Date:
Monday , August 28, 2006
Author:
Kyle Bennett
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Bigfoot’s Killer NIC

A network interface card for the hardcore gamer? This is exactly who Bigfoot Networks is targeting with their “Killer NIC.” We give you a sneak peek at the Killer NIC, a product that Bigfoot Networks thinks is worth your hard earned dollars. And plenty of them.

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What else is the Killer NIC for?

While the Killer NIC’s focus is outlined on the previous page in terms of ping and frames per second, it has some incredibly impressive features outside of those. And to be 100% honest, while I am far from a hardcore online gamer any more, I found some of what is documented below to be more exciting than the ping reduction.

Killer Hardware

Before we get into these features, you have to understand a little about the Killer NIC hardware. By classification, it is a 10/100/1000 PCI NIC with a 400MHz Network Processing Unit (or NPU) with 64MB of on-card RAM. It also carries with it a USB 2.0 port and a huge branded heatsink in the shape of a “K” that would surly be questioned if you were trying to board a plane with it.

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As you can tell from above, it is a powerful unit based on its specifications. Now couple this with the fact that the Killer NIC, while being used for its intended gaming purposes, ping reduction and FPS gains, it is likely only using less than 5% of its resources in terms of the NPU. Yes, less than 5% resource utilization under a full network load. That surely leaves a lot of processor cycles dormant for the taking.

As many of you are concerned about power consumption these days, the Killer NIC shines in that department boasting only a 3 watt need under a full networking load. Obviously this would be increased if using the card's NPU for other applications as well. We are told that the Killer NIC’s heatsink will cool the card properly under any load it can generate.

Prioritize Your Gaming Traffic

Recently we saw NVIDIA announce that their nForce 590 chipset could work to prioritize packets giving your selected applications, gaming in this case, to be delivered first. This however only works with outbound traffic. The Killer NIC is boasting the ability to prioritize inbound and outbound network traffic, which could obviously make a huge difference in your games lagging out.

Cheat a Little

You can look at Bigfoot’s “PingThrottle” technology in several ways, but basically it allows you to mask your connection to some extent.

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As shown above, you can add up to 41ms to your reported ping time. Basically this application allows the server to tell the other players that your ping is not as low as it really is. Whether or not you think this is fair game or dirty pool, well, that is up to you.

FNA Dude!

While telling your mom “FNA (Flexible Network Appliations) applications rock" might get you slapped, this is really the heart and soul of the Killer NIC. Everything that we have talked about above runs on an embedded version of Linux that is housed on the Killer NIC. Not only does the Killer NIC hardware run on Linux, the embedded Linux OS is accessible to the end user as well though the Flexible Network Applications Console.

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Above you can see a Linux console prompt on our Windows XP machine. This console application will be shipped in the box with the Killer NIC as well as the Linux source code and also a SDK.

I expect to see a community of Killer NIC users that will likely unite around FNA applications. Outside of it possibly being used for firewall and virus scan applications, I expect to see a see an application like Teamspeak that is native to the Killer NIC that will allow for some communication improvements as well as further offloading system hardware while taking advantage of native packet prioritization abilities.

Aside from that, you still might be wondering why there is a USB 2.0 jack on the card. This could be used with a microphone for in-game communication as mentioned above, or you can even plug a Windows formatted USB Flash drive or external hard drive into it. I expect that if the Killer NIC weathers fighting for a new market we will see Bittorrent clients popping up for it soon. Just imagine having your favorite open source file sharing program sitting on the NIC card not touching the rest of your system having its shared packets being fully prioritized so as to not negatively impact your gaming experience.

Killer NIC Hurdles & Market

There are no doubt more than a few Killer NIC hurdles. Convincing anyone that they need a $279.00 NIC over the $0 NIC that is already on their motherboard is going to be tough. The guys at BigFoot know this very well. They are currently positioning their Killer NIC to capture some space at the super-high-end niche of the market. Add to that hurdle, once you find someone with the cash, they have to be doing something with their computer to appreciate this type of hardware. The fact of the matter is that most of us have no use for a $279 NIC, but there are a few that do and this is who Bigfoot is catering to. Value is certainly in the eye of the beholder.

I see a product such as this carving out a solid niche in the high-dollar boutique gaming boxes that we see sold from companies like Velocity Micro, Maingear, Falcon Northwest, and Dell's XPS class machines. When you are buying a $3000+ computer, I see many opting for the fancy NIC that they likely know nothing about to begin with. On the other side of that market lies the hardcore gamer that lives and dies by the headshot and possibly the Linux geek or file sharer that sees value in the FNA.

The Bottom Line

We have glossed over a lot of information here today, but surely by now you know if you want to know more or not. Bigfoot has a solid Features & Tech Specs page setup that will give you a ton more information. The Killer NIC Tech Specs PDF has some good information in it, but for those of you that really want to sink your teeth into the technology and find out how it works need to read the Killer and LLR White Paper PDF.

At a recent trip to the Bigfoot offices in Austin, TX, we saw the Killer NIC working and just how the team there was collecting data about its performance. In real world comparable scenarios we saw pings drop 10ms to 20ms on a broadband connection playing World of Warcraft and Counter Strike Source. We also saw frame rates positively impacted anywhere between 3 to 10%.

Assuredly you will be seeing reviews forthcoming that showcase the Killer NIC. Many of those will be jam-packed with synthetic graphs showing this and that. As a pure gaming NIC, the true talent of the Killer NIC should be to give a better gaming experience for those skilled enough to take advantage of the ping reduction. This is certainly not going to be shown on any graph. That is why we would like to reach out to the gaming community in Austin, TX and have some of the best gamers there join us locally to give gaming on the Killer NIC a go. Then of course, give a regular NIC a go as well and tell us if you see a difference. Please mail me at Kyle @ HardOCP.com if you would like to see if you are skilled enough to give the Killer NIC a try.

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