Bigfoot Networks trounces ping times with Killer 2100 network card
By Darren Murph 
posted May 12th 2010 7:49AM
posted May 12th 2010 7:49AM
We haven't been this worked up about a product since we realized that someone actually made a Hello Kitty warming blanket, and if we can convince our sound card to slide down a slot, we'll probably be kicking our integrated Ethernet port to the curb in favor of the Killer 2100. All jesting aside, Bigfoot Networks has returned after 14 months of silence in order to debut the "world's fastest online gaming card." According to the company, this here NIC is equipped with a dedicated network processor, Windows stack bypass, Visual Bandwidth Control and "other optimizations" designed to provide the most optimal online gaming experience ever. For those drinking the Kool-Aid, it'll be available for £86 ($127) in the coming weeks -- we'd caution you to wait for benchmarks first, though. Or just buy a faster internet connection. Bigfoot Networks Unleashes Killer(TM) 2100, the World's Fastest Online Gaming Network Card
REDWOOD CITY, California, May 11, 2010 /PRNewswire/ --
- Up to 10X Faster Than Standard Connections, the Killer(TM) 2100 Delivers Unprecedented Speed and Performance
Bigfoot Networks, the networking technology company behind the Killer(TM) line of gaming networks cards, today announced Killer(TM) 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 epitomises 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(TM) technology, comprised of a dedicated network processor (NPU), Advanced Game Detect(TM), Windows stack bypass, Visual Bandwidth Control(TM) and other optimisations 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 the Killer 2100 was 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 card 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 optimising 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."
Notes to Editors:
Killer 2100 specifications include:
- 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 Win7, Vista & XP 32
Killer 2100 products will be available in coming weeks in retail and online stores in the U.S., Europe and Asia from Golden Arrow, Leadtek, TUL and VisionTek. MSRP GBP86 U.K. For more details, please visit bigfootnetworks.com
@db2
Thats why I hate my car, 2007 chevy cobalt. 2dr and comes with a spoiler from manufacturer, not a lip spoiler mind you but a slightly larger than average pedestal spoiler. I feel like someone let Exhibit (or whatever that rappers name is) loose inside the GM powerplant, the new cruze isnt helping matters with such big wheels on the new model.
(after typing I apologize for being completely offtopic)
@spaz4322 "...Exhibit (or whatever that rappers name is)..."
LOL! Why you'd get the car anyway? Impulse buy? No pun intended.
@aubreyq
nope got it for dirt cheap brand new, only reason :)
I will move from 3rd to 2nd in teh server.
I'm interested in this part about bypassing the windows stack. Sounds like something that would have been extremely useful when vista came out and made your network slow to a crawl if you were doing something extremely ordinary (I forget what that was by now). Or when they by default limited the number of half-open tcp connections in order to mitigate the damage when the bi-weekly 0-day sploits came out. So many naysayers here, but I'm real curious to see some proper testing done with this.
another network stack that will be subverted by romanian spammers to send out emails advertising generic hello kitty blankets :D
marvelous
Isn't this just another NIC with a TOE?
I don't really see anything breaking here. These things have been around for quite some time now minus the software Bigfoot is bundling.
Whats that sound? Its my networking profs. pissing themselves with laughter.
A $127 network card. Wow, there really is one born every minute.
I don't know how big of a difference this thing would make. So you upgrade your NIC to this monster. But you still are sitting behind a Router, which is behind a Modem, which is behind the Sad excuse of a ISP, on the way to connect to some cheap under powered dedicated server because your Clan Leader is broke and half your members won't pay their dues. I would have to see benchmarks before making this jump. On the other hand I am glad they made it in a PCI-E x2 slot ( or maybe its an x4 ) I have one of those smaller slots just screaming for a card to fill it.
Review of the original product for anyone interested...
http://www.anandtech.com/show/2111
Back then, the system who benefited the most from the card were the low end systems, which is ironic because the card was 275$ back then.
Maybe more mature drivers, newer games and lower price makes this actually worth it.
The CPU overhead on network transfer is quite high and you can find TCP offload card for file and print server...
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/TCP_Offload_Engine
BigFoot? more like Monster
Please tell me no one is dumb enough to buy this. People do understand that most modern on-board Ethernet cards are 1000Mbps. You local ISP probably provides about 25-30Mbps. This will not make any difference whatsoever on the internet. Not only that but most people have a docsis 2 modem and a router between their NIC and ISP. Tweaking settings for half open tcp connections and setting up QOS (QOS is not, as others have stated, pointless. QOS prioritizes the traffic going from your network to the ISP. Thus, if you are gaming on one machine and someone tries to stream video on another machine the QOS engine will forward gaming packets before the http requests.) Its kinda funny how little people understand about bandwidth.
This thing would sell like hotcakes if it had an Apple logo on it.
@zedcon1 No it wouldn't, Apple is hardly synonymous with the word "upgrading"
@Oli D Agreed, but there are people who really, truly *do* buy anything with an Apple logo on it, and I suspect those people add up to a larger customer base than the people who've purchased previous iterations of Bigfoot's "Killer" NICs.
Isn't this just a TOE card? You would be better off giving it who's ever server you play on the most. (Hint Hint LKM people)
TCP Offload...great for IP SANs...kind of irrelevant for gaming.
Really?
What games are network bound and not GPU or CPU bound?
Is this thing compatible with iPads? I'm assuming so, since there is no way that it can achieve any of it's claims without a significant amount of magic.
Good points all around and see the pros/cons being made..
Why not just look more into the benchmarks and testing. You can see the performance results of this gaming network card improving latency in the GaNE tool and boost in speed in the Netperf & file transfer tests, etc Plus bootdaily just did additional testing and witnessed FPS increases as well...You can question the #s, but they do speak for themselves.
Overall, if you want the best hardware to optimize your PC for online gaming would you not simply want the fastest network card on the planet regardless? Even if its just a few ms differece...
To get the fastest NIC that can help with your latency/speed/FPS performance plus the software in which helps you completely manage your whole network with visual controls for $100 seems reasonable especially in light of the $300-$400 graphic cards. What have you got to lose? We all know you can buy this card easily at an etailer and if your not happy return it. If you dont believe the benchmarks and testing showing this card performs, just go try it for yourself. Ultimately its the experience you feel in the game (ie. smoother & faster game play) that matters anyways ... test then verify.