Originally posted by valium83
But why does it cost that much!!!

I don't know how much it costs them to manufacture the card, but I do know that the only other NICs on the market with built in network processing units cost upwards of $800 US, and they aren't really meant for consumers. Also, it's new technology, so the retail price is bound to drop as the cost to manufacture them goes down. Remember earlier this year when the new NVidia 7900 video cards cost over $500? Now you can pick up a new 7950 for less than $300. It's not just because the new 8800 cards are out, it's because the cost of manufacturing the chips for the 7900 series dropped dramatically.

All I really see that this thing does is offload overhead from the CPU and prioritize traffic.

Traffic prioritization can be done at your router (or via software on the system)
Offloading CPU only means you need a faster CPU which is probably cheaper to just get an upgraded CPU for your system.

All in all for power-tweakers this might be an option but I don't see it as something your average gamer is going to want to sink money on.  Bleeding edge systems are going to see VERY little, if any, benefit from this sucker and, honestly, anything else you'll get a lot more bang for your buck by upgrading ram, processor, mobo, audio or video (or all of the above).

Good review, though.  It's nice to see a well written and thought out review on this site.  I would love to see more reviews done in this manner.

saying a NIC can increase FPS in an MMORPG is like saying getting a new blender will help you make better toast. unless you're using a 1400 baud modem, a new nic isn't going to help much.

it's misleading to state this to people who don't know what hardware is and what it does. you say your self that you aren't a hardware site, and one of the first comments on this article even points out 'that this is the first positive review of the Killer NIC i've ever seen'.

then we have people chiming in with crap like:

This is a great article. It relates to the MMOG gameplay and is not tech-infested with charts. I had a fun time reading this article and I hope more like this will come!

god forbid we have charts. those might show how much something like this is a huge waste of money.

and:

I'm still a spetic on the issue, but I think you figured there would still be those spetic's still around on the issue of this card.

spetic?


bottom line:

don't waste your money on this crap. it'll give you as much of an increase in performance as a new exterior case (i.e. ZERO).

a faster connection will help lag, not a swanky new NIC with a big stupid K on the chipset.

i hope anyone actually reading this review does more research before they plunk down hard earned dollars for this thing.

[H]ardOCP says:

I see a product such as this carving out a solid niche in the high-dollar boutique gaming boxes that we see sold from companies like Velocity Micro, Maingear, Falcon Northwest, and Dell's XPS class machines. When you are buying a $3000+ computer, I see many opting for the fancy NIC that they likely know nothing about to begin with.

http://enthusiast.hardocp.com/article.html?art=MTE1MywyLCxoZW50aHVzaWFzdA==

Anandtech says:

Our current opinion is, without FNapps, improved performance across a wider variety of titles, and a significantly lower price tag, this card is destined to be nothing more than an interesting footnote in the annals of hardware history.

http://www.anandtech.com/showdoc.aspx?i=2865&p=11




these are HARDWARE REVIEW SITES. not fluff guys that put it in their box and look around orgimmar for a sec.

First of all, i enjoyed reading the test. Very good writing, Jeremy.

As for it's usefullness, i suggest you first check your provider and his routings. My provider offers a fast ping routing for an additional monthly fee. This instantly changed my ping from ~200ms to 60-80ms.

I like the concept of the card with the ability to provide more specialized applications (like Ventrillo/Teamspeak) possibly even USB keyboards/controlles to free up more CPU resources. It might all be small improvements but it could be quite good if used to it's full potential.

Thanks for the interesting review.

Originally posted by mynameisob3l
saying a NIC can increase FPS in an MMORPG is like saying getting a new blender will help you make better toast. unless you're using a 1400 baud modem, a new nic isn't going to help much.

it's misleading to state this to people who don't know what hardware is and what it does. you say your self that you aren't a hardware site, and one of the first comments on this article even points out 'that this is the first positive review of the Killer NIC i've ever seen'.

then we have people chiming in with crap like:

This is a great article. It relates to the MMOG gameplay and is not tech-infested with charts. I had a fun time reading this article and I hope more like this will come!

god forbid we have charts. those might show how much something like this is a huge waste of money.

and:

I'm still a spetic on the issue, but I think you figured there would still be those spetic's still around on the issue of this card.

spetic?


bottom line:

don't waste your money on this crap. it'll give you as much of an increase in performance as a new exterior case (i.e. ZERO).

a faster connection will help lag, not a swanky new NIC with a big stupid K on the chipset.

i hope anyone actually reading this review does more research before they plunk down hard earned dollars for this thing.

[H]ardOCP says:

I see a product such as this carving out a solid niche in the high-dollar boutique gaming boxes that we see sold from companies like Velocity Micro, Maingear, Falcon Northwest, and Dell's XPS class machines. When you are buying a $3000+ computer, I see many opting for the fancy NIC that they likely know nothing about to begin with.

http://enthusiast.hardocp.com/article.html?art=MTE1MywyLCxoZW50aHVzaWFzdA==

Anandtech says:

Our current opinion is, without FNapps, improved performance across a wider variety of titles, and a significantly lower price tag, this card is destined to be nothing more than an interesting footnote in the annals of hardware history.

http://www.anandtech.com/showdoc.aspx?i=2865&p=11




these are HARDWARE REVIEW SITES. not fluff guys that put it in their box and look around orgimmar for a sec.

It's interesting that you choose to quote from a preview article at [H]ardOCP, but ignore the fact that Killer NIC won an Editors Choice Silver award from them in the December 08, 2006 review.

http://enthusiast.hardocp.com/article.html?art=MTIzOSwxLCxoZW50aHVzaWFzdA==

Anandtech also notes that while they were unimpressed overall, the Killer NIC does do what it says: i.e. it lowers ping and increases framerates.

As for us not being a hardware site: it's true. I admit it. I review hardware from the Every-Joe perspective, so that the people who play MMORPGs can read a review and figure out if it is right for them and their game without trying to decypher a bunch of techno-babble. Does this mean I don't know what I am talking about and I am not qualified to techno-babble? NO. Truth is, my day job is at a pharmaceutical automation company supporting computers, robots, and bleeding edge technology. Before I worked at my current job, I worked for IBM supervising the inspection of chip carrier products for customers such as ATI, Nintendo, and Tivo. If I'm not qualified to review hardware, I don't know who would be.

You may want to actually read articles instead of cherry-picking comments that you think will support your point of view. Both sites you quote from confirm that the Killer NIC does indeed improve FPS. Have fun with your cute little blender-toast analogies over there in blissfull ignorance land.

Originally posted by Agent_X7

It's interesting that you choose to quote from a preview article at [H]ardOCP, but ignore the fact that Killer NIC won an Editors Choice Silver award from them in the December 08, 2006 review.

http://enthusiast.hardocp.com/article.html?art=MTIzOSwxLCxoZW50aHVzaWFzdA==

Anandtech also notes that while they were unimpressed overall, the Killer NIC does do what it says: i.e. it lowers ping and increases framerates.

As for us not being a hardware site: it's true. I admit it. I review hardware from the Every-Joe perspective, so that the people who play MMORPGs can read a review and figure out if it is right for them and their game without trying to decypher a bunch of techno-babble. Does this mean I don't know what I am talking about and I am not qualified to techno-babble? NO. Truth is, my day job is at a pharmaceutical automation company supporting computers, robots, and bleeding edge technology. Before I worked at my current job, I worked for IBM supervising the inspection of chip carrier products for customers such as ATI, Nintendo, and Tivo. If I'm not qualified to review hardware, I don't know who would be.

You may want to actually read articles instead of cherry-picking comments that you think will support your point of view. Both sites you quote from confirm that the Killer NIC does indeed improve FPS. Have fun with your cute little blender-toast analogies over there in blissfull ignorance land.

Hardly cherry picking.

I read the reviews when this crap first came out, and then just went back to the sites and punched Killer Nic into their search fields. The results I found weren't flattering, and I linked them. You'll notice that the results I linked weren't even BAD, per se... they just weren't good.

God forbid you confuse your readers with techno-babble. We wouldn't want to confuse their simple little minds. Insulting the intelligence your reader base is a surefire way to get new fans. Go ahead and recommend a $300 LAN card to them. I'm sure they'll appreciate it when they could have spent that money on a better video card or more RAM.

So many things contribute to lag, but to say the "killer nic" is for an 'everyday joe' that can't decipher a simple benchmark chart is stupid. A fool and his money are soon parted, I suppose.

Your title of "chip carrier product inspection supervisor" is certainly impressive. It's right up there with 'middle management at a software firm'... a.k.a. 'can't code himself, but took a business class, and knows how to organize shifts'. Congratulations on that. It must have gone smashingly well since you've now been promoted to 'everyday joe hardware reviewer for an MMO website'. I've worked in IT for 6 years as the IT Manager for a PDF conversion firm in the california bay area. We regularly slosh large amounts of data back and forth across the LAN on a daily basis. I'm not trying to throw that around like it means anything fantastic, I'm just saying that I don't "supervise the inspection of chip carrier products". I build boxes and put them out on the floor.


The Killer NIC has a place. It might be on a local counterstrike server in a gaming cafe, or a high end workstation at a video editing lab. To say an 'everyday joe' will get increased framerate in molten core is laughable, considering most motherboards these days come with onboard gigabit jacks, and the average DSL or cable line uses only a very small fraction of that pipe.

Good luck out there. You'll notice I registered just to post on this ridiculous article. Feel free to delete this post and ban this account, I won't be coming back.

Originally posted by mynameisob3l

Originally posted by Agent_X7

It's interesting that you choose to quote from a preview article at [HardOCP, but ignore the fact that Killer NIC won an Editors Choice Silver award from them in the December 08, 2006 review.

http://enthusiast.hardocp.com/article.html?art=MTIzOSwxLCxoZW50aHVzaWFzdA==

Anandtech also notes that while they were unimpressed overall, the Killer NIC does do what it says: i.e. it lowers ping and increases frame rates.

As for us not being a hardware site: it's true. I admit it. I review hardware from the Every-Joe perspective, so that the people who play MMORPGs can read a review and figure out if it is right for them and their game without trying to decipher a bunch of techno-babble. Does this mean I don't know what I am talking about and I am not qualified to techno-babble? NO. Truth is, my day job is at a pharmaceutical automation company supporting computers, robots, and bleeding edge technology. Before I worked at my current job, I worked for IBM supervising the inspection of chip carrier products for customers such as ATI, Nintendo, and Tivo. If I'm not qualified to review hardware, I don't know who would be.

You may want to actually read articles instead of cherry-picking comments that you think will support your point of view. Both sites you quote from confirm that the Killer NIC does indeed improve FPS. Have fun with your cute little blender-toast analogies over there in blissful ignorance land.

Hardly cherry picking.

I read the reviews when this crap first came out, and then just went back to the sites and punched Killer Nic into their search fields. The results I found weren't flattering, and I linked them. You'll notice that the results I linked weren't even BAD, per se... they just weren't good.

God forbid you confuse your readers with techno-babble. We wouldn't want to confuse their simple little minds. Insulting the intelligence your reader base is a surefire way to get new fans. Go ahead and recommend a $300 LAN card to them. I'm sure they'll appreciate it when they could have spent that money on a better video card or more RAM.

So many things contribute to lag, but to say the "killer nic" is for an 'everyday Joe' that can't decipher a simple benchmark chart is stupid. A fool and his money are soon parted, I suppose.

Your title of "chip carrier product inspection supervisor" is certainly impressive. It's right up there with 'middle management at a software firm'... a.k.a. 'can't code himself, but took a business class, and knows how to organize shifts'. Congratulations on that. It must have gone smashingly well since you've now been promoted to 'everyday Joe hardware reviewer for an MMO website'. I've worked in IT for 6 years as the IT Manager for a PDF conversion firm in the California bay area. We regularly slosh large amounts of data back and forth across the LAN on a daily basis. I'm not trying to throw that around like it means anything fantastic, I'm just saying that I don't "supervise the inspection of chip carrier products". I build boxes and put them out on the floor.


The Killer NIC has a place. It might be on a local counterstrike server in a gaming cafe, or a high end workstation at a video editing lab. To say an 'everyday Joe' will get increased frame rate in molten core is laughable, considering most motherboards these days come with onboard gigabit jacks, and the average DSL or cable line uses only a very small fraction of that pipe.

Good luck out there. You'll notice I registered just to post on this ridiculous article. Feel free to delete this post and ban this account, I won't be coming back.

I'm sorry, did someone kill your dog or something?

For those of you without serious attitude problems and superiority complexes, you will no doubt be intelligent enough to know that in order to supervise the inspection of any sort of micro-chip product, you must first know how to inspect it so that you can instruct your employees to watch for certain defects in certain chips, etc. Again, you cherry pick your commentary and choose to launch an attack on one aspect of my reply, conveniently ignoring the fact that I work in tech support.

You will also, no doubt, be aware that I would not insult the majority of our reader base by assuming that they could not decypher techno-babble. We merely assume that the average MMORPG.com reader would rather not, since they are most likely here to learn about MMORPGs and how/ with what to improve them. Were we stupid enough to go around insulting the reader base, we would not long survive in this market.

--"To say an 'everyday joe' will get increased framerate in molten core is laughable, considering most motherboards these days come with onboard gigabit jacks, and the average DSL or cable line uses only a very small fraction of that pipe."--

Have you read any of the reviews, by anybody? If you have, you clearly do not comprehend what is being said. YES, the Killer NIC will increase the FPS of most PCs or smooth out performance on most PCs. It has nothing to do with bandwidth. The question is not will it increase your FPS, it is do you want to spend that kind of money on it, and I fail to read anywhere where we or anyone else told people to go buy one. Worth is a personal opinion, and we invite all readers to make their own decision. We merely state that yes, it does do what it says.

Have a nice day.