BigFoot Networks Killer NIC: Killer Marketing or Killer Product?
by Gary Key on October 31, 2006 2:00 AM EST- Posted in
- Networking
Killer NIC Card
The Killer NIC ships with an installation disc that includes several Linux programs, a few decals, product documentation package, and a full retail copy of F.E.A.R. on DVD.
The Killer NIC is a very interesting card and since the Halloween season is upon us we have to say the thought of removing the "K" heatsink and using it as part of our Blade costume came to mind several different times. The PCB is black in color and contains a significant amount of components that you would never expect to see on a typical NIC. There are also several red LEDs on the PCB whose blinking movements can be adjusted by the control panel. Overall, the card's design theme follows its naming convention.
The card is equipped with a Freescale MPC8347E communications processor, a Xilinx Spartan FPGA, an integrated Broadcom Gigabit PHY, and 64MB of RAM for the embedded Linux build that is accessed by the FNapp Console. The Freescale MPC8347E communications processor is designed for general communications requirements from Ethernet routers to Internet network appliances. The Xilinx Spartan FPGA is a programmable gate array that houses Bigfoot Networks' proprietary and patent pending algorithms that also utilize the 64MB of onboard RAM.
The card utilizes a standard RJ-45 port and includes a USB 2.0 port. The USB 2.0 port is not visible to Windows and is designed to be used by an FNapp. The thought process is that an FNapp can read or write data to a flash drive or external HD. This would be very advantageous for writing data directly to an external hard drive via a BitTorrent type FNapp as one example.
The amount of integrated components along with its basic design features is one of the reasons why this card costs $279.99. This is a price tag that generally puts this card out of reach for most users who are typically satisfied with their NIC's current performance.
The card was very easy to set up. You need to disable your current NIC for optimum performance and compatibility. This is an action that we highly advise after a couple of aborted installs with the original driver set. The card requires a single PCI 2.2 slot and is only compatible with 32-bit Windows XP at this time. After installing the card, a quick reboot, and hardware recognition by XP, you install the driver set off the CD although we highly suggest downloading the latest release first. Another reboot is required and then you are set to use the card for total world domination. Well, at least this is probably your thought process if you read through the marketing material and other documentation online.
Additional 64-bit XP and Linux support is expected within the next six to eight weeks. However, it is still uncertain as to what features will be enabled for Linux and what if any performance benefits will be gained. Windows Vista support should be available by the time the OS ships and it will be interesting to see if there are any improvements considering Microsoft has completely rewritten the network stack code for efficiency and latency reduction. At this point in time there are no plans for a PCI Express version of the Killer NIC. According BigFoot Networks the PCI interface was utilized to improve transactional latencies, programming familiarity, and the fact that most systems have the required amount of PCI slots. We disagree with that last point as the majority of performance oriented boards are now PCI slot starved, and we would expect PCI-E to be a future consideration depending on the success of the current design.
The Killer NIC ships with an installation disc that includes several Linux programs, a few decals, product documentation package, and a full retail copy of F.E.A.R. on DVD.
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| Click to enlarge |
The Killer NIC is a very interesting card and since the Halloween season is upon us we have to say the thought of removing the "K" heatsink and using it as part of our Blade costume came to mind several different times. The PCB is black in color and contains a significant amount of components that you would never expect to see on a typical NIC. There are also several red LEDs on the PCB whose blinking movements can be adjusted by the control panel. Overall, the card's design theme follows its naming convention.
The card is equipped with a Freescale MPC8347E communications processor, a Xilinx Spartan FPGA, an integrated Broadcom Gigabit PHY, and 64MB of RAM for the embedded Linux build that is accessed by the FNapp Console. The Freescale MPC8347E communications processor is designed for general communications requirements from Ethernet routers to Internet network appliances. The Xilinx Spartan FPGA is a programmable gate array that houses Bigfoot Networks' proprietary and patent pending algorithms that also utilize the 64MB of onboard RAM.
The card utilizes a standard RJ-45 port and includes a USB 2.0 port. The USB 2.0 port is not visible to Windows and is designed to be used by an FNapp. The thought process is that an FNapp can read or write data to a flash drive or external HD. This would be very advantageous for writing data directly to an external hard drive via a BitTorrent type FNapp as one example.
The amount of integrated components along with its basic design features is one of the reasons why this card costs $279.99. This is a price tag that generally puts this card out of reach for most users who are typically satisfied with their NIC's current performance.
The card was very easy to set up. You need to disable your current NIC for optimum performance and compatibility. This is an action that we highly advise after a couple of aborted installs with the original driver set. The card requires a single PCI 2.2 slot and is only compatible with 32-bit Windows XP at this time. After installing the card, a quick reboot, and hardware recognition by XP, you install the driver set off the CD although we highly suggest downloading the latest release first. Another reboot is required and then you are set to use the card for total world domination. Well, at least this is probably your thought process if you read through the marketing material and other documentation online.
Additional 64-bit XP and Linux support is expected within the next six to eight weeks. However, it is still uncertain as to what features will be enabled for Linux and what if any performance benefits will be gained. Windows Vista support should be available by the time the OS ships and it will be interesting to see if there are any improvements considering Microsoft has completely rewritten the network stack code for efficiency and latency reduction. At this point in time there are no plans for a PCI Express version of the Killer NIC. According BigFoot Networks the PCI interface was utilized to improve transactional latencies, programming familiarity, and the fact that most systems have the required amount of PCI slots. We disagree with that last point as the majority of performance oriented boards are now PCI slot starved, and we would expect PCI-E to be a future consideration depending on the success of the current design.
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LoneWolf15 - Tuesday, October 31, 2006 - link
Almost forgot my one other point: As others have said, Vista's TCP stack is completely different. If the Killer NIC is designed largely around the way previous versions of Windows work, even with Vista drivers it could turn out to be a high-priced piece of hardware that functions no better than a regular PCI nic.TonyB - Tuesday, October 31, 2006 - link
Instead of paying $300 to improve your World of Warcraft PIng Times you can simply do a little research. find out which WoW server is located in your geographic zone. If you live in California, look for a West coast server, if you're in New York, look for a East coast server , if you're in Chicago look for a Central server. Pay the $25 character transfer fee and move your account to the new server, viola!! decreased ping times.ps: this only works if you aren't playing in a server thats in your geographic zone already.
VooDooAddict - Tuesday, October 31, 2006 - link
Because to you... Free = $25 transfer fee and no longer playing with the same group of friends?? Not an option for most people.I aplaud BigFoot for targeting this need with thier product. Riding the coat tails of something like WoW is a tried and true buisness practice. However, it's a failed execution and from the looks of it due mainly to the price. Everyone else agree that if priced for $49 or less they could start enjoying part of that big pile of money called WoW?
$49 for a card that could help keep things running smoothly in large raids with teamspeak running full tilt? They could drop the giant K and the embedded linux to help reduce costs as 95% of the WoW target wouldn't care about those features.
Spacecomber - Tuesday, October 31, 2006 - link
I'll try not to repeat what has already been said about this NIC and Anandtech's review of it; I did have a few random thoughts after skimming through the article.I felt like I had to give BigFoot credit for apprarently seeking out this review from Anandtech. Although they had a lot to gain from a good review, because of the extent of Anandtech's readership and reputation, they must have known that their card would have to deliver on what was advertised in order to get any sort of positive grade (and in the end it did fail to deliver on all but a insignificant fraction of what it promised).
On the other hand, this gets us to the meat of the article. Besides the issue of price, the main problem with this card is that it just isn't ready for prime-time, yet. This means that anyone who does spend $280 on this card is essentially signing up as a beta tester for a product this is still in development. Although gamers probably are familiar with this role (being the first to own some new hardware or new game means being the first to encounter unresolved and frustrating bugs), it still seems a bit perverse to have to pay so much money for this dubious honor.
Given that this seems to be current state of affairs with "cutting edge" games and hardware, I couldn't help imaginging how it would make more sense to put the (presumably) free products into the hands of users who know that they are expected to beta test and work with tech/support staff to make a potentially good product better, rather than the apparent current practice of putting new products into the hands of people who are only required to evangelize for the company.
I guess somewhere along the way the marketing people won out, and comapnies now find their money better spent on marketing rather than product development. Personally, I can't believe that viral marketing is going to be more helpful at making this product a success than would money spent on further testing and development.
Essentially, this is what BigFoot got by their providing a card to Anandtech for testing (constructive feedback and a willing partner to test out potential fixes - in the form of new drivers). But, I suppose BigFoot has bills to pay, now, before they can even worry about getting this card fully up to specification, and this means that someone has to pay.
WileCoyote - Tuesday, October 31, 2006 - link
Review was too wordy! Just large paragraphs of text without any type of organization. Dullest Anandtech article ever.goinginstyle - Wednesday, November 1, 2006 - link
Dullest response ever and it did not take a PhD to write my response. The article flowed from an introduction, with understandable technology descriptions that were not in other reviews, to results with a subjective/objective based ending. It had a couple of wordy sections but it was a lot better than most of the one line sentence descriptions you see in articles today. So please go buy a card, test it, and then provide us your perfect review. If you are unwilling to do this then at least tell us how it should be organized so anthropologists from around the world can understand it. I am sure Eric R. Wolf is turning over in his grave today because an anthropologist did not like the organization of an article.
WileCoyote - Thursday, November 2, 2006 - link
Chill out! Don't get so stressed out over 3 sentences and someone else's opinion. Big deal, I think it's a poorly written article when compared to previous ones at Anandtech. And I'm not questioning the author's education or net worth. I have left dozens of positive comments for previous Anandtech articles/authors so I'm not trolling either.goinginstyle - Thursday, November 2, 2006 - link
The fact is you have not offered an opinion on how to improve the article. You bash it but have not replied as to how you would have written it. If you think it is poorly written and have no issue critizing the author then at least leave a few comments on how you would have changed it. He at least asked for your opinion and others on how to improve the article. If you cannot respond in a professional manner to that request then you are trolling. Tell us how you would have organized the article? Better yet, test the card, and post your own review. You could simply take the time and email Gary with your revisions. He has already edited the article and the sections I thought were a little wordy are gone. Of course I emailed him and relayed my thoughts about the subject instead of dropping a one line dump in the forums.
WileCoyote - Friday, November 3, 2006 - link
Based on your replies I have learned the following:1. If you think an article is poorly written, buy the item and review it yourself.
2. If you do not write in a "professional manner" do not write anything at all. Ha!
3. If you say an article is "too wordy" people will not understand that the solution is to write less words.
4. Talking with people here is a big waste of time. They think they are always right and smarter than you.
The article was boring to me and I dropped a note to say that. I'm sorry for any hurt feelings as a result. If you know me better than I do and want to argue that the article was not boring to me, then feel free. Everything else you have said has nothing to do with what I originally said. I don't know, maybe you had a bad day at work and need to take it out here? Or maybe you want to aim at the easiest target in a thread... say, mine? Go find something challenging and worth spending time on. Unless this is the only way you feel smart? By the way, this post was too wordy. Boring even...yawn.
goinginstyle - Wednesday, November 29, 2006 - link
You must work in a really small cube. Yawn......