The Silicon Power Cinema PRO CFX 310 CFast 2.0 Memory Cards are budget-friendly options if you are looking for CFast 2.0 cards for your camera.
Who is Silicon Power?
It is likely that you may have never heard of Silicon Power (SP) before. Silicon Power is a Taiwanese company that was founded back in 2003 and since that time they have become a leading manufacturer of flash memory cards, USB flash drives, portable hard drives, solid state drives, DRAM modules, and industrial-grade products. They have their own production site in Taipei.
Key features
- 128GB/256GB/512GB Storage Capacity
- SATA III 6 Gb/s Bus
- Max Sequential Read Speed: 530 MB/s
- Max Sequential Write Speed: 330 MB/s
- CFast Type I form factor
- Compliant with the Serial ATA Revision 3.1 Standard with a 6.0 Gb/s transfer rate
- Supports the SP Toolbox SMART Health Monitoring System software and other techniques for guaranteed reliability
The Cinema PRO CFX 310 CFast 2.0 Memory Cards use MLC NAND flash memory and it takes advantage of the SATA III bus to support maximum sequential read speeds of 530 MB/s and maximum sequential write speeds of 330 MB/s.
Silicon Power has designed the cards so that it would work in extreme conditions. It is protected against vibrations of 15 g at 10-2000 Hz, shocks of 1500 g at 0.5 ms, drops of up to 2.46′, and it can work in temperatures ranging from 32 to 158°F.
Please note that this card supports the CFast Type I form factor. CFast cards with a Type I form factor can be used in devices with CFast Type I and CFast Type II slots.
What cameras will it work with?
Despite some of the newer cameras now utilizing faster cards like CFexpress, there is still quite a lot of cameras out there that are still using CFast 2.0.
The Silicon Power 512GB Cinema PRO CFX 310 CFast 2.0 Memory Card will work with the following cameras:
- Blackmagic Pocket Cinema Camera 4K
- Blackmagic Pocket Cinema Camera 6K*
- Blackmagic URSA Mini Pro 4.6K G2**
- Canon C300 Mark II
- Canon C200
- Canon 1DX Mark II
- RED KOMODO
- Z Cam E2 series
* Approved by Blackmagic to record 2.8K 17:9 Blackmagic RAW 3:1 up to 120 fps, 6K Blackmagic RAW 5:1 up to 50 fps, 6K 2.4:1 Blackmagic RAW 5:1 up to 60 fps, 4K DCI ProRes HQ up to 60 fps, 1080 ProRes 422 HQ up to 120 fps,
** Approved by Blackmagic to record 2160p ProRes 422 HQ up to 60 fps
PLEASE NOTE THAT JUST BECAUSE A CARD HASNT BEEN OFFICIALLY APPROVED BY A MANUFACTURER DOESN’T MEAN IT WON’T WORK.
Capacity
The prices of CFast 2.0 cards have certainly come down in recent years, and the capacities have also gone up. With cameras now recording in higher resolutions and at higher data rates, purchasing larger capacity cards makes more sense. I personally prefer using CFast 2.0 cards that are either 256GB or 512GB in capacity. I find that 128GB cards don’t have enough capacity for most of my needs.
So when I mounted the 256GB CFast 2.0 card it showed the actual capacity as being 255.2GB. This shows that you are essentially getting what is advertised.
Real World speed tests
I did a few tests to see what the sustained read/write speeds of the Silicon Power 256GB Cinema PRO CFX 310 and also how fast I could offload material through a Thunderbolt 3 card reader to an ultra-fast SSD.
Above you can see the read/write speeds using Blackmagic Disk Speed Test for the card. These speeds were slightly less than the advertised max read/write speeds, but it is usually hard to ever see max figures doing a test like this.
I also tried some real-world tests with the BMPCC 6K where I started recording and then turned the power off. The files were saved and I didn’t lose any footage.
I didn’t have any problems recording BRAW 6K at 3:1 using the card.
Silicon Power 256GB Cinema PRO CFX 310 CFast 2.0 Memory Card Specifications
| Flash Technology | MLC |
| Seq. Performance Read (max.) | 530 MB/s |
| Seq. Performance Write (max.) | 330 MB/s |
| Power Consumption (idle) | 120 mA |
| Dimensions（mm） | 36.4 x 42.8 x 3.6 |
| Operating Temp. (Standard) | SP***GICFX311NV0BM (0~70℃) |
| Operating Humidity | 10% ～ 95% (30℃ Max. Wet Bulb Temp) |
| Capacity | 128GB, 256GB, 512GB |
| Interface | CFast 2.0/SATA III/6.0Gbps |
| MTBF (est) | ≒2,000,000 hrs |
| Storage Temperature | -55℃ ～ 95℃ |
| Power Consumption (max.) | 710 mA |
| Random 4K Read (IOPS max.) | 32000 |
| Random 4K Write (IOPS max.) | 32000 |
| Power Requirement | DC 3.3V |
| Vibration | 15G, 10 ～ 2000Hz |
| Warranty | 3 years and within TBW |
Price
The Silicon Power Cinema PRO CFX 310 CFast 2.0 Memory Cards retails for the following prices:
These prices make them a very affordable option if you are looking for CFast 2.0 cards.
Competition
The cards do come in three different capacities as I have already mentioned, but let’s concentrate on how the 512GB version stacks up against the competition.
Here is how other available 512GB CFast 2.0 cards compare to the Silicon Power:
| Read Speed | Write Speed | Price | |
| Silicon Power 512GB Cinema PRO CFX 310 | 530MB/s | 330MB/s | $279.99 USD |
| RED DIGITAL CINEMA 512GB RED PRO | NA | 280MB/s | $529.00 USD |
| SanDisk 512GB Extreme PRO | 525MB/s | 450MB/s | $599.99 USD |
| Angelbird 512GB AV Pro CF | 550MB/s | 430MB/s | $529.90 USD |
| ProGrade Digital 512GB | 550MB/s | 450MB/s | $499.99 USD |
| Lexar 512GB Professional 3500x | 525MB/s | 425MB/s | $642.99 USD |
| Delkin Devices 512GB Cinema | 560MB/s | 495MB/s | $499.00 USD |
| Wise Advanced 512GB | 525MB/s | 350MB/s | $599.00 USD |
(please note that all of these read and write speeds are the claimed performance from the manufacturer and they only relate to the max capable speeds)
As you can see the prices and read/write speeds of CFast 2.0 cards are quite varied. The Silicon Power 512GB Cinema PRO CFX 310 card is the most affordable option by a considerable margin, however, its max. write speed is lower than most of the other cards. This is not going to be a concern when used with a lot of cameras.
Conclusion
The Silicon Power Cinema PRO CFX 310 cards work as advertised and that is about all you can ask of a memory card. Reviewing media cards is difficult because I can’t test for long term reliability over many years.
It is good to see that the card comes with a 3-year warranty and it has a lot of very positive reviews from buyers who have bought the card and used it in various cameras.
If you are looking for a good quality CFast 2.0 card that is very affordable, the Silicon Power PRO CFX 310 CFast 2.0 Memory Cards are hard to overlook.
