BigFoot Networks Killer NIC: Killer Marketing or Killer Product?
by Gary Key on October 31, 2006 2:00 AM EST- Posted in
- Networking
Test Setup
Our platform design represents a configuration that we feel is appropriate for testing the Killer NIC. It is a blend of components we felt like would be in a gaming system whose owner would potentially look at the Killer NIC and more importantly could afford the Killer NIC. Our motherboard choice was dictated by our testing requirements for comparing the best overall on-board NIC offering against what is being billed as the best NIC for gaming, period.
We are using an Intel Core 2 Duo E6300 as it offers an excellent blend of price and performance at this time. Our processor choice is representative of what a typical mid to upper range gamer would utilize in their system currently and allows us to concentrate additional funds on a high-end GPU. Our high-end GPU choice is the MSI X1950XTX that addresses our system performance needs while ensuring our standard 1280x1024 resolution choice will not be completely GPU bound in testing. A 2GB memory configuration was chosen as most enthusiasts are currently purchasing this amount of memory.
All other components in our test configuration are typical in a current gaming system. We intentionally chose the Asus P5N32-SLI Premium for testing as it utilizes the new MCP-55 found in the NVIDIA nForce 590SLI chipsets for both Intel and AMD platforms. The networking capability found in the nForce 590SLI is currently the best available for on-board solutions from both an overall performance and features viewpoint. These features include packet prioritization, teaming, and TCP/IP acceleration. Additional information about these features can be located here.
Our platform design represents a configuration that we feel is appropriate for testing the Killer NIC. It is a blend of components we felt like would be in a gaming system whose owner would potentially look at the Killer NIC and more importantly could afford the Killer NIC. Our motherboard choice was dictated by our testing requirements for comparing the best overall on-board NIC offering against what is being billed as the best NIC for gaming, period.
Standard Test Bed Performance Test Configuration |
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Processor: | Intel Core 2 Duo E6300 (1.86GHz, 2MB Unified Cache) |
RAM: | 2x1GB GeIL PC2-6400 800MHz Plus (GX22GB6400PDC) DDR2-800 3-4-3-9 timings, 2.20V (Micron Memory Chips) |
Hard Drive: | Seagate 320GB 7200RPM SATA2 16MB Buffer |
System Platform Drivers: | NVIDIA 9.53 |
Video Cards: | 1 x MSI X1950XTX |
Video Drivers: | MSI/ATI Catalyst 6.10 |
CPU Cooling: | Scythe Infinity |
Power Supply: | OCZ GameXstream 700W |
Optical Drive: | Sony 18X AW-Q170A-B2 |
Case: | Cooler Master CM Stacker 830 |
Sound Card: | Bluegears b-Enspirer |
Motherboards: | Asus P5N32-SLI Premium (NVIDIA nForce 590SLI) |
Operating System: | Windows XP Professional SP2 |
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We are using an Intel Core 2 Duo E6300 as it offers an excellent blend of price and performance at this time. Our processor choice is representative of what a typical mid to upper range gamer would utilize in their system currently and allows us to concentrate additional funds on a high-end GPU. Our high-end GPU choice is the MSI X1950XTX that addresses our system performance needs while ensuring our standard 1280x1024 resolution choice will not be completely GPU bound in testing. A 2GB memory configuration was chosen as most enthusiasts are currently purchasing this amount of memory.
All other components in our test configuration are typical in a current gaming system. We intentionally chose the Asus P5N32-SLI Premium for testing as it utilizes the new MCP-55 found in the NVIDIA nForce 590SLI chipsets for both Intel and AMD platforms. The networking capability found in the nForce 590SLI is currently the best available for on-board solutions from both an overall performance and features viewpoint. These features include packet prioritization, teaming, and TCP/IP acceleration. Additional information about these features can be located here.
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stmok - Tuesday, October 31, 2006 - link
Yeah, I do agree.Its targetting at the wrong crowd. This product should be really for the hardcore enthusiasts. (I'm talking about those who actually use the command line on a regular basis). You don't expect clueless Windows users start tinkering with Linux, do you? :)
As for SLI and Crossfire? Its a bloody joke.
You buy two video cards today, and in 12 months time, they'll be outperformed by a single next generation video card. Yeah, money well spent there, isn't it?
stmok - Tuesday, October 31, 2006 - link
To be honest, if they opened up the specs for the card, and work with the community, you'd have a different product. (So they only focus on selling hardware and advising enthusiasts in how to develop software solutions for the card).yyrkoon - Tuesday, October 31, 2006 - link
So the fact that Intels NIC cards regularly perform better than atleast 99% of the competition, and the fact they have made a PCI-E card is completely lost on you ?BTW the price of the Intel card is FAR less . . .
Zebo - Tuesday, October 31, 2006 - link
It's you who is stupid. Video you get your monies worth unlike this POS, anywhere from 60-75% inprovement moving to that second card in SLI/xfire config.mlau - Tuesday, October 31, 2006 - link
as i said, i think this card is targeted at the wrong crowd. but then i don't doubtthat the windows network stack is a POS and offloading it completely to a piece of
hardware will free the host cpu for other tasks.
as for sli/xfire, performance improvements are almost not noticeable (and sometimes
perf decreases). noone except a few impressionable 12 year olds care about your fps
in fear and other shooters. i play games to be entertained and not to watch the fps
meter and tell my "friends" that "oooo i can play far cry in 2560x1200 8aa16af and still
get 120 fps!!!1!!11oneone, you cant!!". you people are pathetic.
Frumious1 - Tuesday, October 31, 2006 - link
"as for sli/xfire, performance improvements are almost not noticeable"Clearly you have never used a higher end gaming PC on modern title. I can assure that the improvements are VERY noticeable if you play with a larger LCD (even 1920x1200) and want smooth frame rates, or if you even load up Oblivion at moderate resolutions. Yes, an increase from 100 to 170 FPS in some titles is basically meaningless, but going from 20 to 35 FPS in Oblivion makes the difference between sluggish and smooth gameplay. Whether or not it's worth the price is up for debate, but just because you can't afford it and don't play enough games to justify the purchase doesn't make is pathetic.
BTW, I've got news for you moron: 12 year olds are NOT the people running SLI/Crossfire setups! But then your penis envy probably blinds you to that fact. Even in Linux, I doubt this card is worth the price of admission. $280 for another "coprocessor"? Lovely, except in another week or so $250 would add two more CPU cores and make the whole situation meaningless. Now let's just hope Vista has network stack improvements so that mutliple cores are truly useful for offloading audio and network tasks in games. Actually, that's probably at least partially a matter of getting game developers to do things more threaded-like.
Hey Gary, did you test Quake 4 with a non-SMP configuration? I understand Q4 optimizations for SMP essentially consist of running the client and server code in separate threads, so maybe the server is already offloaded and there's nothing new for the Killer to do? Gee why can't other devs do this? Lazy bums!
KAZANI - Tuesday, October 31, 2006 - link
"Whether or not it's worth the price is up for debate, but just because you can't afford it and don't play enough games to justify the purchase doesn't make is pathetic."To my mind going into a 600$ expenditure so that you can play overhyped duds such as Oblivion counts as pathetic. I am still not convinced that it's the heavy gaming that warrants dual-GPU's and not dual-GPU's warranting heavy gaming.
bob661 - Tuesday, October 31, 2006 - link
In MY mind (the ONLY mind that's important), people that criticize others choice in computer hardware and games IS indeed pathetic. I AM convinced that you are as jealous, self-righteous, asshole that probably drives in the left lane on the freeway at the speed limit because no one needs to go faster than the almighty YOU.rushfan2006 - Wednesday, November 1, 2006 - link
Agreed...there is a lot of people being dicks on this thread. I just don't understand it.If you don't like a game or something, just don't buy it - you can make your opinion about it so long as it offers some kind of value -- calling out the performance or problems with the product. But to associate someone's buying choice then calling them names its just gets ridiculous....its like grow the hell up already.
KAZANI - Wednesday, November 1, 2006 - link
Escuse me? You're spending 600$ to play Oblivion and you're telling me to "grow up"? DUDE, YOU NEED TIME OFF THE COMPUTER!