Other World Computing, Inc. released the Type B cards 'Atlas Ultra' and 'Atlas Pro', compatible with the new 'CFexpress 4.0' standard, on October 12, 2023. The maximum capacity is 2TB. In Japan, they are available for purchase via Amazon.co.jp.
These CFexpress Type B cards are based on the new 'CFexpress 4.0' standard utilizing PCIe Gen 4. OWC is the second company, following ProGrade Digital, to launch products supporting this standard.
Benefits of the New Standard
Compared to the previous CFexpress 2.0-compatible 'Atlas Ultra' and 'Atlas Pro', transfer speeds have been approximately doubled. For the higher-end 'Atlas Ultra' model, the maximum transfer speeds are 3,650MB/s for read and 3,000MB/s for write, with a minimum write speed of 1,500MB/s.
However, to fully leverage these performance gains, a card reader compatible with CFexpress 4.0 is required. The release of an official compatible card reader is scheduled for early 2024.
Another notable feature of the new products is their reduced power consumption, which is about one-third of the specification defined by CFexpress 4.0.
Updates from Previous Models
The previous CFexpress 2.0 versions of 'Atlas Ultra' and 'Atlas Pro' can be upgraded to CFexpress 4.0 via a firmware update. However, this is only possible for products with read speeds of 1,850MB/s and write speeds of 1,700MB/s.
