Kingston MobileLite Duo 3C Review

USB can be extremely useful due to its universal standards across the manufacturers, however, the connector itself may causing quite a lot of confusion to general consumers. Not to mention when you are trying to access to certain data on a microSD card only to find that you're stuck with a device without SD card slot or wrong USB connector.

In this review, we are going to take a look at the Kingston MobileLite Duo 3C USB 3.1 Gen 1 microSD reader. This is a special reader where it supports dual interface - USB Type-A and USB Type-C, both capable of delivering USB 3.1 Gen 1 speed.

Product Highlights:

• Interface: USB 3.1 Gen 1 (Type-A & Type-C)
• Supported card formats: microSD, microSDHC UHS-I, microSDXC UHS-I
• Casing material: Aluminium
• Warranty: 2 years limited warranty

Packaging

A typical packaging just like any other USB flash drives on the market. The reader is securely fitted into the plastic enclosure with rigid cardboard envelope.

This illustration perfectly showcased the use of the MobileLite Duo 3C microSD card reader. The USB Type-C interface is not just suitable for smartphones, it is also useful for the new MacBook and MacBook Pro owners where the laptop lacks the USB Type-A port and SD card slot.

What's included in the box is the reader itself and a lace.

The lace allows you to secure the cap to the reader with some room for the cap removal.

In this review, we will be using the provided Kingston latest Gold series microSDXC card with UHS-I Class 3 speed. It has a capacity of 64GB.

Slotting the microSD card into the reader. The body of the card reader is made of aluminium alloy and it gives the user a solid and premium impression. The downside, however, is that the reader itself will become uncomfortably hot while plugged in.

It works just like a regular USB flash drive.

With Type-C interface, you can now access any content in your microSD card from a phone without having the need to pop out the SIM or microSD tray.

Real World Usage

Read Speed

The Kingston Gold series microSDXC U3 is promised to have 90 MBps read and 40 MBps write speed.

Write Speed

As you can see, the reader itself has no problem keeping up with the card's potential.

Final Thoughts

The Kingston MobileLite Duo 3C is an excellent accessory for content creators. If you fly drones or operates action cams, you will appreciate how easy it is to access the videos and photos you shot directly from your mobile devices.

Official selling price in Malaysia has not been decided at the time of writing of this review. So we can't say anything regarding whether the pricing is great or too expensive.

Pros:

• Excellent build quality
• USB Type-A and Type-C connectors
• Can be used as USB flash drive
• USB 3.1 Gen 1 speed

Cons:

• Metal body gets uncomfortably hot while in use

ASUS Announces Z170 Series Motherboards

Malaysia, Kuala Lumpur (6th August, 2015) — ASUS today announced a complete lineup of Z170 motherboards designed to maximize the potential of 6th-generation Intel® Core™ processors. The high-end ROG and mid-range Pro Gaming motherboards, feature-rich ASUS Signature, and TUF Series motherboards feature exclusive technologies that ensure better performance stability, ease-of-use, and comprehensive upgrade options. These motherboards are also compatible with the first 100W USB 3.1 power delivery (UPD) front panel.

ROG prides itself in combining exceptional performance with stunning design. The ROG Maximus VIII Series dominated the 2D, Legacy, and Unigine Heaven benchmarks – setting eight world records and achieving 12 first global places.

The Sabertooth Z170 Mark 1 brings a completely new design language to TUF motherboards, with its futuristic battle-inspired sleek and stealthy Thermal Armor finished in black and metal gray color — a powerful statement of style and strength. TUF ICe, Thermal Radar 2, and TUF Detective 2 deliver complete and customizable system cooling and monitoring that can be controlled via Thermal Radar software or mobile devices. The military-grade components used in TUF motherboards undergo the industry’s most-punishing tests to ensure reliable 24/7 durability.

“With over 500 million motherboards sold, ASUS is the No.1 motherboard maker and as always keen to offer breakthrough, easy-to-use, stable and trusted motherboards to the market. We are proud to introduce our complete Z170 Series motherboard lineup for extreme performance and the best user experience,” said Jackie Hsu, Corporate Vice President and General Manager of Worldwide Sales, ASUS Open Platform Business Group.

Innovative overclocking-friendly technologies

ASUS Pro Clock technology has a dedicated base-clock (BCLK) generator designed for 6th-generation Intel® processors for overclocked base clock frequencies of up to 400MHz and beyond. It works in tandem with the ASUS TurboV Processing Unit (TPU) to enhance voltage and base-clock overclocking control, and boosts performance up to 5.2GHz or more.

Second-generation ASUS T-Topology takes DDR4 memory overclocking to new heights. A customized trace layout reduces crosstalk and coupling noise to ensure time-aligned signal transfer for improved memory stability and compatibility. There is also enhanced DDR3/3L support on select motherboards for additional flexibility and compatibility.

5-Way Optimization, another ASUS-exclusive technology, dynamically optimizes essential aspects of the system based on real-time use, ensuring superb processor performance, everyday energy savings, ultra-stable digital power, cool and quiet fans and networking and audio settings that are tailored for preferred apps — perfect for gaming, entertainment, productivity or just about anything else. This latest iteration now includes a dedicated water-pump header so users can tweak pump speeds via the UEFI BIOS or Windows.

Record-breaking ROG performance

The ROG Maximus VIII Series has set eight world records (WR) and achieved 12 global first places (GFP) in benchmarks. It achieved the best CPU frequency for an i5-6600K processor, with a frequency of 6.808GHz; and the highest reference clock (BCLK) with a frequency of 552.27MHz. Other records are highlighted in the table below. 

Category	Benchmark	New score	WR/GFP*
2D benchmarks	Cinebench R11.5 - 4x	15.83	GFP
	Cinebench R15 - 4x	1410	GFP
	GPU Pi for CPU 1B - 4x	4mn 01sec 055ms	GFP
	Geekbench3 - single core	6946	WR
	Geekbench3 - x4	27271	GFP
	HWBOT Prime - 4x	7675.29	GFP
	PiFast	9 sec 470ms	WR
	wPrime 32M - 4x	3sec 152ms	GFP
	wPrime 1024M - 4x	1mn 38sec 967ms	GFP
	XTU - 4x	1712	GFP
Category	Benchmark	New score	WR / GFP
Legacy benchmarks	Aquamark
	1x GPU	596039	WR
	3DMark2001 SE
	1x GPU	194767	WR
	3DMark03
	1x GPU	294423	GFP
	2x GPU	307658	WR
	3DMark05
	1x GPU	78917	WR
	3Dmark06
	1x GPU	61613	WR
Category	Benchmark	New score	WR / GFP
3D Benchmark	Unigine Heaven - Xtreme preset
	1x GPU	7619.962	GFP
	2x GPU	9511.916	WR

Unparalleled connectivity: first 100W UPD front panel & onboard U.2 connector for Z170 platform

The new Z170 Series motherboards feature onboard USB 3.1 Gen 2 Type-A and Type-C ports to provide users with data transfer speeds of up to 10Gbit/s. On top of that, ASUS also offers the first 100W UPD front panel with two USB 3.1 Type-C ports. The upcoming Maximus VIII Extreme will be the first Z170 motherboard to feature an onboard U.2 connector along with Thunderbolt 3 support. Future models, such as the Z170-Premium and Z170-Pro motherboards, will feature Thunderbolt 3 and Intel USB 3.1 support respectively. The entire Z170 motherboard range supports the latest PCI Express® and M.2 NVM Express SSDs to deliver 32Gbit/s data transfer speeds. 

All motherboards feature either 5X Protection II or Gamer’s Guardian, ensuring the finest components, exceptional circuit design, and exacting standards. The motherboards also feature LANGuard, overvoltage protection, precise digital power, overcurrent protection and a stainless-steel back I/O to ensure product quality, durability, and all-round protection.

Further details of the full range of Z170 Series motherboards can be found in the individual press releases distributed with this release. 

AVAILABILITY & PRICING

ASUS Z170 Series motherboards will be available in Malaysia in Mid of August 2015. 

MSI releases the ultimate gaming motherboard, X99A GODLIKE GAMING.

MYSTIC LIGHT RGB LEDs, Audio Boost 3 PRO and Killer DoubleShot-X3 PRO ensure a gameplay experience out of this world

MSI, world leading in motherboard technology, announces the most powerful X99 gaming solution, the X99A GODLIKE GAMING motherboard. Featuring Killer DoubleShot-X3 Pro, Turbo M.2 connectivity, 2X Faster USB 3.1 Type-A and Type-C and a whole new gaming oriented LED feature, MYSTIC LIGHT, the X99A GODLIKE GAMING is the most powerful motherboard to serve you in battle.

Style your PC with the RGB LEDs from Mystic Light

The X99A GODLIKE GAMING is world’s first RGB LED motherboard, supporting more than 2000 colors and many style presets such as breathing, flashing and waving. Make your build look on fire or cold as ice. You are in control. Simply select any of the colors from the palette to match the systems’ design. Just change it to another one using the easy to use Mystic Light APP available on PC, phone and tablet, and make your PC look & feel brand new! With 2048 different colors and 7 different LED modes, the Mystic Light provides infinite possibilities for gamers to personalize their gaming rig.

DoubleShot-X3 PRO, team up latest KillerTM 1535 Wi-Fi with Dual-LAN

Killer DoubleShot-X3 Pro allows the 2x killerTM Ethernet connectors and the KillerTM 1535 Wi-Fi adapter to work together for the ultimate high speed attack. The Killer Network Manager decides which apps runs on which connection for gaming traffic optimization. This will give you the max throughput as high as 2.867 Gbps. In addition, the latest KillerTM 1535 Wi-Fi AC provides a significant technology for gamers, the ExtremeRangeTM Technology. The ExtremeRangeTM Technology includes Transmit Beamforming, MU-MIMO Support and External Amplifiers and benefits gamers 2.4x of networking stability and 25% more of wireless performance. With the latest KillerTM 1535 Wi-Fi AC, gamers could take advantage of the various network usages in both gaming and streaming.

Heavenly sound with Audio Boost 3 PRO

Enjoy the best and purest sound through Audio Boost 3 PRO. New Audio Boost 3 PRO comes with a luxurious Hi-Fi ESS 9018K2M DAC, delivering studio-grade audio quality, onboard! This high-end dedicated onboard sound card delivers 120dB SNR 192 kHz/32-bit of purest sound quality via a dedicated 6.3mm stereo headphone out. Audio Boost 3 PRO makes sure you dominate the battlefield through crystal clear sound and pin-point precision.

With Nahimic, enjoy sound that pushes the limits of reality

At the very cutting edge of innovation, Nahimic sound technology has been approved for its quality and precision in projects undertaken by the military field, and also the aeronautics industry. Now, they are looking to make some serious noise in the world of gaming by becoming the next piece of your lethal arsenal. Nahimic places your user experience right at the heart of their software, offering you highly sought-after gaming benefits: Virtual Sound, Voice Leveler, Bass Boost, Noise Gate & Reduction and HD Audio Recorder. Lastly, Nahimic is unveiling their HD Audio Recorder for the very first time: this function will enable you to enjoy studio quality sound to immortalize your streamed games – all in one click!

2X FASTER USB 3.1 Type-C & Type-A combined

Transferring your favorite games, music and movies over USB has never been faster. USB 3.1 enables lightning fast transfer speeds up to 10Gb/s! The unique combo connector found on the X99A GODLIKE GAMING motherboard offers both a USB 3.1 Type-C and USB 3.1 Type-A connector. Get all the performance benefits from USB 3.1 combined with the convenience of the USB Type-C connector. This reversible connector allows for effortless connecting of USB devices. The USB 3.1 combo connector allows the use of USB 3.1 Type-A and Type-C at the same time.

Take advantage from next-gen storage solutions

Enjoy a blazing fast system boot up and insanely fast loading of applications and games with MSI GAMING motherboards. As SATA Express has never evolved into something real for gamers, MSI offers a whole new generation of high speed storage support through Turbo M.2, Turbo U.2 and 2X FASTER USB 3.1. Turbo M.2 transfers data through a PCI Express 3.0 x4 interface up to 32 Gb/s, making it 5x faster than SATA 3.0 solutions. With a Turbo U.2 Host Card which fits in a M.2 slot, the X99A GODLIKE GAMING also supports the latest and greatest high performance SSDs such as the new Intel 750 series. With support for NVMe, data transfer speeds have never been faster. As a result of innovative engineering the X99A GODLIKE GAMING motherboard also offers both USB 3.1 Type-A and Type-C interface for the most convenient and fast mobile storage solutions.

SteelSeries Certified

Get the best experience for your SteelSeries gear by choosing MSI GAMING. Enthusiast gaming gear brand SteelSeries has officially approved MSI GAMING motherboards and other MSI GAMING products as ‘SteelSeries Certified (SSC)’. Your SteelSeries keyboard, mouse and other top quality gaming gear work best on MSI GAMING products.

Designed for overclocking with patented Turbo Socket

With a rich history of breaking world records inherited from MSI’s legendary Overclocking motherboards and the presence of unique OC features, the X99A GODLIKE GAMING has OC running through its veins. The patented Turbo Socket is one of the features that removes all limits by providing extra pins (2036 in total) for better overlocking of the Intel® enthusiast processors. Turbo Socket allows for higher DDR4 memory frequencies, lower latencies and enhanced stability while overclocking.

• Model: X99A GODLIKE GAMING ACK
• CPU support: LGA 2011-v3 socket for new Intel® Core™ i7 processors
• Chipset: Intel® X99 Express Chipset
• Network: Killer™ Gigabit Ethernet, Killer™ 1535 802.11 ac, BT 4.1
• Storage: 1x Turbo M.2 32Gb/s, 10x SATA 6Gb/s (1x SATA Express including)
• Connectivity: 5x PCI-e 3.0 x16, 1x USB 3.1 Type-C, 1x USB 3.1 Type-A 8x USB 3.0, 6x USB 2.0, 8-channel Audio Boost 3 PRO including 1x 6.35mm jack

Kingston showcase its latest line up of Kingston and HyperX products with a performance that you'll never forget

  

While everyone gathered at Nangang Exhibition Hall and Taipei World Trade Center to exhibit their latest products, Kingston has decided to put on a show somewhere else instead. We're here at Kingston's experience zone to experience what Kingston has brought for us this year! 

Here's the HyperX Cloud and Cloud II gaming headset, Kingston's successful attempt to give the end user something that is not related to memory, but gaming. We've tested the HyperX Cloud II personally and that's an outstanding performance that worth a thousand praise. 

Surprised? That's a gaming mouse pad from Kingston alright, the HyperX Skyn, It's super thin and it did somehow reminded us the ROCCAT Siru.

Don't like thin mouse pad, there's the HyperX Fury gaming mouse pad. 

Now here's something that we're all familiar with, Kingston's SSD, memory cards, flash drives. Some new products that we've spotted here is the Data Traveler microDuo 3C, Data Traveler Micro 3.1 and MobileLite wireless mobile companion.

Moving on with the HyperX line up, while HyperX SSD has been pretty common nowadays. but the Fury flash drive did surprise us. 

Now this baby shines! A 1TB USB flash drive

Now to the performance RAMs, the HyperX Fury, HyperX Savage and HyperX Predator.

Here's another surprise from Kingston, bling on HyperX Savage memory! We're really looking forward to see what's coming.

That's a nicely done HyperX themed CM Storm Trooper they have there!

Wide variation of the HyperX Cloud gaming headset on display.

That's a huge HyperX Cloud headset! We can see a performance coming, but what kind of performance can we expect?

A stunning performance from the renown 羅小白, it's our first time seeing her performance LIVE. This is definitely something we've never experienced before from any other vendors, not only that we get to experience some of the new products from Kingston but also an enjoyable live performance, that's a 'kill two birds with one stone'.