Tuesday, May 11th 2010
Bigfoot Networks Unleashes Killer 2100, World's Fastest Gaming NIC
Bigfoot Networks, the networking technology company behind the Killer line of gaming networks cards, today announced Killer 2100, its next-generation network interface card (NIC) for online gaming. Killer 2100 combines elements of speed, intelligence and control demanded by gamers with major throughput and latency enhancements and an innovative and easy-to-use software interface. Killer 2100 epitomizes blazing speed and maximum performance as the fastest Gigabit NIC on the planet for gamers.
At the heart of Killer 2100 is Bigfoot Networks' groundbreaking Game Networking DNA technology, comprised of a dedicated network processor (NPU), Advanced Game Detect, Windows stack bypass, Visual Bandwidth Control and other optimizations designed to deliver the best online gaming experience possible. Game Networking DNA accelerates latency-sensitive game traffic while reducing stuttering, freezing and other symptoms of lag, giving online gamers a competitive edge.
"Killer 2100 is the fastest network card available for online games, period," said Michael Howse, CEO, Bigfoot Networks. "From its completely redesigned user interface and race-inspired outer casing to its high-performance Game Networking DNA software, everything about Killer 2100 screams speed and maximum performance."
Using the Gaming Network Efficiency test, a new benchmark that measures network latency during gaming scenarios, Killer 2100 clocked in at more than ten times faster than standard network interfaces on multicore gaming PCs with high-end graphics cards. The additional speed provided by Killer 2100 means players can achieve quicker response times, better in-game performance and higher scores.
"We saw a dramatic performance advantage over standard network interfaces in our Killer 2100 tests-an advantage that's big enough to change the online gaming experience," said Jon Peddie, president of Jon Peddie Research. "The Killer 2100 repeatedly delivered superior network latency on mainstream and enthusiast-class gaming PCs, and this difference could easily provide a winning edge to online gamers."
Killer 2100 is a plug-and-play solution that enables gamers at every level of experience to improve their online gaming with minimal setup. But for those who want to tune their PC, Killer 2100 offers powerful tools for monitoring and optimizing network performance. Visual Bandwidth Control provides real-time feedback about how Internet bandwidth is used on a per-application basis, making it easy for gamers to limit or block network-hungry applications. The Online Gaming PC Monitor feature gives players at-a-glance graphical displays and detailed logging so that they can track performance statistics such as CPU usage, memory usage and frame rate along with networking activity.
"As gamers, we don't want anything to get in the way of our skill," said Alex Garfield from top eSports team Evil Geniuses. "Killer 2100 gets our reactions and commands to the network faster than any other network card, letting us concentrate on the game without worrying about lag."
Specifications:
At the heart of Killer 2100 is Bigfoot Networks' groundbreaking Game Networking DNA technology, comprised of a dedicated network processor (NPU), Advanced Game Detect, Windows stack bypass, Visual Bandwidth Control and other optimizations designed to deliver the best online gaming experience possible. Game Networking DNA accelerates latency-sensitive game traffic while reducing stuttering, freezing and other symptoms of lag, giving online gamers a competitive edge.
"We saw a dramatic performance advantage over standard network interfaces in our Killer 2100 tests-an advantage that's big enough to change the online gaming experience," said Jon Peddie, president of Jon Peddie Research. "The Killer 2100 repeatedly delivered superior network latency on mainstream and enthusiast-class gaming PCs, and this difference could easily provide a winning edge to online gamers."
Killer 2100 is a plug-and-play solution that enables gamers at every level of experience to improve their online gaming with minimal setup. But for those who want to tune their PC, Killer 2100 offers powerful tools for monitoring and optimizing network performance. Visual Bandwidth Control provides real-time feedback about how Internet bandwidth is used on a per-application basis, making it easy for gamers to limit or block network-hungry applications. The Online Gaming PC Monitor feature gives players at-a-glance graphical displays and detailed logging so that they can track performance statistics such as CPU usage, memory usage and frame rate along with networking activity.
"As gamers, we don't want anything to get in the way of our skill," said Alex Garfield from top eSports team Evil Geniuses. "Killer 2100 gets our reactions and commands to the network faster than any other network card, letting us concentrate on the game without worrying about lag."
Specifications:
- 10/100/1000 Ethernet
- PCIe interface (x1 form factor)
- 400 MHz dedicated network processor
- 128 MB DDR2 RAM
- Performance-inspired housing
- Advanced Game Detect
- Visual Bandwidth Control
- Online Gaming PC Monitor
- Windows network stack bypass
- Optimized for use with voice chat applications
- Support for Windows 7, Vista & XP 32
52 Comments on Bigfoot Networks Unleashes Killer 2100, World's Fastest Gaming NIC
Besides, some onboard Ethernet controllers are good.
I think you're mixing up the cheap crap Realtek stuff with other decent solutions here.
And this is a new version of their stuff, so hopefully they've made it do something, as the previous one was pointless, although the one prior to that actually worked, but then again, that was a PCI card so...
It's a shame really, the people I see as potential buyers of this are the same people that have 4+ GB of ram, thus having a 64-bit OS.
At any rate, that 128MB of ram need to get addressed by the OS, leaving even less available ram to the user if they have over 3GB already.
Sigh...
There is no noticeable advantage with this over even the crappiers onboard cards. The big claim for fastest NIC comes from the claim it can lower pings, and it can in a lab environment. However, in the real world, high pings are caused by the public side, not the private. So changing anything on your side is pretty pointless, it might shave of 1ms, but that won't matter. When it takes 2ms to ping from my computer to the hub at the street, but my pings in games are 40ms, guess where the other 38ms came from. Thats right, the time it takes to for the data to to travel from the box on the street to the game server, and switching my NIC in my computer isn't going to change that.
He is saying that the people that would consider buying this probably have 4GB+ of RAM and hence a 64-bit OS.
Him, and I, are saying the small group of people that would consider buying this, likely already have 4GB of RAM and a 64-bit OS. Why do they likely have these things? Because they are considering buying a $130 network card for gaming, so they've probably already spent less money elsewhere. I don't think many people with 2GB of RAM or less are going to think this is the best place to put their money for a performance boost.