PNY Elite 512GB microSD Review

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While PNY doesn't have the reputation of producing the highest performing memory solutions, they do have value on their side, and with their latest microSD solution, they have added capacity.

The Elite microSD family is PNY mainstream solution for point and shoot cameras, drones, and increasing your phone's storage capacity. Options include 16GB through 512GB with the latter in house for review. Marketing performance is slated to reach 90MB/s under speed class 10, U1 and UHS-I.

With its high capacity, the 512GB PNY Elite is capable of storing 80 hours of FullHD video, 100K pictures or 100K MP3s. Compatibility includes all solution that utilizes the microSD form factor. MSRP of the PNY Elite 512GB microSD comes in at $199.99 with a lifetime warranty.

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The packaging is standard for microSD cards; we have capacity listed at the top along with performance and down below compatibility and branding. In the center, we have the bubble packaging showing the card and its included adapter.

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The back offers durability information along with warranty and product features.

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As you could have guessed the card follows the microSD format and features a grey and green colorway. Capacity is listed on the card along with its speed classes. This solution does include an adapter for use with DSLR cameras or any device that takes advantage of full SD solutions.

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The backside of the card offers model identification and regulatory information.

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As for performance, the PNY Elite 512GB didn't reach its full "marketing" potential in my testing but instead 70 MB/s read, and 21 MB/s write. That said, it's only rated as a Class 10, V10 solution so this performance does fall in line with those specifications.

Closing this review, the PNY isn't the highest performing card we have seen, the Samsung EVO Plus pretty much dances all over it, but in a pinch, it's not a terrible card, so long as the intended task isn't write intensive. With read heavy tasks, like loading mobile games or apps, the card should perform quite well as its only 10-15 MB/s slower than the fastest cards.

As for durability, that has yet to be seen but in my testing, the card handled everything with no hiccups or oddball issues, and that brings us to pricing, which is the only area PNY really needs to address. At $199.99 the Elite in the same capacity is $50 more than an EVO Plus and on par with a Sandisk Extreme, a card that can double its performance. For PNY to be competitive in the current market the Elite needs to shed a few $$ and match Samsung bringing their Elite Pro into competition and on par with the Sandisk Extreme.

Tyler's Test System Specifications

• Motherboard: ASUS Prime Z370 (buy from Amazon)
• CPU: Intel Core i3 8350K (buy from Amazon)
• RAM: Corsair Vengeance 32GB 4x8GB DDR4 3200 (buy from Amazon)
• Cooler: Corsair Hydro H115i (buy from Amazon)
• Case: Corsair Air 540 (buy from Amazon)
• OS Storage: Samsung 960 EVO 250GB (buy from Amazon)
• Power Supply: Corsair RM850x (buy from Amazon)
• OS: Microsoft Windows 10 (buy from Amazon)
• Wi-Fi NIC: ASUS PCE-AC88 (buy from Amazon)
• 10Gbe NIC: ASUS XG-C100C (buy from Amazon)
• Thunderbolt 3: ASUS Thunderbolt EX3 (buy from Amazon)