HERE.......faster, larger card for less $$$$ ??? Why?
Explain the price difference - CFe Type B cards
- Thread starter Butlerkid
- Start date
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Replytoken
Well-known member
The Delkin comes with a reader, so that accounts for a bit of the difference.
--Ken
--Ken
Retailer rebates. Supply availability. I’m sure there are other factors, too.
IainD
Well-known member
Not sure about my facts but I thought the Prograde Gold is a medium tier card while the Delkin Black is top tier? That could explain the difference.
confirm. Prograde cobalt and Delkin Black are the premium cards
Replytoken
Well-known member
@Butlerkid Is everyone who give a correct answer getting a prize? Perhaps a shiny new Type B card? 
--Ken
--Ken
abc123brian
Well-known member
The ProGrade Gold card is also the new generation cards, v4. There is a disclaimer on their website saying current cameras cannot take advantage of the speed. I’ve been curious to how they perform.
I think it is the quality. I believe Delkin are made in USA and Pro grade are made in Taiwan.
John Navitsky
Well-known member
i suspect half the rated, sustained speed. ie, if it’s rated at 4000MB/s, the observed on non v4 devices is probably about 2000MB/s
based on the theory that the v4 bus runs twice as fast and experience with nvme drives with these types of bus speed differences
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I found the Prograde Gold 4.0 512 gb card performed at roughly similar speeds in my Z9 when compared to my Delkin Black 128 and 325 gb 2.0 cards and my Prograde Cobalt 2.0 325 gb card. Measured by how many frames in a 20 fps burst using lossless compressed raw before the camera would slow. The 4.0 Gold card might have had a few frames less in a burst than the Black and Cobalt cards, measured this way. But fast enough to create no issues for my BIF shooting. And even less difference when shooting HE* raw. Discussed in a prior thread.
Cameron T
Well-known member
This is because I'm pretty sure the z8/9 max out around 800 MB/s and can't write faster than that anyway. So they can't take advantage of the faster cards.
Now, maybe they have the hardware, but not the firmware, but I'm not sure I'd bet on it.
The ProGrade Gold is supposed to be the next generation of the Cobalt card. The Gold is about twice as fast as the Cobalt card. Both the ProGrade Cobalt and the Delkin Black are considered "premium"/top level cards.
While current cameras may not be able to utilize the increased speeds, wouldn't the Gold card be a good choice for those wanting to purchase cards now - at a much lower price - that will function even better in future products?
That is a two-pack of cards and just confusing to the discussion.
THANK YOU @BillW for that information. Still wonder why folks aren't embracing the ProGrade Gold cards if they perform just as good - and potentially better in future products - for such a lower price.
Is ProGrade offering a special card reader for the Gold cards?
Gold has always been cheaper than Cobalt.
That doesn't explain the price difference.
No, but I don't think Gold is the next generation Cobalt.
It is.
I have both cards. The Delkin 325GB with the reader is often on sale and I purchased the card and reader for about $199 this past year. I just purchased the Prograde Gold 4.0 directly for ProGrade for about $145. I was interested to see how well it would perform in my Z9. I purchased the ProGrade Gold because I wanted a larger card for video in my Z9. I have yet to do any type of heat testing.
The Delkin Black is the faster of the two in my Z9. In somewhat simple testing I can get about 82 images before the buffer fills and the FPS slows below 20FPS with the Delkin Black. The ProGrade Gold 4.0 provides about 72 images before the buffer fills and the 20 FPS slows. I shoot a lot of sports and shoot High Efficiency Raw, when using the Delkin Black I cannot get the buffer to fill, with the ProGrade Gold 4.0 it will fill in about 650 images. In general I would say the Black is about 10% faster than the Gold in my Z9.
The gold is the new CFE 4.0 standard which should provide faster speeds in the future but current cameras cannot take advantage of CFE 4.0. ProGrade also makes a Cobalt 4.0 but the capacity starts as 1.3TB at $1000.
I purchased the ProGrade Gold on ProGrade's site when it was on sale for 15% off. I also have been using the little trick of creating an account, putting the card in my cart, then waited a few days. ProGrade offered me an additional 10% off the item in my cart so I purchased it.
In practice it works really well for shooting sports, shooting HE RAW I would never shoot 650 images in a single burst so it is plenty fast enough.
I am going to try to do some heat testing when I have time and I will update.
The Delkin Black is the faster of the two in my Z9. In somewhat simple testing I can get about 82 images before the buffer fills and the FPS slows below 20FPS with the Delkin Black. The ProGrade Gold 4.0 provides about 72 images before the buffer fills and the 20 FPS slows. I shoot a lot of sports and shoot High Efficiency Raw, when using the Delkin Black I cannot get the buffer to fill, with the ProGrade Gold 4.0 it will fill in about 650 images. In general I would say the Black is about 10% faster than the Gold in my Z9.
The gold is the new CFE 4.0 standard which should provide faster speeds in the future but current cameras cannot take advantage of CFE 4.0. ProGrade also makes a Cobalt 4.0 but the capacity starts as 1.3TB at $1000.
I purchased the ProGrade Gold on ProGrade's site when it was on sale for 15% off. I also have been using the little trick of creating an account, putting the card in my cart, then waited a few days. ProGrade offered me an additional 10% off the item in my cart so I purchased it.
In practice it works really well for shooting sports, shooting HE RAW I would never shoot 650 images in a single burst so it is plenty fast enough.
I am going to try to do some heat testing when I have time and I will update.
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There is also a Prograde 4.0 Cobalt card. Over 1 tb and quite a bit more expensive.
To get the highest upload speeds to a computer requires a 4.0 card reader. Prograde offers one for $99. Occasionally on sale. (And you may get a discount on one order of cards and/or a reader if you are willing to sign up for their email newsletter.) I think I got mine for 15% off. I believe it had been less than that at times. Upload speeds will also depend on your computer and what speeds its ports are capable of. Might not be faster on an older computer.
The 4.0 Prograde Gold cards have worked fine in a Delkin gen 2.0 card reader I have with my 2021 MBP (Apple silicon).
For me, the 512 gold 4.0 cards seem a nice combination of speed and capacity for the price. And maybe with a bit of future performance gains in another camera or with a firmware upgrade ( the latter probably unlikely). They have worked great so far.
It may be the cobalt 4.0 card will be faster than the gold 4.0 card in a future 4.0 capable camera. The gold still looks pretty fast once 4.0 capable cameras arrive.
I’ve also wondered if there might be a heat/temperature difference between this card and a cobalt version. Have not seen any issue so far, but have also not used them in warm weather. I have appreciated the cooler temps that my 2.0 Delkin Black and Prograde Cobalt cards run at in my Z9 and Z8. Will use them in Botswana next month where it will be warmer.
With speed comes heat. If a camera add 4.0 it will need a considerable heatsink.
This is consistent with what I found when I compared the 4.0 Prograde Gold 512 gb cards to my 2.0 Delkin Black (128 and 325 gb) and Prograde Cobalt (325 gb) cards. The small difference in burst length / speed is not of any practical concern to me in my wildlife shooting. Even at lossless compressed raw. And I usually shot HE* raw for wildlife.
One other odd thing is that the newer Delkin Black G4 cards tend to be cheaper than the older Delkin Black cards. At least at B&H. Both gen 2.0. Both premium cards.