Staff Writer Jeremy Star takes an in-depth look at Bigfoot Network's Killer K1 NIC.
A couple of months ago, I reviewed the Killer NIC here at MMORPG.com. While my testing concluded that the Killer NIC did indeed smooth out the MMORPG experience, a common complaint in our forums and elsewhere was that it was just too expensive to justify purchasing one.
The people at Bigfoot Networks have heard the complaints, and have answered the call for a cheaper version of the Killer NIC with their newest product: The Killer K1.
The Hardware - My what big ports you have!
The Killer K1 is a PCI NIC designed to replace your onboard ethernet ports. Just like its big brother - the original Killer NIC, now designated M1 - the Killer K1 runs its very own Linux operating system on an onboard processor and 64 MB of RAM.
Unlike its older sibling, however, the K1 runs its OS and LLR technology on a 333 Mhz Network Processing Unit (NPU). The M1 has a 400 Mhz NPU. Does this make a big difference in performance? Not according to Bigfoot Networks. They told me that the extra processing power on the M1 is used for the FNApps programs, so the K1 and the M1 should have almost the same performance effect in games. If you are running a game and an FNApp, then the M1 has the decided advantage, but at a higher cost. (FNApps are Flexible Network Architecture programs, designed to run on the Killer's NPU so they don't slow down your gaming.)
Read the entire review here.
