected on same port have about 33/25 MB/s.
    Not to mention some others that have speeds about 8/3 MB/s (R/W), so they are "the weakest link" in chain.
    When USB 3.0 sticks are connected on same port, speeds are as with HDD, another words maximum for that physical interface.
    My conclusion is that using memory device faster then interface will allow to get interface maximum performance, because now interface becomes "the weakest link".

    Worth to try.

    P.S.
    At last, this cards a not expensive any more
    Last edited by Midnight Blues; 23rd June 2015 at 05:38 AM.
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    Faster is better ! ....
    Your device may or may not benefit , but at least a faster card wont slow it down ...
    A good quality Class 10 card ( 45mb/s ) or faster wont hurt in any shape or form .
    I have seen a lot of folks complain about their GPS lagging , or locking up , or not being able to keep up ... ??
    Cant analyze the cause from here , but a cheap slow card could be at fault .... ( Could )
    The other problem could be trying to run more demanding software on a older slower double din or GPS unit ..

    What are you going to do ? ( Buy the best you want to afford )

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    Thank you all for your thoughts.

    I was tempted to replace the card that came with the device as its an unbranded made in China card that I don't think will be too reliable over time unlike a Sandisk, Samsung etc and when looking at new cards class 10 or UHS-I cards don't seem much more expensive than a class 4 or 6 card.

    I have backed up the card to my PC so I guess I could just use the supplied card and if it fails or I start having issues I could replace it then.

 

 

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