$280 Killer NIC card "for gamers"

[Googer]

I am one of the few whom never doubted this thing would work as advertised and now that IGN has had their hands on one for benchmarking, I can show all of you that I am correct


Part 1
http://gear.ign.com/articles/729/729557p1.html

Part 2
http://gear.ign.com/articles/729/729733p1.html

 

[holotech]

coming to a thread near you :

* the test systems suck
* it wasnt preformed right,
* even if its true its not worth 300.
* ign is getting paid for this

i just saved those chosen few some time.

 

[MDE]

NIC card is a little redundant, no?

 

[Kyanzes]

Is this the unsuccessful return of Rollo, or what?

 

[lxskllr]

The problem I have with this isn't so much the price, but in how effective it is. I have more than enough cpu cycles now to cover network duty, and it'll be that much better when my Conroe build's finished.

Most of the problem with ping times is poor network setup, net traffic, and poor server setup. I can fix my network setup for free, the rest I can't do anything about. I could see paying $300 for a nic if it dropped my ping by 10 or more every game. I just don't see it doing that though. There's too many variables not in my control that can screw up my connection , to pay that much for a product that only address 1 portion of the problem.

Edit to fix wrong word at end.

 

[Mark R]

ROLF at that IGN article.

You're testing a NIC that can slightly reduce network packet processing time (a procedure that takes only a few microseconds anyway), and you're getting results of 20-30 ms round-trip time improvement?

The tests were conducted over the internet, on a public server? Surely, the bulk of the latency is going to be at the modem, and over the WAN link?

While it's certainly plausible that such a card could improve frame rates, by offloading work, and reducing I/O blocking time - I'd be quite surprised if any game used blocking I/O, as the performance of this is absolutely horrible.

I'm also a little concerned that this card won't be particularly future proof - the CPU on the card is pretty slow (400 MHz) when compared to modern PC CPUs - it's plausible that it actually takes longer for the on-card CPU to process the data then the host CPU would take. Especially, if you are using a multi-core aware OS/driver and a multi-core CPU.

If you really want to be sure that you are seeing a benefit, I think the only way to test this would be on a high-speed point-to-point LAN (no switches or routers as they can degrade latency) to a dedicated server running in a controlled fashion. You would either need to have some sort of reproducible demo, or else, run sufficient trials that a sensible statistical analysis could be performed (and I don't just mean a mean, I mean confidence intervals and p values).

 

[imported_RedStar]

"FPS also got a nice bump, jumping our average from 74 to 86 fps.

Bigfoot Networks provided benchmarks. F.E.A.R., CounterStrike, and WOW are standouts. We'll be working to confirm such performance gains tomorrow. "

I say we had better wait until tomorrow i don't know where the killer makers came up with this stat ...74-86 FPS just because of a nic card? i don't think so

 

[Lonyo]

Originally posted by: holotech
coming to a thread near you :

* the test systems suck
* it wasnt preformed right,
* even if its true its not worth 300.
* ign is getting paid for this

i just saved those chosen few some time.

Dropping $300 to switch between one generation of graphics card and the next will generally get you a lot less than a 10% fps gain.

That kind of nullifies the whole IGN article.
There are many ways to get a 10% or more gain. Upgrade CPU, upgrade graphics card etc.

On their test system (3.00Ghz Pentium 4s, 1GB RAM, ATI X800 GTO) there are 3 possible upgrades which would be better than the Killer NIC.
1GB RAM extra (it would also be cheaper).
X2 3800+ and a new mobo. (if it's 478)
Other New mobo /CPU (Conroe possible - if it's 775/DDR2)
New graphics card (assuming it's PCIe - X1900XT 256, 78/900GT etc)

So many better value upgrades to improve FPS. And the ping improvements are hardly worth it.
So.... all in all not worth it.

 

[MrUniq]

The main issue is that the card is giving false persceptions..a NIC card may make a slight difference in the pc itself but your actuall speeds vary depending on LAN congestion, location and how much data the server you are accessing sends out. It's entirely random and no matter how fany your NIC card is....it can't change those factors one bit. Speeds will always fluctuate and you'd end up getting the same numbers you had before on an average NIC..probably more times than not. The bittorrent arguement is funny because the bandwidth that BT consumes is more a factor in online games than processing time.

The only thing that card has going for it is offloading some of the security features on the card itself..and for the average desktop user, it's just about a useless feature. The speeds I get on MB's NIC is faster than what I get at work even(not counting firewalls). I bet that card draws significantly more power too.

 

[JackBurton]

Originally posted by: holotech
but the freakin site says pre-order , how can it not be new?
i saw an ad in pc gamer mag, then saw an article about it on Hardocp site just the other day.
i thought i was bringing something new to the forum. it was over at xbitlabs forum.

as for why this is my first post, well ive tried in the past to join with no success, i would never get that message that said "you have succesfully joined now check your mail" i would get a blank page.
but today it worked and this piece of hardware has been on my mind since i heard of it.

i see how that sounds bogus but whatever.
if there was a thread about it i wouldnt have posted this.

ps. ok there is a thread about it, and it started on 8-5-06.
man that guy got flamed.


but again wouldnt it be cool to run like a an anti virus, bit torrent client, and maybe some sort of firewall all on the nic card. forget about the gaming.

Seriously, anyone considering this card is a moron. Why would you need to run anti-virus, bit-torrent and a firewall on a NIC in the era of mutli-core CPUs, especially since Intel in coming out with their quad core CPU soon? If you have an extra $300, you'd be best servered upgrading your processor.

 

[ViRGE]

Originally posted by: Lord Evermore

Originally posted by: MrUniq
waste of money...it's a product for idiots quite frankly. HardOCP should be ashamed...they have no crediblity with me anymore.

I quit going to HardOCP a few months ago with their site redesign. Besides making it an unreadable mashup of clashing colors and bubbly fonts, I can't freaking FIND anything when I go looking for it. Oh, is this article I want something that would be under the enthusiast or consumer sections? Oh guess it doesn't matter now, I've gone blind trying to read the 3-word-wide columns of bright orange text. Bah. Aside from that, their articles bored me and I have plenty of other sites to get the same old tech news, and they seemed to be kind of full of themselves after awhile.

Back on topic, yes, it'd be cool if people bothered to write programs that could be run on this card, such that the OS never even was aware they existed, but there's also plenty of other cheaper ways of doing it all, or ways that we already have to implement and wouldn't be able to eliminate even with the card installed. The performance aspects of it have yet to be proven in real world, proper testing by 3rd parties, and even if they were 100% true would not be worth the cost. They've combined two minor features (performance improvements and running Linux) and priced it higher than both of those combined are worth having.

Humm, you're old, bitter, and wise. We need to make you an Elite member.

 

[kaleaf]

havnt done alot of research on this product but i could see a use for it on a windows 2003 server being used as a router. at my work we have several static ip's and a important server might have a linux box between this and the internet(ipcop firewall ids ect)

someone link some other cards with linux onboard ... thanks... if i could do some linux stuff i want (as long it could used standerd distros)) this card could have a 800$ price tag and be saving us money (power bill running extra linux firewall pc's)

oh il bet on this setup to benifit from everything they claim,,,esp where you can modify(cheat) you ping responce,,, it would have to be hooked directly to the net (set as your public ip) no?

 

[BoberFett]

So the OP registered on this forum today purely to discuss a new product that's all hype and no substance, and we're supposed to believe he's not a shill?

If anybody believes that, I've got a $280 NIC I'd like to sell them.

 

[cessna152]

I say to them. Put up or shut up.

Till then, its all marketing bull and hype.

 

[Spikesoldier]

bye bye shillers

also even if it does what it claims, it does not command a 5,000% price increase over something that only performs 1-2% slower if it even is that much.

lurkers and members of this forum: do not be FOOLED by this hype and marketing targeted towards the uninformed.

 

[Rubycon]

A real "killer nic" has a true hardware firewall, vpn concentrator, os, ram, etc. built in. They use them in places where space is tight like colocation where they charge by the 'U'. (whatever that means. )

But seriously, a Marvell Yukon or Intel Pro 1000 MT/XT on PCI-X or PCI-E would "own" this little "Fatal1ty-esq" whateveryoucall it useless gamer snake-oil, gotcha-should-be-on-an-infomercial thing 1000x over. :laugh:

 

[MielkeHBP]

"NIC card is a little redundant, no?"

thank god someone else noticed....

alright heres the way i see it, yes the price is too much, the claims of what it does are unbelievable, the tests are not done correctly.....but....if everything were true....everything were done right.....and this "Killer NIC" card(lol) was for real, why wouldnt someone buy it??? why dont we all buy an 2002 dell? why do we buy a 100.00 mouse? why do we buy a led keyboard(which doesnt affect sh*t)? why do we buy conroes and fx 62's? why do we buy 2 7950xt512's? because it is the best we can get at the time...i understand that there might be/are better NIC's out there, but atleast they are trying to improve on something that until now, hasnt really been important. I have a slow a** NIC myself but yet im getting fiber optics in less than a month, so for people who want the best(at any cost)...whats the problem.....

-in for the count

 

[Rubycon]

Originally posted by: MielkeHBP
"NIC card is a little redundant, no?"

thank god someone else noticed....

-in for the count

Only when someone puts their PIN number to access ATM machines on it.

 

[Lord Evermore]

Originally posted by: ViRGE
Humm, you're old, bitter, and wise. We need to make you an Elite member.

I don't think "they" will let that happen again.

Aw geez. When did I break 9K? I don't want Lifer status.

 

[zephyrprime]

Can't believe anyone was foolish enough to put money into developing this product.

 

[Lord Evermore]

Well it's not like it could have really cost that much to develop. They only need to sell a few to the bleeding-edge guys with more money than they know what to do with, and they make a profit (not that making a profit is a requirement for business anymore).

 

[fire400]

Originally posted by: Lord Evermore
Well it's not like it could have really cost that much to develop. They only need to sell a few to the bleeding-edge guys with more money than they know what to do with, and they make a profit (not that making a profit is a requirement for business anymore).

how do businesses not put profit in perspective?

clearly Creative had this in mind. they released the Soundblaster 199x version, sold millions. decided to gamble, they gave out the source for their "own" created EAX, which won so many awards they website didn't decide to name 'em all~

X-fi came out, blew the transistors out of every soundcard in the market, offering studio quality sound and technology that marked history, the card sells for a price that a gamer will pick it up, considering they had the time, money and desire for such a soundcard.

the Killer NIC in my perspective is like the Soundblaster 199x version. they are the first to implement such technology onto a network card for mass production to sell for gamers. in the long run, they may be the first to be selling the card, Killer NIC for the same price as the average 10/100 card at the store with better hardware, thus destroying the competition of growing 10/100/1000 cards that will replace the standard 10/100's at a typical computer shop, for example, who knows if it will ever happen, wireless networks are dominating.

even if the card is negligable with software enhancements already existant, the onboard hardware already yeilds research ready to open the gates to wireless-based environments that will require much harder coding for the extremes of gigabit/terabit wireless networks. all haters of expensive hardware can hate, but this card will be 2 dollars at a Goodwill in the future. you yesterday-kids need to grow up, "it's a rip off," who the fvck cares? then don't buy it, idiots.

 

[0roo0roo]

as for the ping of 17, i had ping go that low in cs source yesterday on my intel pro s pci network card through sbc dsl woowee

as for ign, maybe they should have tested adding 300 dollars of video card to the system to see how much a performance increase that nets vs the network card you know, just to put this into perspective

 

[Rubycon]

Originally posted by: fire400

X-fi came out, blew the transistors out of every soundcard in the market, offering studio quality sound and technology that marked history, the card sells for a price that a gamer will pick it up, considering they had the time, money and desire for such a soundcard.

Please stop with the X-Fi nonsense. The card is hardly studio quality - as a matter of fact you will not find one in any reputable studio. It may be fine for sound in games - which samplings are very mediocre at best when compared to studio sound. Products with superior specification and sound quality have been around for *years* before the X-Fi. Don't even get me started on their so called driver support.

 

[xtknight]

Since we're talking about audio cards, what's a comparable card to the X-Fi (sound quality wise) that includes Linux support and is available at a decent price? I don't need game acceleration support.