Table of Contents

DS flashcart benchmarks

Tested using default settings for each benchmark, random reads/writes, unless otherwise specified. In particular, this means that the file seeking cache is enabled by default on BlocksDS, which requires explicit opt-in from the homebrew program.

Flashcart errata

Last sector access crash

Some flashcarts crash upon trying to access the final sector of the microSD card. This generally appears to affect R4/Ace3DS and their clones.

Workaround: Partition your card in such a way as to leave a few kilobytes/megabytes of space unused at the end.

Reproduced on:

DLDI driver benchmark v0.3 / BlocksDS

Kingston Canvas Select Plus 16GB U1 V10 (A00LF)

8 KiB clusters

Card Driver 128 KiB read 32 KiB read 4 KiB read 0.5 KiB read 128 KiB write 32 KiB write 4 KiB write 0.5 KiB write
Nintendo DSi internal 7.199 MB/s 6.589 MB/s 3.660 MB/s 0.989 MB/s 7.010 MB/s 5.035 MB/s 1.977 MB/s 0.379 MB/s
Acekard 2i 5.464 MB/s 5.220 MB/s 3.736 MB/s 1.679 MB/s 2.738 MB/s 2.593 MB/s 1.579 MB/s 0.430 MB/s
DSTT 4.645 MB/s 4.493 MB/s 3.495 MB/s 1.548 MB/s 4.373 MB/s 4.003 MB/s 1.990 MB/s 0.446 MB/s
Gateway Blue 4.992 MB/s 4.831 MB/s 3.523 MB/s 1.386 MB/s 4.414 MB/s 4.067 MB/s 2.072 MB/s 0.444 MB/s
M3DS Real 5.309 MB/s 5.093 MB/s 3.778 MB/s 1.817 MB/s 3.414 MB/s 3.191 MB/s 1.812 MB/s 0.442 MB/s
R6 Gold 0.354 MB/s 0.354 MB/s 0.353 MB/s 0.348 MB/s 0.120 MB/s 0.121 MB/s 0.121 MB/s 0.120 MB/s

Kingston 2GB (SD-C02G)

Write tests made on this card are quite difficult to reproduce, so they have been omitted.

32 KiB clusters

Card Driver 128 KiB read 32 KiB read 4 KiB read 0.5 KiB read
EZ-Flash V ez5v2 (CCITT) 4.607 MB/s 4.337 MB/s 2.766 MB/s 0.691 MB/s
Gateway Blue 4.894 MB/s 4.548 MB/s 2.699 MB/s 0.625 MB/s
R4 Revolution r4tfv3 3.277 MB/s 3.120 MB/s 2.143 MB/s 0.603 MB/s

Flash-based cartridges

Card Driver 128 KiB read 32 KiB read 4 KiB read 0.5 KiB read 128 KiB write 32 KiB write 4 KiB write 0.5 KiB write
DS-Xtreme 16Gbit 1.031 MB/s 1.022 MB/s 0.971 MB/s 0.618 MB/s 0.232 MB/s 0.154 MB/s 0.037 MB/s 0.005 MB/s
R6 Xtreme 64G 0.375 MB/s 0. MB/s 0.412 MB/s 0.406 MB/s 0.068 MB/s 0.067 MB/s 0.068 MB/s 0.047 MB/s

DLDI driver benchmark v0.3 / dkARM

Kingston Canvas Select Plus 16GB U1 V10 (A00LF)

8 KiB clusters

Card Driver 128 KiB read 32 KiB read 4 KiB read 0.5 KiB read 128 KiB write 32 KiB write 4 KiB write 0.5 KiB write
Nintendo DSi internal 2.041 MB/s 1.903 MB/s 1.036 MB/s 0.235 MB/s 1.002 MB/s 0.954 MB/s 0.595 MB/s 0.134 MB/s
Acekard 2i 2.628 MB/s 2.362 MB/s 1.101 MB/s 0.223 MB/s 1.072 MB/s 1.028 MB/s 0.621 MB/s 0.131 MB/s
DSTT 2.552 MB/s 2.299 MB/s 1.083 MB/s 0.220 MB/s 1.269 MB/s 1.176 MB/s 0.723 MB/s 0.154 MB/s
Gateway Blue 3.066 MB/s 2.711 MB/s 1.157 MB/s 0.219 MB/s 1.211 MB/s 1.182 MB/s 0.715 MB/s 0.150 MB/s
M3DS Real 2.688 MB/s 2.415 MB/s 1.124 MB/s 0.228 MB/s 1.180 MB/s 1.124 MB/s 0.674 MB/s 0.144 MB/s
R6 Gold 0.323 MB/s 0.308 MB/s 0.178 MB/s 0.040 MB/s 0.086 MB/s 0.083 MB/s 0.052 MB/s 0.012 MB/s

Kingston 2GB (SD-C02G)

Write tests made on this card are quite difficult to reproduce, so they have been omitted.

32 KiB clusters

Card Driver 128 KiB read 32 KiB read 4 KiB read 0.5 KiB read
EZ-Flash V ez5v2 (CCITT) 2.962 MB/s 2.707 MB/s 1.312 MB/s 0.268 MB/s
Gateway Blue 3.021 MB/s 2.769 MB/s 1.231 MB/s 0.240 MB/s
R4 Revolution r4tfv3 2.290 MB/s 2.137 MB/s 1.062 MB/s 0.220 MB/s

Flash-based cartridges

Card Driver 128 KiB read 32 KiB read 4 KiB read 0.5 KiB read 128 KiB write 32 KiB write 4 KiB write 0.5 KiB write
DS-Xtreme 16Gbit 0.824 MB/s 0.735 MB/s 0.392 MB/s 0.079 MB/s 0.035 MB/s 0.034 MB/s 0.021 MB/s 0.005 MB/s
R6 Xtreme 64G 0.375 MB/s 0.358 MB/s 0.214 MB/s 0.050 MB/s 0.054 MB/s 0.058 MB/s 0.031 MB/s 0.008 MB/s