Bigfoot KillerNIC Review
Jeremy Starley takes an in-depth look at Bigfoot Network's Killer Network Interface Card from the perspective of an MMORPG gamer.
Hardware Reviews By Jeremy Star on December 13, 2006
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Into all gamer's lives, a little lag must fall. Into MMORPG gamer's lives, lag seems to fall like rain in Seattle. Enter Bigfoot Networks, the Killer NIC card, and their crusade against lag. CEO Harlan Beverly is a former Intel network chip architect, and a hardcore gamer*, who was tired of being defeated due to lag. Unlike most of us, Harlan had the expertise to do something about it. Together with Bob Grim and Mike Cubbage, he formed Bigfoot Networks to fight the good fight and save us all from certain, horrible deaths due to lag. "Wait!" I hear you cry, "Lag is bad, but is it evil enough to require a card that costs almost as much as a high end video card?" Well friends, this is the question we are here to answer: Will this card benefit MMORPG players and, if so, are those benefits worth 280 hard earned American dollars? The Hardware - What the heck is it? The Killer NIC - or Network Interface Card - is a PCI card designed to replace the built-in network port found on most modern motherboards. Unlike built-in network ports or other NIC cards, Killer has its very own Linux operating system running on a 400 Mhz Network Processing Unit (NPU) and 64MB of RAM. This is important, as it is what powers Bigfoot's Lag and Latency Reduction technology (LLR). LLR is a set of features designed to increase your Frames Per Second (FPS) in game, and reduce your ping. FPS and ping are commonly combined when referring to lag. A drop in FPS or a rise in ping causes your game to visibly slow down, or even pause. As anyone who has ever played an MMORPG can attest - this sucks. The Technology - How does this thing work, anyway? Let's start with a simple description of how your built-in network connection works in regards to an MMORPG. Information comes from your server to your NIC. (Built in or separate card.) Your NIC then passes this to the Windows Networking Stack, which then passes it to the game, which shows you that you just got stabbed in the back by that sneaky little Hobbit burglar. Sounds pretty fast, right? Sure, it is, except your NIC and the Networking Stack are both using your processor and slowing down your game. Now, this is how Killer is supposed to speed it up: Information comes from the server to Killer. Killer passes it directly on to the game, which shows you punting that hairy-footed little jerk like a football. Killer has its own NPU to process the information, so it doesn't need to steal processing time from the game, which leaves your CPU free to kick up the performance a bit.
There are four components of LLR that concern MMORPG players: MaxFPS - Offloads network processing on to Killers NPU, instead of your CPU. This helps by eliminating any CPU time that was taken up running the onboard NIC. UltimatePing - Allows Killer to bypass the Windows networking stack and deliver information directly to your game. Bypassing Windows means less time for the information to reach your game, and it also means Windows isn't sucking up processor time for networking. GameFirst - Prioritizes inbound and outbound network traffic so that gaming information is the first to be delivered. This means your World of Warcraft stuff comes before that new Britney Spears album you bought from iTunes. (You thought we didn't know about that, didn't you?) FNA - Killer runs a Linux OS on its 400 Mhz NPU. You didn't think all that power went to networking, did you? FNA stands for Flexible Networking Applications, and it basically means that programs can be written to run on Killer instead of your CPU. That USB connection on the Killer? Yeah, someday soon that will allow you to plug your headset in and run Ventrilo or Teamspeak on Killer, freeing up even more of your CPU time for the game. Bigfoot Networks already has a firewall client available, so you can turn off that wonderful Windows firewall and still be protected from those big bad internets. Appearance - What's it look like, man? The Killer NIC is a standard PCI card with a pretty unusual appearance. The most outstanding physical feature of this card is the big - we're talking huge - K-shaped heatsink. It is styled like some sort of deadly K sword, all edges and points. It really emphasizes the point that Bigfoot Networks considers this its front-line weapon in the fight against lag. Aside from the heatsink, the card itself consists of an ethernet port, a USB 2.0 port, an attractive black PCB, and a few small but bright red LEDs that flash with the ebb and flow of your network connection. Size-wise, the Killer NIC is about the same size as Creative Lab's X-Fi sound cards - much shorter than an average PCI-E video card. The card is thin enough to fit between two other PCI cards or between a PCI card and a single slot PCI-E video card. Speaking of fitting between cards: Modern motherboards are starting to become stingy with PCI slots. If you have a dual-slot PCI-E video card or an SLI video setup and already have a sound card or physics card, you may want to make sure you have room to install another card before ordering one of these. If you have room, but it needs to be installed between cards, don't sweat it - Killer seems to run very cool. Disclaimers - Obvious things I feel the need to point out. First, let me start off by saying that we are not a hardware review site, and I am not going to be picking this thing apart with flow charts, bar graphs, and indecipherable techno-babble. We are an MMORPG site, and I want to know if this thing makes the games we love the most any better. We are Farscape to your Star Trek, so if you want those things, there are plenty of reviews of the Killer NIC that provide them. A quick Google will let you set a course for all the über-geek you can stand. The rest of you, follow me through the wormhole, and watch out for Peace Keepers along the way.** Secondly, I don't expect you all to just accept my "gut feeling" about the card without any sort of proof. Consequently, the little proof that can be offered will follow the performance section in the form of some FRAPS benchmarks. Of course, it can be argued that these also mean nothing, since they could have been completely fabricated, but this leads me to my... Lastly, it always comes up, without fail, following any sort of review of a product on a site which accepts advertising dollars from the manufacturer of said product: "Well, I don't trust whatever you say, because your site takes their money, so you are obviously going to say good things about them." People, let me clear this up before we go any further: At no point in time have Bigfoot Networks, MMORPG.com, or anybody else on this planet asked me to bias this review. Having said that, I will admit that the Martians have been telepathically asking me to say bad things about it. But, then again, they always do that. |
Bummer I missed the previous comments.
My only concern is that having any software operate outside the boundaries of the windows kernel (i.e. any software talking directly to the hardware) can have disasterous results. I wonder if it will be windows "approved".
I question its usefulness given lag usually is coming from beyond your nic card as pointed out in the WoW example.
I guess if you go out and buy a physX card, you're going to get this too.
I didn't know what to expect from the article considering how much advertising I see for on this site, but as a network professional I can tell you the article pretty much fell into line with what I expected the Killer NIC to do..
And not do.
Hehe,
Now, if I feel that a game that was not made by SoE/Sigil has a lot of lag and I want to reduce it, I will know there is another option, if I am ready to bypass all the techs issues (I don't think I would have try all the slots on the motherboard myself hehe).
But...as a PvE player who value instancing and relatively high-end computers, I dunno...see, my computer is still much better than his fiancée, and I am about to change it...I don't update regularly, I change.
For example, the only places where I would have appreciate less lag would be lagville in CoV (Grandville) and some bases-missions with instanced grids, way too many grids prolly. He talk about lag in mayhems, and honestly, I didn't lag much at all in any mayhem ever. I wouldn't spent $300 for Lagville alone or 1 particuliar mission, since in CoV, I don't play in Lagville, I go to my mish, so I can endure the lag while I bump between mishs...even if it is really annoying.
If I would play WoW, well, I wouldn't do MC and if I lag in Ironforge, it suck but I would live with it...just like I was living with lag in the Bazaar.
Anyway, 1 more option to attack the evillagmonster is always good.
*Bite at the lagmonster*
I'm curious as to how it affects performance with regards to RF Online during Chip Wars? Some Chip Wars in my server have up to 500-700 people duking it out in the same map at the same time (which generally kills performance). If anyone has tested it on this particular game and has any feedback, please post. Thanks.
High end sys dont need it,low-mid end sys can use that money for better stuff.Killernic is kinda castrating themself imo
I agree there. I think that the network card is probably at the very bottom of the upgrade list on low to mid range machines. If I had 280 bucks to dump in to my system, I think I could get more of a performance increase from increasing my RAM or a new video card. I also have to say, as a network engineer, even with an on-board NIC on a cheap motherboard, it probably isn't having a noticeably adverse affect on your actual latency or throughput.
What I see this card doing is freeing up other resources for use in other places, It just doesn't make any sense to me to go this route, rather than just upgrade and increase those resources at the source.
When I read this review I hear 2 things. Reduce CPU needs and give game trafic priority.
One thing pops in mind when reading this story. If the network trafic is screwed because the CPU can't handle it, why not buy a second CPU (Dual core CPU). I am really curious if this NIC still has an advantage with a dual-core system.
Another thing is the trafic priority. This can also be done with a good router and/or software running on the PC managing the trafic. With a dual-core system the CPU load does not matter.
Same goes with the teamspeak software. Using a dual-core will solve the CPU problem.
Im in the "sure it can smooth things a bit on a lower spec machine but there are a bazzillion things that will give more bang for your buck" school of thought.
Internet latency and throughput is not going to be solved by a NIC and some of the slow down issues the author mentions are clearly server latency problems. Buy another stick or memory upgrade the graphics card or upgrade the motherboard and cpu and see noticeable performance increases across the board is my advice!
Cheers.
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. (Wasn't there some software, I think it was called "Gear" that did something similar to this NIC card that many FPS's and MMO have banned people from servers for?
I'm still using an onboard, non-nForce network card and was considering a Killer NIC but now I'll probably spend the cash on a new board and I won't have to worry about the extra slot, card not booting etc. It would mean upgrading all my system components though - so not as 'cheap' as the Killer NIC option but certainly more future-proof.
I'd like to see a review of the top end nForce vs. Killer NIC vs. the best other PCI network card out there.
Great review though
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.