Musta been hiding in a cave...NPU?

[Niverive]

So I just recently stumbled across this

Newegg.com - Killer NIC M1 Gaming Network Card – 10/100/1000Mbps PCI Network Adapter -- Less Game Lag, Smoother Gameplay - Network Interface Cards

I didn't even know they made cards like this lol, of course I don't look up new hardware everyday, I usually stick with looking at new software, CPUs, RAM and video cards.

Anyone have any experience with this type of product? Is it worth the money? Reviews aren't all that good.

 

[Hefemeister]

gigabyte ethernet sure. It is great for local networks. Blazing Fast, great for file transfers and streaming. For online gaming, you are limited by you internet connection speeds.

 

[kmote]

This card is a huge waste of money. Gigabit ethernet is OK if you have switches and other machines to match (otherwise it will go at 100Mb/s like everything else) but this particular card is a waste.

 

[synergy]

Most mobos have Gb NICS anyway. Total waste of moolah imo.

 

[Hefemeister]

Actually his board does have built in gigabit lan. If you have a gigabit switch / router with other gigabit machines you sure can move a lot of data fast on your local lan.

 

[Akubane]

I think most people are ignoring or just don't know what this card is actually meant to do.
Thing is, it does exactly what it advertises, and does it quite well. All it's supposed to do is offload the network processing load from your cpu onto the card itself, which has its own processor. In games like wow, doing raids with like 20+ people you might see an improvement in latency by 20 or 30ms, MAYBE lowering lag a hair.
I know for a fact the card helps a bit in FFXI doing "Dynamis". FFXI's version of raids i suppose. It's a big lag fest no matter what pc you run. Same thing then doing besieged with 500+ players in the same zone and another 100 mobs.
That doesn;t have much to do with my internet connection, because I know i can recieve data at 1.29 MB/s at cap, and videogames don't even send a fraction of that.

It won't solve lag problems by far lol, but all the card's advertised to do is lower gaming latency by offloading the work from your cpu. which it does
Now keep in mind this had been out for a while, and all these newer cpus (C2D and up) don't really need much help. so you'll notice it a lot less if at all.

but If you're running an old P4, or athelon 3200 or something, you'll see more of a difference.



Now the big question, is a few ms lower latency actually worth 200+ $.
IMHO heck no.
If the card was 50$ i'd grab one. I was lookin at it a year or two ago and figured i'd grab oen when the price dropped, but the price hasn't budged an inch since it was released ages ago.

 

[synergy]

Good old supply and demand for you. That's how Ageia PhysX cards were. Everyone was like "I'll get one when prices drop" but because no one was purchasing them the price stayed right up there.

 

[zmatt]

Its a waste. Network code is not a big deal so there is no reason to waste you money on the card that accelerates it. Most modern motherboards have built in gigabit lan anyways. The problem with gigabit is that the compatible routers and switches are pretty expensive so most networks still operate at 100mb speeds. And even then no Internet connection will out run your 100meg Ethernet card anyways so online gaming wont be improved, that is on your ISP's side.

 

[QuaziBee]

Boone for domain controllers and web servers?