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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Guild Wars Everyone's favorite monthly fee-free MMORPG is up next. I didn't bother removing the Killer NIC to test without it, since I have been playing GW constantly the past three months, and I know what it runs like with all of the settings cranked up as far as they will go. Let me sum it up for you: Unless I am in one of the major hub cities, such as Lions Arch or Kamadan, I pretty much don't ever feel the effects of lag unless I am PVPing. that's where I took the Killer this trip, to the Battle Isles to see if it would help me live just a bit longer in PVP. Well, it didn't, but that wasn't its fault. I just plain stink at PVP in Guild Wars. Come to think of it, I just plain stink at PVP, period. What it did do, however, was remove most of the annoying tendency of players to "blink" around the screen. I say most of, because some players still "blinked" around due to their own laggy connection to the server. I'd love to say it did more for GW, but honestly, this game has always had very few noticeable lag issues. Ping? Grats! Oh, PING. No, I have no idea if it was lowered. I cannot figure out how to display it, and the ever helpful GW community either doesn't know or wasn't willing to share the secret. Non-Killer Performance
Killer Performance
This time the numbers actually show an increase in FPS that I didn't feel. Again, in GW, there were very few times that I ever experienced lag without Killer installed. It's nice to see the numbers show it was actually doing something, but aside from less "blinking" by PVP opponents, I didn't actually feel any difference this time. But wait! Shocking news! On the lower-end PC, Guild Wars experienced a noticeable jump in FPS! Is anyone picking up on this trend yet? Star Wars Galaxies, City of Heroes/Villains, Dungeons and Dragons Online, Lions and Tigers, and Bears, Oh My! For the remainder of my test games, I played exclusively on my PC, with the exception of SWG. All three of these games showed marked improvements in FPS with the Killer NIC installed. I still cannot believe that after all these years, the SWG engine is still capable of bringing a system to its knees if you turn up all the options. Too bad no matter how high the settings, it still shows its age. This is yet another strike against future-proofing. It's a good thing I have a Killer NIC installed, since Mos Eisley likes to grind down your FPS into the single digit range sometimes, and Killer helped to keep it tolerable. Even my old player city, Estee Enwy, bogs down the FPS without some help from Killer NIC. My fiancée's machine was finally able to break the 20 FPS mark with Killer installed. Too bad she has no interest in this game anymore, since it's actually playable on her system now. I was really interested to take on City of Villains, since it allows me the unique opportunity to use the PhysX card in conjunction with the Killer NIC. During Mayhem missions, the PhysX card allows my PC to display all sorts of cool junk being thrown around when I destroy dangerous objects like cars, phone booths, and mailboxes. (Take that, Captain Mailman!)Unfortunately, all this flying debris really starts to bog down the frame rate when two-dozen cops charge around the corner to beat you down for scratching their cars, and the four other villains in your group start throwing sparkling special effects at them. When I tried it with the Killer NIC, I had a lot less slowdown. It was very cool to be able to run around freely without worrying about being thrown in jail because I was too lagged to get away. Dungeons and Dragons Online also benefited from the Killer NIC. DDO has the unique distinction of being the only MMORPG I tested that requires you to dodge blows, manually swing your weapon, and generally do a lot more active things during combat. This is a great concept, but it can be frustrating when you lag. Again, with Killer installed, combat was much smoother and running around with a full party in the sewers felt a lot faster. I also managed to slip in a few (hundred) rounds of Battlefield 2142. I know, this game is not an MMORPG, but most people don't play just one type of game or another. I wasn't sure the Killer NIC was even having an effect on this game until I found myself in the middle of an EM strike with the ground exploding all around me. This usually causes my computer to slow down to slide-show mode, which in turn causes me to get stuck in the explosions and die. I kid you not, the first time this happened with the Killer installed, I died anyway. I was so stunned that I could move normally during the explosions that I just stood there and looked around. My FPS still drop, but not by much. Conclusion - Is it worth my hard-earned bones? I admit, I first heard about the Killer NIC after the PhysX cards were released, and I was extremely skeptical. Sure, I said, we just need a separate card for everything now. First it was physics, then a company announced it was working on an AI card, and now a NIC? Wait a minute, I already have a NIC built in. I was convinced that PhysX was worthwhile for all the physics goodies it could add to games, but that a separate NIC was not something that would do anybody a whole lot of good. Well, here we sit, six months later, and almost nothing uses the PhysX card. Sure there are plenty of games on the horizon, but for now it sits in my case collecting dust and raising my system temperatures. On the other hand, almost every multiplayer game out there now can see at least some small benefit from the Killer NIC. Is it worth it? Well, let me tell you what I think of it, who I think it can benefit most, and then you can make up your own mind, since worth is very much a personal opinion. |
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.