Hacking is CycloDS still the best?

DeMoN

GBAtemp Guru
Member
Joined
May 12, 2004
Messages
7,710
Trophies
2
Website
Visit site
XP
2,660
Country
United States
1. Yes it is still the best.
2. Generally any class SDHC is faster than a regular SD.
3. Depends on the R4, because there are so many fake versions floating around. Some will work and some will not. If not, try different firmwares on both the R4 and the Cyclo until they are compatible.
 

utz030303

Active Member
OP
Newcomer
Joined
Jan 13, 2008
Messages
35
Trophies
0
XP
11
Country
United States
Sticks said:
By the way, if it's made in Japan or not won't matter I think, it's for your GF right? Does she intend to play castlevania:PoR or Tony hawk skating games anytime soon? If not then taiwan/china/japan doesn't matter. ;P

but she plays a lot more than me
biggrin.gif


QUOTE(DeMoN @ Nov 16 2008, 08:22 PM) 2. Generally any class SDHC is faster than a regular SD.
3. Depends on the R4, because there are so many fake versions floating around. Some will work and some will not. If not, try different firmwares on both the R4 and the Cyclo until they are compatible.

2. Really?
3. I have an original R4.
 

utz030303

Active Member
OP
Newcomer
Joined
Jan 13, 2008
Messages
35
Trophies
0
XP
11
Country
United States
4. is 4GB SDHC Class-6 as fast and reliable as 2GB SD?
ie: Loading time, menu interface, etc?

5. Does 4GB SDHC class-6 consume more battery than normal 2GB SD?

6. We've decided to get a CycloDS, but still can't decide whether we should get a 2GB SD (Kingston japan) or 4GB SDHC Class-6 (Trancend). Which one would you recommend?

Thanks again!
smile.gif
 

Maikel Steneker

M3 Fanboy
Member
Joined
May 16, 2007
Messages
3,394
Trophies
1
Age
32
Website
ndss.nl
XP
383
Country
Netherlands
utz030303 said:
4. is 4GB SDHC Class-6 as fast and reliable as 2GB SD?
ie: Loading time, menu interface, etc?

5. Does 4GB SDHC class-6 consume more battery than normal 2GB SD?

6. We've decided to get a CycloDS, but still can't decide whether we should get a 2GB SD (Kingston japan) or 4GB SDHC Class-6 (Trancend). Which one would you recommend?

Thanks again!
smile.gif
4. Might be. Classes represent write speeds, not read speeds. It's likely that it'll be at least as fast, but it's not certain.
5. As far as I know: no.
6. I'd recommend the 4 GB SDHC. It should be as fast as the 2 GB, and it's a little bit bigger again
smile.gif
However, if you don't really need the space (for example, 2 GB is enough for me), you should go for the Kingston 2 GB. The Japanese cards are really fast and good.
 

cutterjohn

Well-Known Member
Member
Joined
Nov 27, 2007
Messages
663
Trophies
1
XP
791
Country
United States
The class rating of SDHC card ONLY specifies that the card in question WILL maintain X MB/s write transfer rate where X is the class #. This has ABSOLUTELY nothing to do with random access times/non-sequential performance, etc.

OTOH the higher the class rating, typically the higher the read rate as well. There are several threads on the TC forums that give various info. on a variety of uSD cards using both cfbench and computer based latency and transfer tests.

All of that said anecdotal evidence seems to indicate that class 4 and class 2 SDHC cards are generally "slower" than class 6 cards and produce stutter or crashes in the problem games, e.g. Castlevanias, Tony Hawk, etc. Country of origin does NOT seem to affect card performance as it did with the old regular uSD cards. Also IIRC class 2 is the class rating also applied to the old uSD (non-SDHC) cards.

Beyond that as far as build quality, features, and support: yes the Cyclo DS is still the best cart. The Supercard DS One SDHC would probably be second based on features and build quality, however they have NOT done much work on their firmware recently, primarily just specific fixes for specific games, plus they are still using an OLD version of moonshell for the fw shell which is SLOW all by itself and some games still have problems running on the SCDS1 with all of the bells and whistles turned on(soft-reset, direct save to uSD, etc.) while they run fine under the Evo.

I would say AK2 would be second as tied in there, but the build quality of those carts is reported to generally be absolute crap, plus they seemed to have had a series of bad batches on top of this. The SCDS1 also seemed to be having problems with the onboard PSRAM since around 12/07 but it seems to have gotten better recently judging by the decrease of posts in the SC forums. (PSRAM is used to temporarily store DS game saves to when direct save write to uSD is NOT enabled, which IS required for some games to run on the SCDS1 unfortunately.)

While I still own my SCDS1 I haven't used it at ALL in the past 6m or so...

Looking around Amazon and other places a few weeks ago turned up several class 4 IIRC 8GB uSD SDHC cards that were going for c. $15.
 

DeMoN

GBAtemp Guru
Member
Joined
May 12, 2004
Messages
7,710
Trophies
2
Website
Visit site
XP
2,660
Country
United States
Votkrath said:
utz030303 said:
2. Really?

No, SDHC won't give extra speed, you gotta check the classes as well as write time on all specific cards to decide which one is the way to go.
MicroSDHC are generally newer than most regular MicroSD cards, and thus made with better quality material and will run problem games just fine.
The only thing you need to look out for are old MicroSD cards, those are the ones that will cause freezing in Portrait of Ruin. Just buy smart and you won't have a problem.
smile.gif
 

EmperorOfCanada

Well-Known Member
Member
Joined
Aug 4, 2008
Messages
1,474
Trophies
0
Age
44
Location
Canada
Website
Visit site
XP
349
Country
Canada
Annaaaaa said:
you should go for m3real for sakura its cleaner build i media easy to use
and gets better and better

In the past I would have said Cyclo all the way.. now... well from what I read the M3 is actually a pretty decent card. However I already have a cyclo and its a great great card. Meh. Either or would be fine. Hopefully cyclos will drop in price.
 

utz030303

Active Member
OP
Newcomer
Joined
Jan 13, 2008
Messages
35
Trophies
0
XP
11
Country
United States
Thanks, but both me and my girlfriend don't like M3 real. Its interface is so messy, so Windows.
CycloDS somehow feels clean and neat yet powerful.
 

helpme

Well-Known Member
Member
Joined
Nov 23, 2005
Messages
478
Trophies
0
Location
uk
Website
Visit site
XP
136
Country
i thought they were the best
but it looks like they would rather mess about with the DSi than fix none working games for the nds (Star Wars & Chrono Trigger)
 

Votkrath

Well-Known Member
Member
Joined
Jun 22, 2008
Messages
127
Trophies
0
XP
68
Country
helpme said:
i thought they were the best
but it looks like they would rather mess about with the DSi than fix none working games for the nds (Star Wars & Chrono Trigger)

I have no problems with Chrono Trigger.

QUOTE(Annaaaaa @ Nov 19 2008, 03:26 PM) you should go for m3real for sakura its cleaner build i media easy to use
and gets better and better

You can use Sakura on CycloDS too or pretty much any flashcard.
 

Sir-Fritz

Well-Known Member
Member
Joined
May 4, 2008
Messages
1,333
Trophies
0
Age
30
Location
Brisbane, Australia
XP
298
Country
Votkrath said:
helpme said:
i thought they were the best
but it looks like they would rather mess about with the DSi than fix none working games for the nds (Star Wars & Chrono Trigger)

I have no problems with Chrono Trigger.

QUOTE(Annaaaaa @ Nov 19 2008, 03:26 PM) you should go for m3real for sakura its cleaner build i media easy to use
and gets better and better

You can use Sakura on CycloDS too or pretty much any flashcard.
As i do for dpg's and mp3's.
 

Toni Plutonij

*has TrolleyDave & tiny p1ngy on moderating shelf!
Former Staff
Joined
Dec 22, 2007
Messages
8,149
Trophies
1
Age
36
Location
Depths of Nuclear powerplant
XP
700
Country
Croatia
Sakura can be used only as a Media player on other carts....ONLY M3 Real (and iTouch, but with hack) can run games, and use Sakura fully, so with M3 Real and Sakura, you get far more nicer and functional cart in terms of firmware...But CycloDS is still superior with its extra features!
 

Site & Scene News

Popular threads in this forum

General chit-chat
Help Users
  • No one is chatting at the moment.
    The Real Jdbye @ The Real Jdbye: @BakerMan needs more expand dong