Silicon Motion SM2708 SD Express Controller Preview - 800MB/s+

Silicon Motion's SM2708 controller looks to bring SD Express memory cards up to speed. Over 800MB/s, in fact. Here's our preview.

Published
1 minute & 51 seconds read time

Silicon Motion announced its entry into SD Express back in April with the SM2708 controller. SD Express looks to bring the aging SD card form factor up to speed with an NVMe-based interface, and while the initial specification was drafted back in 2018 and Phison was the first to jump into the market with its PS5017 controller, it was based on the SD 7.0 specification which interfaced with a PCIe 3.0 x1 design.

Silicon Motion's SM2708 offers a two-lane design, still on PCIe 3.0, but we are looking at close to 2GB/s in theoretical performance depending on the actual card capability. More recently, the SD Association has announced version 8.0, which moves the two-lane interface up to PCIe Gen4 for a theoretical limit of 4GB/s.

Silicon Motion SM2708 SD Express Controller Preview - 800MB/s+ 12

Pinout for these new cards will look very similar to the upgraded UHS-II and UHS-III spec; note the SD Express has reserved areas for expanding the pin layout. The new two-lane SD Express layout includes a third row of pins.

Silicon Motion reached out a few weeks back and asked if we would like to test drive SD Express with their new SM2708 in pre-production SD Express cards. Accepting the invite, they sent over an SD 7.1 card reader and 250GB SD Express memory card.

Silicon Motion SM2708 SD Express Controller Preview - 800MB/s+ 02

The card reader itself is a Realtek-designed board powered by USB 3.2 Gen 2, so we do have the throughput available on the host end.

Silicon Motion SM2708 SD Express Controller Preview - 800MB/s+ 03

The RTL9211 is powering the SD Express card reader as the USB to NVMe interface.

Silicon Motion SM2708 SD Express Controller Preview - 800MB/s+ 04

The card itself has the familiar SD card form factor.

Silicon Motion SM2708 SD Express Controller Preview - 800MB/s+ 05

Flipping the card, we have the standard single lane SD Express layout on this card.

Silicon Motion SM2708 SD Express Controller Preview - 800MB/s+ 10

Testing the performance of the card, I was rather impressed. This 250GB solution reached 860 MB/s read and 738 MB/s write at peak and 700 MB/s read by 710 MB/s write Q1.

Silicon Motion is expecting partners like ADATA and Lexar to launch solutions based on its design soon. Both companies have announced products; ADATA in its Premier Extreme lineup and Lexar with its Professional brand. Both vendors look to push these cards for the DSLR, 8K/4K HD, and 3D HD camera market with advertised speeds up to 800 MB/s read.

If our initial testing of this new standard is any indication, the SD Express form factor will surely raise the bar on mainstream resolution in our everyday DSLR cameras while maintaining backward compatibility with standards already in place with SDXC and UHS classes. Further, with SD 8.0 now ratified, early adopters and enthusiasts can look forward to further increases in performance with two-lane cards on the horizon powered by the SM2708 controller from Silicon Motion.

TweakTown External Storage Test System

Buy at Amazon

Prograde Digital SD UHS-II 128GB Card V90

TodayYesterday7 days ago30 days ago
$144.99$144.99$144.99
* Prices last scanned on 3/18/2024 at 5:34 pm CDT - prices may not be accurate, click links above for the latest price. We may earn an affiliate commission.

Tyler joined the TweakTown team in 2013 and has since reviewed 100s of new techy items. Growing up in a small farm town, tech wasn't around, unless it was in a tractor. At an early age, Tyler's parents brought home their first PC. Tyler was hooked and learned what it meant to format a HDD, spending many nights reinstalling Windows 95. Tyler's love and enthusiast nature always kept his PC nearby. Eager to get deeper into tech, he started reviewing.

Newsletter Subscription
We openly invite the companies who provide us with review samples / who are mentioned or discussed to express their opinion. If any company representative wishes to respond, we will publish the response here. Please contact us if you wish to respond.