High Speed or Regular, which Memory Stick for my Sony PSP?
When I was looking for a Memory Stick for my Sony PSP I didn’t know if it was worth paying extra and getting the high speed version (the Ultra II for example) or getting the regular and more affordable version. I did some research online to see if I could find information on this and what I found was very confusing.
The faster Memory Stick allows you to read and write data onto it faster then the regular card but according to some users the PSP doesn’t take advantage of the faster Memory Sticks. This means if you get a regular speed Memory Stick and a hight speed one, the PSP will treat both of them equally and read and write onto both at the same speed.
Some users on the other hand stated the opposite. Their views were that the PSP did take advantage of the high speed cards and that games would load faster when using them.
So not wanting to take a risk I decided to purchase the high speed card and thats what I have been using ever since. Recently I realized that 1GB wasn’t enough room since some games like Grand Theft Auto take up 850MB which leaves no room for a second game. So I was checking out prices on Amazon and noticed that once you get to Memory sticks 2GB and larger the price difference between the regular speed and high speed ones increased more.
Thats why I decided to experiment using the two different cards and see if they both worked on the PSP the same way. In short, turns out both cards performed exactly the same which means the people who said the PSP didn’t take advantage of the Hi-Speed cards were right.
I used Nat’s 1GB Sandisk card and my 1GB Sandisk Ultra II for my test. I copied GTA onto both and tried them out. I didn’t notice any difference at all, with both sticks the game loaded quickly and load times were none existent. Having a highspeed memory stick with the PSP is a waste of money..
I know this post might seem weird but I wrote it for people who are googling this memory stick information..
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26 Comments, add your own...
1. KtheKuwaiti | May 11th, 2006 at 9:12 pm
They shipped me the 1gb usb sd .. bastards. Time for another email.
2. eVoLuTiOn/djevolution212 | May 11th, 2006 at 9:23 pm
That sucks! Why did they make it then?
3. Mark | May 11th, 2006 at 9:35 pm
for digital cameras
4. Carlsb3rg | May 12th, 2006 at 2:21 am
sandisk are gonna release a 4gb disk.. that would be cool to have
5. etch | May 12th, 2006 at 2:39 am
hey can any1 teach me exactly how to put the games u download of the internet onto ur psp?
p.s. step by step please :P
6. holla | May 12th, 2006 at 2:54 am
dude i could’ve told you that. i was arguing with one stupid shop owner in rihab complex about this bc he was trying to pass off his stupid high speed cards as being beneficial for the PSP and basically charging extra. even not all digicams make use of them.
i had a regular 1 gig one and i made him test it against his high speed ones and it worked the same. his stupid card also crashed one time but he was still of course being a typical stubborn sandnigger and refusing to acknowledge that he even might have been wrong.
rihab is alot worse now than it was even a few years ago. god damn it’s a fucking wasteland of pervy zalama/indian shop attendents and stupid lil snotty kuwaiti kids. you also get the random fatso middle-aged kuwaiti nerd shop owner with a goatee.
7. Samer | May 12th, 2006 at 2:58 am
GTA works on a 1.5 version? if so can you link me please?
8. CyberRowdy | May 12th, 2006 at 2:58 am
sandisk got a device compatibility wizard I think….
9. Carlsb3rg | May 12th, 2006 at 3:09 pm
http://www.psp-hacks.com
check their forums
10. tgawa | July 17th, 2006 at 12:37 pm
Thanks mark, your post is very usefull so in the net all the information is very confusing. I was doubting which to buy, high speed or normal one. Now i know which one. In my case i don’t need it for a PSP but for a Sony-Ericsson but i gess it will be the same results. Thanks
11. Bryan | July 20th, 2006 at 2:44 pm
Me and my room mate did a speed test after we saw the same thing. On the website the blue card is claimed to be a max of 15mb and the red of 9-10. So I happened to have a blue card and tested it and it came out to be 9.4-9.5megs a second which is pretty much the same as the ultra claims. I forgot what program I used to test it but just do a google search and im sure you can find one.
12. Thankful | August 28th, 2006 at 4:48 am
Thankyou so much mark I was really really hesitant in pickin up a card and this guide was EXACTLY what the doctor ordered - i wish this was the first link that came up
13. Mins | October 13th, 2006 at 1:38 pm
Wow.. thanks for this! I was wondering myself which of these two to get. This really saves me a couple of $$$. So time to get the 4gb Sandisk Memory Stick Pro Duo.
14. aypro | November 2nd, 2006 at 3:00 pm
THANKS for the advice, i was really confused with forums and all :)
15. elk | December 1st, 2006 at 9:20 am
wow. this really helped alot. this is exactly what I wanted to know…and yes I did get here using google. haha.
16. sickcityxiii | December 8th, 2006 at 6:54 am
wow, perfect write up. Exactly what i was looking for.
I just bought a 4gb stick for my psp and I DO notice that it takes longer for files to transfer onto my PSP.
I just wanted to make sure it didnt slow down the games i load/play off my card. Like GTA which constantly loads off it.
I still havent tried any iso’s yet…
17. sickcityxiii | December 8th, 2006 at 6:55 am
btw…1.5 ownz all. still.
18. julie | January 7th, 2007 at 7:08 am
this helped me a lot. i’m a dumb mom buying this for my 8 yr old so one question….can i use a regular memory card for a digital camera??? psp memory sticks are sold out.
19. Changis | January 17th, 2007 at 2:06 am
“I know this post might seem weird but I wrote it for people who are googling this memory stick information..” Well I thank you, ’cause this was just the info I was looking for.
I would think if you are using it for PSP or similar that the highspeed ones will let you copy movies and stuff faster, but no difference other than that
20. Ed | January 28th, 2007 at 8:07 am
LOL I was just looking for info on this subject. Good thing I found this. Thanks, man. ;)
21. THANK YOU!! | March 9th, 2007 at 4:30 pm
i just typed “high speed memory stick psp” on my google and your site came up… thanks for writing this man!!!!!
22. Charles_atlas | May 10th, 2007 at 11:42 pm
Thanks man ! ASother said, it was EXACTLY what i needed to make up my mind about Hisgh speed or not to High Speed with the PSP
Thanks
23. Dave | May 13th, 2007 at 8:07 pm
Thanks! I was debating three or four different kinds, and you have put my mind at rest! You’ve really saved me money! :D
24. Andrew | August 18th, 2007 at 5:26 am
but one question, if it says it writes faster, then y doesn’t it???? isn’t that misleading the public, cause ive got a 4gb ultra II (highspeed) and now thaqt i have read this, i regret wasting the extra money, but will it write faster on a memory stick reader????
25. Nicosci | September 26th, 2007 at 5:49 pm
Thank you very much for this post.
This is what I really needed, a comparison for the speed of loading games using a normal VS. a high speed one.
@Andrew
I think the high speed capability will be noticeable when your transfering files to your MS but not when playing games on your PSP.
26. Charm | November 12th, 2008 at 6:23 am
Wow, thanks a lot for the info :)
I’m still talking my dad into buying me a psp lol
But at least now I can tell him he’ll save up a bit by buying the regular mem stick :)
Thank you!
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