Club3D Multi-Streaming Transport Hub Review

Final Thoughts

Pricing

Some might look twice when they see the price of Club 3D’s MST Hub (CSV-5300A), but considering what you get and what another graphics card will cost you in comparison, it isn’t bad at all. At the time of writing this review, the MST Hub can be had for $108.75, £86.93, and €126.99 respectively at Amazon in the US, UK, and Germany.

Club 3D’s Y-cabled Docking Station (CSV-3203) isn’t the cheapest around, but it’s also one of the best. Amazon has it in stock for $145.99, £142.28, and €151.14 in the US, UK, and Germany.

Conclusion

Club 3D has a lot of experience in the graphics sector and they’ve released quality graphics cards for years, so I had nothing but great expectation when I started this review and play around with these two cool devices. I might as well start off by saying, I wasn’t disappointed and both lived up to all my expectation without the least bit of trouble.

The MST-Hub, or Multi Stream Transport Hub in long, fills a great void in the world of connecting monitors to your graphics card. The ability to split a simple DisplayPort connection into three is awesome and it seriously increases the easy of which you can create multi-monitor setups. The MST-Hub has an active converter and as such works with passive adapters for DVI and HDMI monitors. This is another great bonus and one that people will love. Get the cheapest adapter around and it will still work with Club 3D’s MST Hub.

There isn’t much else to say to this device, it works as it should and it does it great. It also looks good with its simple black design with Club 3D logo on top. The cable is very short and fixed and that might be the only downside for some people. A removable cable would have been nice on the one side, on the other side it would be another part that could be accidentally unplugged while being behind your system and at tough to reach spots.

Next to the MST hub, Club 3D also sent me their newest docking station to test and I loved this one too. It is a very compact unit that’s easy to carry with you on the road if that’s you wish, or it’ll just look good at home waiting for you to get there and hook up your notebook or ultrabook.

With a single mini-DisplayPort cable, you can connect up to two monitors to your system and the USB 3 connection allows you to connect not only three USB 3.0 devices, but also a full speed Gigabit Ethernet connection. Having too few USB ports to connect everything on your mobile devices doesn’t need to decrease productivity with a docking station like this. You can connect it all at the same time and also enjoy a more stable wired network than a at times problematic wireless connection depending on coverage.

Both the Club 3D MST Hub and the Y-Cabled Docking station did very well and at least as good as advertised. They are without a doubt devices that are built to help with your productivity and they do that great and where the MST Hub is suited for any system, the docking station would especially rock on the newer Surface PCs with mini DisplayPort and USB out as well as enough power to drive multiple monitors.

Pros

• Easy to use, just plug and play (except LAN drivers)
• Increase monitor connectivity without extra graphics cards
• Good build quality
• Great USB and LAN performance
• Appealing minimalistic design

Neutral

• Short and Fixed cables

“If your setup is short of connections for all your monitors and you don’t want to invest in an extra graphics card just for that, then the Club 3D MST Hub is the perfect choice for you. It’s plug and play and it just works right away and all the time.”

“The Club 3D Y-Cabled docking station increases the usability of your notebook or ultrabook with just two connections and can increase your productivity immensely. If you don’t have a docking station already or want a new one with mini DisplayPort connections, get the CSV-3203.”

Thank you Club 3D for providing us with these samples.