ASRocks marketing team has lost their marbles...

[TheLostSwede]

This showed up on FB, so I figured I'd have a look what it was all about, as it didn't make much sense. I mean, how much of a limitation is Ethernet for gamers?
I guess they've also gotten rid of all their native English speaking staff, or even the ones that finished English class. C'mon Taiwan, you can do better than this.

Turns out their marketing team has gone of their rockers.
This is their "pitch" for hooking their Ethernet controller up to the PCIe lanes from the CPU.

True gaming focused design! Unlike most so called gaming motherboards that are only decorated with standard design, the Killer E3100 2.5G LAN chip architecture on Z590 PG Velocita can be chosen to be controlled directly by the CPU. Hence, it can benefit a new gaming experience in lower latency, faster internet network and the overall performance a huge boost.

I mean, how much latency can be added to Ethernet inside a PC? 0.5ms? And other motherboards are apparently only decorated, they don't actually have networking built in...

But that's not what struck me the most, but rather this. I mean, how much data does a keyboard and a mouse contribute with to cause data congestion and thus needing dedicated buses?

The whole product page is full of similar completely silly claims.

ASRock Z590 PG Velocita

Supports 10th Gen Intel Core™ Processors and 11th Gen Intel Core™ Processors; 14 Phase Dr.MOS Power Design; Supports DDR4 4800MHz (OC); 2 x PCIe 4.0 x16, 1 x PCIe 3.0 x16, 1 x PCIe 3.0 x1; Graphics Output Options: HDMI, DisplayPort; 7.1 CH HD Audio (Realtek ALC1220 Audio Codec), Nahimic Audio; 6...

www.asrock.com

 

[kayjay010101]

That is eBay-$5-item level marketing jargon. Wow, that is hilariously bad.

 

[TheLostSwede]

That is eBay-$5-item level marketing jargon. Wow, that is hilariously bad.

It actually makes me sad. This is like going back 15 years in time. Just the fact that that they're making a bunch of silly and unsubstantiated claims about their competitors is just lame.

 

[ThrashZone]

Hi,
Last I checked there is only 20 lanes and between m.2 and gpu they are all gone lol

 

[TheLostSwede]

Hi,
Last I checked there is only 20 lanes and between m.2 and gpu they are all gone lol

Apparently Killer NICs need four PCIe lanes...

 

[Toothless]

Hi,
Last I checked there is only 20 lanes and between m.2 and gpu they are all gone lol

Your keyboard and mouse gonna use as much bandwidth as a RTX3070? Since when does a Logitech G502 cancel out a USB wifi card because it uses too much data?

 

[jboydgolfer]

it must be faster, theres an easy to see direct bright yellow line of LAN running from the rj45 to the CPU

 

[TheLostSwede]

This wasn't so much about the thing on FB, as the product page. The FB post just piqued my interest, but then I found out that they were claiming all sorts of BS on the product page while calling out their competitors as having inferior products and solutions. Not cool.
It's truly desperate times if these are the most unique selling points they could come up with.

 

[95Viper]

Let's stay on topic.
It is not about facebook, twitter, or any other social media sites.
Don't be insulting or making disparaging remarks about other members.

Only warning.

Thank You and have a Gorgeous Day.

 

[Deleted member 205776]

And I thought Gigabyte was bad, jeez.

 

[windwhirl]

Apparently Killer NICs need four PCIe lanes...

But why? It's just 2.5 G Ethernet, right? They could more than make do with just two damn lanes. Hell, even one should be enough!

Even for 10 G Ethernet, 2 PCIE 4.0 lanes should be enough!

EDIT: Nevermind, it's probably how lanes are distributed in that board.

 

[TheLostSwede]

But why? It's just 2.5 G Ethernet, right? They could more than make do with just two damn lanes. Hell, even one should be enough!

Even for 10 G Ethernet, 2 PCIE 4.0 lanes should be enough!

EDIT: Nevermind, it's probably how lanes are distributed in that board.

I have no idea. Yes, sure, it's how the lanes are split, but even so, why does it need PCIe 4.0 directly to the CPU? The chip is limited to PCIe 3.x anyhow, so the extra bandwidth isn't going to help.
The whole idea just feels so, not thought out at all? I can't see it having any real world affect on latency at all, as per their claim.
It's not as if it's an SSD that can at least benefit a little bit from this.

Then again, this is their claim about their I/O shield...

Unlike most so called pre-mounted I/O shield that is only decorated with fancy color schemes. We reserve more tolerance space and allow IO shield is adjustable when installing, thus fitting chassis perfectly without any mechanical issue.

 

[_JP_]

It is funny that these PRs started and were aimed initially at LAN gaming which was...the point. At the time, anything you did in your OS regarding Lanman and the kind of chip you had made a difference in the 'ms' range when you were playing on that LAN Party, Quake 3/UT2004 @ +100fps, to get a headshot. Internet would be slow, period.
Nowadays, depending on the country, in the times of the $69 ISP-provided Wi-Fi router/ONT-you-cannot-get-rid-of, overloaded fibre distribution point, data/broadband caps (general no net neutrallity), aggressive service quotas and such, I guess the marketing overdrive is here only to make you forget about that.

 

[windwhirl]

That claim about the IO shield... Isn't that what every motherboard maker has been doing for, well, quite a while now?

And then they wrote that bs in... Brutish English, I guess...

And I mostly agree with the above post. All those fancy network gaming features either are pointless because ISP will be trash anyways or you're LAN gaming so it doesn't matter because you'd have to have horrible network infrastructure for them to actually make the slightest difference.

 

[silentbogo]

The chip is limited to PCIe 3.x anyhow, so the extra bandwidth isn't going to help.

Worse. E3100 is based on i225V, which only needs a single Gen2 lane.

 

[TheLostSwede]

Worse. E3100 is based on i225V, which only needs a single Gen2 lane.

Intel seem to claim PCIe 3.x.

 

[silentbogo]

From Intel ARK:

 

[TheLostSwede]

From Intel ARK:

View attachment 191971

Looks like they have multiple SKUs with different interfaces.

 

[silentbogo]

Where did you get that spec? I think you are looking at something different, cause I don't see NBASE-T in "Interfaces Supported"
I think I found it. You were looking at i225K. Not sure why, but it is listed w/ PCIe3 unlike siblings.

Here's i225V and i225LM (Killer E3100G and E3100X respectively)

Intel® Ethernet Controller I225-V - Product Specifications | Intel

Intel® Ethernet Controller I225-V quick reference with specifications, features, and technologies.

ark.intel.com

Product Specifications

quick reference guide including specifications, features, pricing, compatibility, design documentation, ordering codes, spec codes and more.

ark.intel.com

And this is official spec:

Intel® Killer™ Wireless Series – Gaming-Grade Wi-Fi

Intel® Killer™ Wireless delivers powerful Wi-Fi with gaming networking features to minimize lag, maximize control, and optimize system performance.

www.killernetworking.com

 

[jboydgolfer]

i still only buy Asrock motherboards, but i dont buy in to those gimmicks like a rj45 port, then another Red rj45 that is named 'killer', or some other pointless , 'go fast' marketing nomenclature.

the extreme boards & the Pro4M boards have served me very well over the decades. never had a real issue, aside from a dead fan header on a board 10 years ago.
they sent me a free brand new board

all these marketing ;campaigns these companies do are silly. they all do it, to some degree, maybe there are more kids buying motherboards & PC components than im aware of.

 

[R-T-B]

I have no idea. Yes, sure, it's how the lanes are split, but even so, why does it need PCIe 4.0 directly to the CPU? The chip is limited to PCIe 3.x anyhow, so the extra bandwidth isn't going to help.
The whole idea just feels so, not thought out at all?

Pretty much. That's what pisses me off more here: Lots of companies have made dumb marketing claims, but ASRock is letting it creep into product design. That is a very bad sign. Which is a shame because their products were historically the ones to have.

 

[ThrashZone]

Hi,
They paid a company to run an add
If you question the add report it as fake news I'm sure they will investigate your proof it's false

 

[R-T-B]

Hi,
They paid a company to run an add
If you question the add report it as fake news I'm sure they will investigate your proof it's false

Thing is, it's not explicitlty provable as false. It's more "we're talking absolutely well beyond the range of human perception if there's any truth to it" sort of BS. Just enough for them to claim it's possibly true.

 

[TheLostSwede]

Hi,
They paid a company to run an add
If you question the add report it as fake news I'm sure they will investigate your proof it's false

It's NOT about the ad. Read the product page for crying out loud. The ad was just what caught my attention, but everything else if from their ASRock product page.
I even included the link to it up top.

Also, they didn't pay a company to run that ad, that's an in-house ad that they put up on FB. Taiwanese companies are WAY too cheap to pay someone to do something like that for them.
How do I know this? Because I have worked for multiple Taiwanese companies.

 

[ThrashZone]

Hi,
Well it made it through the fact checkers so it must be true lol