Bigfoot Networks Back with Killer Xeno PCI-Express NIC

[btarunr]

Bigfoot Networks is perhaps the first company that gave the network interface card (NIC) a high-end consumer take. The Killer N1 and K1 PCI NICs were known to come with some very innovative features that, as our review showed, did impact positively on networked gaming performance. After close to two and a half years since its previous NIC, Bigfoot Networks Killer is back. In the making is the Killer Xeno NIC.

With near identical features and more, this NIC takes the advantage of the newer leaner components in the market, such as the NPU which may be using a newer manufacturing process, NPU-accelerated audio that provides audio-chat with zero system-overhead, and up to 256 MB of onboard memory to drive this mini "PC inside PC". The ASIC is done away with, a newer gigabit Ethernet transceiver made by Broadcom is present. The card uses a native PCI-Express x1 interface. It comes in two variants: the 128 MB "Pro", and 256 MB "Ultra". Apart from selling these cards under its own banner, Bigfoot Networks has struck an OEM deal with Alienware. Also, the company has an AIB partner (a-la graphics cards), and guess who it is - EVGA. The Xeno Ultra will be priced at US $179.99, and the Xeno Pro at $129.99.



View at TechPowerUp Main Site

 

[thraxed]

That'll be the day when I spend $130 on a network card.

 

[h3llb3nd4]

IF I had enough money there will always be a NIC in all my PCs...

 

[Deleted member 24505]

Same waste of money as the pci variant.

 

[M8tRiX]

I wish they did a wireless access point and wireless pci adapter, as wireless is my only option.

 

[csendesmark]

This is pointless, I cant see the advantage.
Waste of money

 

[h3llb3nd4]

There is improvement actually...
a mag in South Africa did a review and their pings got better while using this card.
You see SA got crap Internet connections, max is 4mb/s

 

[mdm-adph]

This is a joke, right?

 

[ShRoOmAlIsTiC]

is it april already?

 

[EnglishLion]

If money is no object you'd add one to your system - I know I would. But I like most people am budget restricted so I'd spend my money on other things first. Maybe the son of some Arab oil tycoon would have one of these on his gaming PC?

 

[mdm-adph]

If money is no object you'd add one to your system - I know I would. But I like most people am budget restricted so I'd spend my money on other things first. Maybe the son of some Arab oil tycoon would have one of these on his gaming PC?

Nope -- wouldn't spend the money on this, even if I had it, out of pure principal.

That money would be going towards something like $130 worth of TEC cooling.

Now, if someone gave me one of these cards for free, then sure, I'd use it. Otherwise, nuh-uh.

 

[Basard]

i could see maybe 40 or 50 bucks.... you can get damn video cards, with heatsinks, and cables, and 512 mb of ram for the price of this..... or for the same price you can get a quad core cpu!! or a dual core cpu + 4gb of ram! these guys piss me off

 

[D4S4]

i'd like to see annual sales of the previous versions...

 

[Apocolypse007]

it's nice to see that it offloads work from the cpu, but really with dual and quad core cpus becoming ever more popular, I dont think this thing justifies it's price tag.

At leas with a decent sound card you can notice a difference from onboard, but with this thing, I doubt anyone would even notice they were running it.

 

[moto666]

I always fight the heat inside my rig, so a micro pc in a pc is just more heat...
And the price is ridiculous!

 

[btarunr]

Its predecessor was priced at $249. It will have a market: Alienware, VoodooPC(HP), FalconNW, SC, etc....among all those with $3000+ to spend on a gaming PC. But I agree, given the times we are all in, $130 for a consumer NIC is a mindf**k.

Notice I said "consumer NIC". In the enterprise domain, you have some multi-port NICs that are priced in four-digit figures.

 

[h3llb3nd4]

In return, a massive improvement in performance?

 

[ASharp]

I'm surprised it's not Fatal1ty branded.

 

[mdm-adph]

Notice I said "consumer NIC". In the enterprise domain, you have some multi-port NICs that are priced in four-digit figures.

And contracts keep the prices of those things artificially inflated, too. It's the reason why I'm charged $170 for 2GB of RAM where I work.

 

[Paintface]

This is coming from an AMD man, get yourself an Intel PCI NIC for 25 US dollars that does everything your crappy onboard nic cant and more.

 

[method526]

there is an increase in FPS and some lowering of ping...but it's just not significant enough for me to buy it. if my onboard dies or something, then yes i might have to buy a nic card :/

 

[newtekie1]

I wish I could find the article that compared the PCI version to a standard $20 PCI Gigabit NIC, and showed that the $20 PCI NIC gave the same results as the Killer NIC did...

 

[Mike0409]

Waste of cash. NIC=NIC it's all processed the same way, information is sent the same way it doesn't change.

it's a marketing scam for all those suckers..(Sorry to anyone who bought one) You want a speed increase, run Fiber and or Cat 6 cabling and slap on OC3 line in your house. Best PING increase you'll get....watch out for the Bigfoot bullshit...it stick's easily to shoes.

 

[ArmoredCavalry]

There is improvement actually...
a mag in South Africa did a review and their pings got better while using this card.
You see SA got crap Internet connections, max is 4mb/s

Speed is not related to ping (as long as your internet is not bottlenecking). The only thing the card would supposedly help is the time it takes to go from the Ethernet port to your motherboard. Somehow, I can't see that helping ping all that much (if you could find an archive of the mag online, I'd love to see it).

IMO though, the money is much better spent on a better video card/cpu.

However, if you have the best video card/cpu money can buy, go right ahead and buy one of these.

 

[Xternal]

Can it be overclocked?