Date:
Friday , December 08, 2006
Author:
Kyle Bennett
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Gaming with the Killer NIC

You have seen the benchmarks and read the ping data. Now find out what the Killer NIC can do for you in real world gaming situations. No canned benchmarks, just feedback from gamers that have used the card.

Introduction

From the first moment that Bigfoot Network's Killer NIC got any attention on the Net, it has been controversial at the very least. The Killer NIC was first brought to my attention by the PR guys at Porter Novelli's office in Austin, TX. They gave us the low down about what it was supposed to do and it certainly generated interest from me. In fact, later that day, we even mentioned it to Michael Dell when discussing what a company like Dell could do with specialized gaming servers. Then a short time after that, the bomb hit. The Killer NIC was not only going to be a specialized network card for gamers looking for better ping times...it was going to be a $280 network card for gamers. The pricing alone brought the Killer NIC a tremendous amount of fanfare. Had it been a $20 gaming NIC, odds are nobody would have ever noticed it. So while the huge price tag of the Killer NIC has been responsible for a lot of negative publicity, it almost assured it a buzz in the industry that simply cannot be purchased. But let's step back from pricing for a moment and look at the card itself and if the product has a real function that is valuable to gamers.

You can read our first aricle on the Killer NIC located here that talks about the more technical side of the product.

What does a Killer NIC Do?

What does Bigfoot Networks say about what their Killer NIC is supposed to do for your gaming experience?

Powered by Lag and Latency Reduction (LLR™) Technology, Killer gives your computer superior speed and performance. More Frames Per Second and lower Pings when they matter most: during intense online gaming action.

While being a fairly simple goal, you have to admit it is a hell of a robust claim for a Network card.