Bigfoot Networks Killer NIC & Killer K1 Network Cards
Conclusion
Published: 21st March 2007 | Source: Killer NIC | Price: |
Without a doubt the Killer NIC is one of the most technologically advanced network cards I'll ever lay my hands on. Bigfoot Networks have clearly put a lot of time and research into the Killer NIC and have gone to extraordinary lengths to bypass the bottlenecks found in the Windows networking stack. In addition to this, the FNA architecture allows developers to make use of the Killer NIC's platform - undoubtedly increasing the cards appeal as new and innovative applications are released in the future.
However, the results from our tests proved to be less than compelling and I can honestly say that if I'd purchased this card with a view to improving my FPS and ping, I'd be disappointed. It is quite possible that our test machine and server set-up left little room for any achievable improvement by the card, but it is my opinion that the user group with the largest interest in the Killer NIC is going to be people that are already running top-spec systems. For anyone running a lower spec'd PC, the results will most likely be much more noticable, but at ~$180 for the baseline Killer K1 card, surely wouldn't these people be better investing in an extra 1gb ram or a new graphics card?
Another factor to take into consideration is that the Killer NIC's results do seem to be largely dependant on the game played. Whilst Overclock3D is primarily an FPS (First-Person Shooter) community and our testing reflects this, lots of people are reporting that the Killer NIC really shines when used with MMO games like World Of Warcraft.
On another note, I would be interested to see how the Killer NIC performs inside one of the Overclock3D game servers. With a large percentage of it's traffic being UDP based, maybe the card would be better suited to this kind of environment and could actually help reduce the ping of all players on the server. If we get an opportunity to perform this test any time in the near future, we'll be sure to update this review.
Pros
• The best looking NIC the world has ever seen!
• A good idea with plenty of future potential.
• Reported to produce best results with MMO games on lower spec systems.
Cons
• Expensive
• Little or no gain on high-end PC's in FPS games.
• ~$180 could buy a more worthwhile upgrade.
• Didn't play nicely with our Windows 2003 x64 system.
Thanks to Bigfoot Networks for making this review possible.
Manufacturer Response
In order for all reviews to remain fair and accurate, Overclock3D allows every manufacturer 24 hours to respond to any comments or issues brought up during the review. Bigfoot Networks have taken this opportunity to highlight the following points:
| 1) We are glad you saw the smoother and lower Pings and the significant frame rate improvement on F.E.A.R. and CounterStrike. We believe you would have seen even more noticeable improvement had the testing been done on maps where other players were playing too. Killer is designed to give you that extra performance edge you need when the explosions are going off and the bullets are flying all around you. Those are the precise moments where you can’t afford to lose your CPU due to networking or to have a latency spike, and Killer helps in both cases. 2) In regards to your x64 experience, we only support Windows XP and Vista so it is no surprise that you experienced trouble on Windows 2003. We support both 32 and 64 bit versions of Windows XP and Vista. 3) There is a significant feature of Killer that was not tested as part of this review, and we would love it if you had the time to take a look at it and incorporate it into this article. The feature is our hardware offloaded torrent downloader, called FN Torrent. This program consists of an easy-to-use Windows application that works with a torrent client that runs on Killer’s Flexible Network Architecture. The idea is that you plug a USB thumb drive or hard drive to the back of Killer, and then when you run FN Torrent you can download an unlimited number of torrents without impacting your CPU utilization at all. Literally, your CPU utilization stays at 0% while you are downloading your movies, songs, etc… Because of that and the other features of Killer, you can actually play an online game while downloading tons of torrents and your game play will not be smooth, fast, and unaffected by the torrent downloader. |
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Most Recent Comments
Yeah, a bit expensive as it's about the same price over here $175-200. I guess I really fail to see where NIC's incur that much cost, same with the Killer? So you can buy single port NIC's for $5, but that extra port justifies a price jump of $175? WTH? And I would assume that the Killer's CPU is probably powerful enough to handle the second port without problems. This would be a good time for Killer to come answer some more questions :p
The intel's expensive because it's a new product and it's going to have demand. The Killer.... because Bigfoot have an overblown self efficacy? ;)Yeah, a bit expensive as it's about the same price over here $175-200. I guess I really fail to see where NIC's incur that much cost, same with the Killer? So you can buy single port NIC's for $5, but that extra port justifies a price jump of $175? WTH?
its the technology of it. Most $5 NIC's are cheap, where as server NICs like intel or boardcom have the TCP offload engine, or teaming.
w00t Phnom, I just found a used OEM expi9402pt on eBay for $65 and picked it up :D Bidding on 2 more cable modems now too, w00tage!
Now your talking. But your board SHOULD have one gigabit ethernet port right? Just get another gigabit card and use that extra PCI slot.Thus the reason Intel decided to EOL it's PCI-based card and upgraded it to a PCI-X platform, but there is STILL a market for a PCI dual port NIC which needs to be filled. Hence myself needing one, there's a market for it as I'm sure I'm not the only one needing a dual port NIC which uses PCI. Now a PCI-E dual port NIC would be about the greatest thing since sliced bread, use up some of these seemingly useless slots on my mobo.
w00t Phnom, I just found a used OEM expi9402pt on eBay for $65 and picked it up :D Bidding on 2 more cable modems now too, w00tage!
Great news Fraggles .. i take it they are Moto Surfboards/Techie friendly
Next week on OCN: Frag opens up a hosting company and the RIAA Move in next door
I read the reveiw and I must say, im not impressed.
Nice review, good read but the "NPU" is pants... :(
Nice review, good read but the "NPU" is pants... :(
w00t Phnom, I just found a used OEM expi9402pt on eBay for $65 and picked it up :D Bidding on 2 more cable modems now too, w00tage!
Good stuff! :D.
Nice review.
One thing ...
A piece of hardware such as this will not have much effect on your online gaming ping times by itself. It can't.
Ping times/lag are a function of the network you are on as a whole. And you only have control over very little of it.
Once it has left your network it is out of your hands.
You want low "online" gaming ping times?
Here's what you have to do.
1) Get the fastest NIC you can afford, Gigabit etc. Fiber optics is good. Then get a second one and install the both of them.
In Windows you can "bridge" the two of them and in effect double you connection speed. But ONLY on you local network.
In Linux/Unix you can use "bonding" to accomplish the same thing. Mac users? Don't have a clue, so good luck.
2) Get a network switch that matches you new NICs.
3) Make sure that the cables that you connect your computer to your network are "top of the line". Gold connectors, etc.
4) Pay an arm and a leg for as fast an internet connection as you can. Anything as fast as YOUR network hardware is good.
Faster then it is, is better.
5) Hope that you are really getting the bandwidth you are paying for. Remember that most bandwidth is measured in bits, not bytes. Providers have been known to stretch the truth when they tell you what speeds you are getting/paying for.
And last but not least, if you beleave in such things ...
Pray that the server has at least as good networking/bandwidth as you. That there are not to many hops between you and the server. That the weather is good everywhere between you and the server. And that about another 100 things that you have no control over, go your way.
On a local network, such as a LAN Party, it can help. A bit. Anything that reduces the amount of work on you system can help. Like an FPU, or a GPU reduces the load on your CPU. Like a faster FSB or more memory. Multi-processors or multi-core processors. Can and will help just as much.
Sorry people.
But there is one thing that hardware like this does, ok there are two.
The first is it looks soooooooo cool. Second and most importantly, is the physic value. At your local LAN Party, IF your buddies think that this new NIC CAN or WILL give you an advantage over them, it has. Not it WILL give you an advantage, it HAS.
So show it off. Brag about what the maker says about it. Then go and frag their sorry butts. They deserve it. And so do you.
George
One thing ...
A piece of hardware such as this will not have much effect on your online gaming ping times by itself. It can't.
Ping times/lag are a function of the network you are on as a whole. And you only have control over very little of it.
Once it has left your network it is out of your hands.
You want low "online" gaming ping times?
Here's what you have to do.
1) Get the fastest NIC you can afford, Gigabit etc. Fiber optics is good. Then get a second one and install the both of them.
In Windows you can "bridge" the two of them and in effect double you connection speed. But ONLY on you local network.
In Linux/Unix you can use "bonding" to accomplish the same thing. Mac users? Don't have a clue, so good luck.
2) Get a network switch that matches you new NICs.
3) Make sure that the cables that you connect your computer to your network are "top of the line". Gold connectors, etc.
4) Pay an arm and a leg for as fast an internet connection as you can. Anything as fast as YOUR network hardware is good.
Faster then it is, is better.
5) Hope that you are really getting the bandwidth you are paying for. Remember that most bandwidth is measured in bits, not bytes. Providers have been known to stretch the truth when they tell you what speeds you are getting/paying for.
And last but not least, if you beleave in such things ...
Pray that the server has at least as good networking/bandwidth as you. That there are not to many hops between you and the server. That the weather is good everywhere between you and the server. And that about another 100 things that you have no control over, go your way.
On a local network, such as a LAN Party, it can help. A bit. Anything that reduces the amount of work on you system can help. Like an FPU, or a GPU reduces the load on your CPU. Like a faster FSB or more memory. Multi-processors or multi-core processors. Can and will help just as much.
Sorry people.
But there is one thing that hardware like this does, ok there are two.
The first is it looks soooooooo cool. Second and most importantly, is the physic value. At your local LAN Party, IF your buddies think that this new NIC CAN or WILL give you an advantage over them, it has. Not it WILL give you an advantage, it HAS.
So show it off. Brag about what the maker says about it. Then go and frag their sorry butts. They deserve it. And so do you.
George
CSS Valid
Onboard gigabit's kinda filled the gap in the pci market. It usually bypasses the pci bus and goes straight into the chipset avoiding the bottle neck.