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[Bishonen]

We all know why GBA Roms have slowdowns on SC miniSD... because of patching...

but... why have some DS games slowdowns (Video etc...)? Of course the data streams from the mini SD... are Mini SD cards to slow?

Which speed types are available on Mini SD cards... and which are supportet by SC Mini SD?

On Sandisk.com i looks like for MiniSD there are no different speed types available, not like Compact flash or SD (Standart,Ultra,Extreme I II III IV)

For example: When i'am playing Castlevania the intro has massiv slowdowns, but Biohazard and FF 3 are runnig absolutly smooth... how can that be?

P.S.: I'am using an San Disk mini SD 1 GB - Looks like this is the fastest for use with SC MiniSD, isn't it?

[meangreenie]

Have you turned off 'fastergameplay' that would slow it down ?... otherwise the only way to get more speed is to buy a faster MiniSD.

[rorix_bladewing5]

I thought gba games had slowdown because the supercard had cheap ram or something. Unless im mistaken?

[sneef]

topic moved.  please post questions in the help and tips forum

[Bishonen]

@ meangreenie: No, "FasterPlayGame" was turned on. Faster Mini SD? This is actually my question: Are there any faster MiniSD Cards? How fast is my SanDisk Mini SD 1 GB?

@rorix_bladewing5: Of course, maybe the SDRAM is cheap too... but the main reason is the SAVE/RESTART/RTS/TXT/CHEAT etc... patching

[PharaohsVizier]

Your Sandisk Mini SD 1gb, is much like my Sandisk Mini SD 2gb, it isn't the fastest, yet it is not the slowest.  If you buy cards that are like 150x, there is very little slowdowns for NDS, but GBA slowdown is from the Supercard itself (I think).

[Bishonen]

All Right... but generally, on Mini SD Cards there is no "Speed Sign" on the box... like "Standart/Ultra/Extreme I, II, III, IV"
How do i know if a card is fast or not?

[PharaohsVizier]

Alright, for Sandisk, go for the Ultra one, that'll be descent but not your best choice.  All the other cards that don't have speeds on them, it means that they don't want to tell you because it is so bad.  If they have a blazing 150x or something like that, you know it is something they are proud of, go for those.

[Musulsa]

1gb Ritek 150x for $18  http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16820183011
2gb Transcend 80x for $37 http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16820208052

BTW: Sandisk Ultra II is about 60x.

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p.s. :

All the other cards that don't have speeds on them, it means that they don't want to tell you because it is so bad.

This is completely untrue.  There is no official standard for reporting transfer speeds.  Some companies use MB/sec (like Sandisk) while several use "multiples of CD transfer speeds" (ie 80x, 150x etc).  In general it is in your best interest to find out the actual claimed transfer speeds.  There are several "150x" sd and minisd cards that are SLOWER than some 80x cards.

If you are happy with 1gb, then Ritek is your best bet.  Their cards are rock solid and fast as heck.  I have the 2gb Transcend 80x card and am quite happy with it, although Castlevania intro does not play perfectly.

[tennisgy]

I bought that Ritek one yesterday...an hour later they dropped the price by 2 bucks.  Ill post impressions on it when I recieve it and my superkey.

[Bishonen]

San Disk Ultra II Mini SD... it really exists, on SanDisks offical Website you can't find it!

Another Thing: If the best cards are 150x fast and can read and write over 20 MB per Sec - And let's imagine My SanDisk Mini SD 1GB is only 33x fast... it should still be enough to run any DS Game and Video... the games are only about 8MB - 128 MB big.
33x is still over 4 MB per Second - how can slowdowns occur?

What do you think... i guess its the Supercard Mini SD... the internal structure of this adaptor is just too slow... couldn't this be the real reason for slowdowns?

[Musulsa]

The real issue is access time.  I've dealt that issue before in another thread, so I won't go into it here.

In short, most DS games access very small amounts of data out of order, rather than huge streams of linearly concurrent data.  Grabbing a 150x card isn't a guarantee of perfect performance, but because access speed and read speed seem to be correlated much of the time (if only due to engineering quality), getting a higher rated speed will increase your chances of smoother performance.

[Bishonen]

@musulsa: Thanks for the help.

I've sold my 1GB San Disk and have ordered an Ridata 1GB 150x Mini SD.
"Lifetime" Warranty sounds trust worthy. And i didn't found a card faster than 150x...

San Disk "Ultra" II... just 66x... but most expensive..."Pay for my name" :roll:

[Hanafuda]

I use the Ritek/Ridata 1GB 150x youre talking about, and it works great.

The Castlevania vid is still choppy, but I can deal with that since there's no need to ever watch it.

Animal Crossing has slowdowns unless you set the game to load to the Supercard's RAM instead of playing directly from the miniSD> It's about a 35 second load time when the game starts, but that's better than 10 second waits every time you try to go through a door.

I haven't tried Tony Hawk.

Other than that, the games play just like they should. I love it. But I can't wait to get a SCL (drool.)

[tennisgy]

I agree with Hanafuda that card is great