KillerNIC?

[sweetpants]

I was just reading through slashdot and I saw a link to this

KillerNIC

Was wondering if all their hype is legit, I mean... I've never heard of a 'gaming' NIC... *shrugs*

 

[turkishdrummer]

I saw "killer" for the first time today also. Im gonna wait for some solid reviews on the product before i even think about purchasing it.Also, it better improve my ping and fps tremendously before i spend 270 bucks.

 

[xcryonicx]

yeah, I ran across the ad @ mmorpg.com

Honestly it seems like a gimmick but I'll hold out on calling it that until I see some reviews.

 

[Dante_Jose_Cuervo]

Wow, yeah i'm going to wait for some reviews on this...

I'm not much of a gamer but most NICs are good, even the integrated ones on mobos are fine for most games. The area where NICs become important is like the server/enterprise areas where you need like a quad-channel NIC or a 10Gb ethernet adapter.

 

[xyzunit]

CPL might use it to host matches.... get their ms down from 3-5 to 0-1.

 

[xiii]

Sounds like a bunch of crap to me. Improving ping times doens't mean games will do better, because games don't send or receive data by pinging the server. Also, it does nothing to improve the ISP bandwidth, because it basically can't. Maybe I'll have to eat my own words, but unless it's something like FasterFox (if you don't know what I mean and you use Firefox, do yourself a favor and get it!), I'd say it PPU's have company now in their "no thanks, we'll see" club.

 

[Dante_Jose_Cuervo]

GO FASTERFOX!

Yeah I switched over to firefox about 1 year and a half ago and I got fasterfox about a year ago... I don't regret it, AND IT WAS FREE!

I too think that it sounds a bit fishy... simply because any NIC can be a gaming NIC if you enable TCP/IP offloading (given your ethernet adapter supports that) to give back those few clock cycles to the CPU. However, it can't improve the ISP's bandwidth... maybe what they're saying is that it makes better use of the bandwidth... maybe? I'm not sure as they don't provide too much info on it.

 

[follisj]

It can't improve it! Seriously... read the suggested system requirements:

quote from article:

"Recommended System Configuration:
Athlon 64 3000+ or higher
Intel Pentium IV 2Ghz+
Cable or DSL Connections
1GB RAM"

If you're running at least this system and you're still having problems with your games running, then you have more problems than a NIC is going to help with!

I love this one too:

Quote from article:

"Ping Throttle

When other gamers complain that your Ping is too low, adjust it a little higher until they stop whining. Then, dial it back down and go in for the kill!"

Who the hell complains that my Ping is too LOW!?!?

"NoNutsGamer: GenPip... if your ping doesn't come up above 80, then i'm going to boot you from the server"

This can't possibly help out in any amount that is noticeable. Definately cheese!

 

[mesarectifier]

Posted aages ago. Stupid idea then, stupid idea now.

 

[Dante_Jose_Cuervo]

I like cheese... what kind?

Anyways like I said... it's just a hyped-up NIC.

 

[Alyarbank]

Imagine a Dodge Viper....Stuck in rush hour traffic.....
:lol:

 

[Dante_Jose_Cuervo]

Haven't seen that... but I've seen an enzo, a murcielago and a bugatti veyron stuck in traffic!

 

[chuckshissle]

I hope this doesn't go to the same path as the Ageia PhysX card.

If this thing could do what they are saying it can do then I might get it. Thing is I don't have anymore extra PCI slot for I'm using SLi and X-Fi. The other extra PCI slot is block.

 

[Alyarbank]

It may help on the game servers, by arranging traffic better. But for a client box I think it's overkill in my opinion.

 

[TedMC]

The only thing that i can see it has is an onboard hardware flow control chip.....same as the $40 3com 905....only tell the gamers it can throttle your upload so enemy cant see you and "voila" !!! $275.....

 

[chuckshissle]

it can throttle your upload so enemy cant see you

I don't understand, can you explain that to me.

 

[TedMC]

you really cant put that together in your mind? Do you play online fps games?
Ok,think of it like this.....
MP online games create a client/server data flow that is constantly being updated in both directions wrt to positioning within the "environment" All games are pixelmapped wrt to 1.)location coordinates and 2.)avatar posture and 3.)reticule pointing.
Hypothesis........player breaks his upload ...moves his avatar.... aquires and fires his weapon at a target ...then resumes his upload...what can the game do but obey his commands?
What would the poor opponent see through "his" perspective? An opponent "materializing 3 feet out from the corner" firing at him and klling him??? WTF???? musta been lagg dood!!!!

 

[chuckshissle]

Ok I get it, I thought you mean by going invisible literally on the game. :lol: I play BF2 most of the time and yeah sometimes the server just lagged so much that everyone aren't hitting each other. So do you think this Killer NIC would be a good advantage for online gaming and most of all worth buying?

I'm a big online gamer myself, well been playing for 1 year now actually. But loved it eversince and I'm willing to purchase this new device, bad thing is my extra PCI slot is on the tight spot as one of my grahics card is blocking it a little. I hope there's like a PCI bus extension I could purchase to be able to install this upcoming NIC if Im going to buy it.

 

[TedMC]

So do you think this Killer NIC would be a good advantage for online gaming and most of all worth buying?

You would be cheating,plain and simple .I think it would be a way for kiddies to "cheat" without getting caught. Punkbuster has no checks for broken network connections. This is truly dread...meaning it will probably sell to the 1337 gaming crowd.

 

[chuckshissle]

Then yes I might buy it for total pwn3ge.

 

[Surefoot]

http://enthusiast.hardocp.com/article.html?art=MTE1MywxLCxoZW50aHVzaWFzdA==

 

[num1intern]

It can definately help, but only if software is designed to use it. Same as a graphics card, if you have a dual gfx and the game is for some reason using software rendering it's a waste. So my thoughts are that it won't help older games or even current games, but if new games are designed to take advantage of the extra processor properly it will help.

 

[hijodeltiger]

Well, the only reputable review I've seen is on Anand. Read on.

 

[Dante_Jose_Cuervo]

I think it's a waste of money.

 

[dean7]

http://www.anandtech.com/showdoc.aspx?i=2865

Yeah, it sucks.