Hacking SD card speed/class does it matter any?

[Melhisedek]

I have some old 2GB card that I use with my DSTwo and menu/text files open quite slowly. Would higher speed/class SD card make any difference? IE would things load faster or?

 

[Mantis41]

No class rating is not that important and is only a useful gauge for the sequential data transfer rates you would expect. The class rating is only a guide for expected performance when used in cameras, video capture or similar.

For use in the DS it is the random access speed that is important. This uaually decreases as the capacity of the card increases. Usually the higher speed cards will have better random access speeds but not always. Once you get to 8MB or 16MB cards you need to be very careful which card you purchase for decent performance. The markets are littered with clones and ghost runs of failed silicone that all have mediocre or poor performance.

Everyone you talk to will have a different opinion on which card to buy. Personally I always go for Samsung usually the light or dark grey cards.

 

[Melhisedek]

but does it really improve on loading of lets say DSTwo Menu?

 

[Aeter]

Try formatting your 2gb card with FAT16 (aka FAT).
If this still occurs get an sdhc card that is class 4 or higher.
Class essentially only guarantees write speed, which isn't that important, since you need read speed.
But with higher write speeds you generally get higher read speeds.
I have heard of class 2 cards not being able to handle certain games, but most of those cases could be helped by formatting properly with the Panasonic sd formatter.
But to be certain I'd go for a class 4, they're not that expensive.
2gb mSD cards don't have class ratings btw.

 

[Mantis41]

Good quality cards are fast. I can't vouch for the DSTWO load times but when placed along side the original game for instance Dragonquest or Pokemon the SD card is much quicker at loading and saving.

 

[Rydian]

http://gbatemp.net/threads/ds-dsi-3ds-hacking-f-a-q.278137/

 

[Mantis41]

You're still all missing the difference between random access speed and sequential speed. There used to be a small program we used to use for measuring both.

 

[Rydian]

The only time I saw benchmarks actually match up (repeatedly) with the ability or inability to play things was seek time/latency in regards to AAP in Wood+AKAIO.