Killer NIC

Last updated

The Killer NIC (Network Interface Card), from Killer Gaming (now a subsidiary of Intel Corporation), is designed to circumvent the Microsoft Windows TCP/IP stack, and handle processing on the card via a dedicated network processor. Most standard network cards are host based, and make use of the primary CPU. The manufacturer claims that the Killer NIC is capable of reducing network latency and lag. The card was first introduced in 2006.

Contents

Hardware and Models

The Killer NIC comes in 2 models; the K1 and the M1. Both models contain a Freescale PowerQUICC processor, 64 MB RAM, a single Gigabit Ethernet port, as well as a single USB 2.0 port, intended for use with specialized programs running on the card's embedded Linux operating system.

The primary difference between the models is that the M1 has a stylized metallic heat sink, and a processor running at 400  MHz, while the K1 lacks a heat sink, and runs at only 333 MHz. Currently performance differences between the cards are limited, although it was believed that future programs designed for the cards will be capable of utilizing the increased processing power of the M1.

Killer NIC is offered as a stand-alone product or is bundled with computers from OEMs like the Dell XPS 630.

Some desktop motherboards ship with Killer networking interfaces built-in, such as gaming motherboards from Gigabyte, [1] MSI, [2] and ASRock. [3]

Flexible Network Architecture / Game Networking DNA

The Flexible Network Architecture is a framework used to create and run Flexible Network Applications. These applications run on the embedded Linux operating system, and are accessed through a driver interface within the host computer's operating system. Aside from that, they use very little of the computers resources, instead handling processing on the card's processing unit. Bigfoot Networks has released a software development kit (SDK) that allows third-party developers to create their own applications. Bigfoot also publishes some of their own applications; these include a firewall, BitTorrent client, FTP application, and Telnet service that allows access to the Killer NIC's OS. This was considered a breakthrough at the time [4] as independent reviews verified that gaming and downloading would proceed without interfering with each other. [5]

Programs that download files often use the USB port to transfer data to external storage, making the Killer NIC useful as a NAS albeit at the generally higher power draw of a desktop PC, compared to a device like a NSLU2. [6]

More typically applications that benefit from low latency, such as Skype or SIP or older VoIP using USB devices (NetTalk, MagicJack) may benefit. As these increasingly use Ethernet directly to routers, however, which would generally be a much lower latency than using a PC and USB connection.

However, FNA is not widely supported as of 2012 and interfaces with more typical router operating systems like DD-WRT, OpenWRT, NetBSD, FreeBSD, OpenBSD, or with proprietary router OS, have not generally been updated.

The successor technology, Game Networking DNA, now supported by Qualcomm Atheros, [7] remains a Microsoft Windows-only solution. [8]

Reception

Early reactions to the Killer NIC centered on price, with its initial MSRP of $280. [9] This led to widespread skepticism and speculation that the product was merely attempting a money grab, hoping to cash in on the "bling" aspect of enthusiast computing. [10] However, using a F.E.A.R. benchmark IGN found that the Killer NIC increased framerate from 15.41 to 23.5 frame/s. While recognizing the potential for real performance gains, they also noted that the test systems were already struggling with the game, and that having a higher-end machine in the first place could offset the gains made by the Killer NIC. This supposition was supported by Anandtech's findings, which showed some real, but much less dramatic gains. [10] IGN declined to rate the card with a score, saying that more testing with other games would be needed. They remarked that the potential performance gain with the Killer NIC was probably higher than upgrading a $300 video card from one generation to the next. Anandtech noted that the people who would stand to gain the most benefit from the Killer NIC, the low-end users, would also be the ones least likely to pay $280 for a network card.

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Motherboard</span> Main printed circuit board (PCB) for a computing device

A motherboard is the main printed circuit board (PCB) in general-purpose computers and other expandable systems. It holds and allows communication between many of the crucial electronic components of a system, such as the central processing unit (CPU) and memory, and provides connectors for other peripherals. Unlike a backplane, a motherboard usually contains significant sub-systems, such as the central processor, the chipset's input/output and memory controllers, interface connectors, and other components integrated for general use.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sound card</span> Expansion card that provides input and output of audio signals

A sound card is an internal expansion card that provides input and output of audio signals to and from a computer under the control of computer programs. The term sound card is also applied to external audio interfaces used for professional audio applications.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Graphics card</span> Expansion card which generates a feed of output images to a display device

A graphics card is a computer expansion card that generates a feed of graphics output to a display device such as a monitor. Graphics cards are sometimes called discrete or dedicated graphics cards to emphasize their distinction to integrated graphics processor on the motherboard or the CPU. A graphics processing unit (GPU) that performs the necessary computations is the main component in a graphics card, but the acronym "GPU" is sometimes also used to refer to the graphics card as a whole.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">PCI Express</span> Computer expansion bus standard

PCI Express, officially abbreviated as PCIe or PCI-e, is a high-speed serial computer expansion bus standard, designed to replace the older PCI, PCI-X and AGP bus standards. It is the common motherboard interface for personal computers' graphics cards, sound cards, hard disk drive host adapters, SSDs, Wi-Fi and Ethernet hardware connections. PCIe has numerous improvements over the older standards, including higher maximum system bus throughput, lower I/O pin count and smaller physical footprint, better performance scaling for bus devices, a more detailed error detection and reporting mechanism, and native hot-swap functionality. More recent revisions of the PCIe standard provide hardware support for I/O virtualization.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Network interface controller</span> Hardware component that connects a computer to a network

A network interface controller is a computer hardware component that connects a computer to a computer network.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mini-ITX</span> 17 × 17 cm motherboard

Mini-ITX is a 170 mm × 170 mm motherboard form-factor, developed by VIA Technologies in 2001. They are commonly used in small-configured computer systems. Originally, they were a niche product, designed for fan-less cooling with a low power consumption architecture, which made them useful for home theater PC systems, where fan noise can detract from the cinema experience. The four mounting holes in a Mini-ITX board line up with four of the holes in ATX-specification motherboards, and the locations of the backplate and expansion slot are the same. Mini-ITX boards can therefore often be used in cases designed for ATX, micro-ATX and other ATX variants if desired.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">BTX (form factor)</span> Form factor for motherboards

BTX is a form factor for motherboards, originally intended to be the replacement for the aging ATX motherboard form factor in late 2004 and early 2005.

nForce4 Motherboard chipset

The nForce4 is a motherboard chipset released by Nvidia in October 2004. The chipset supports AMD 64-bit processors and Intel Pentium 4 LGA 775 processors.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Hauppauge Computer Works</span> Company focusing on computer software

Hauppauge Computer Works is a US manufacturer and marketer of electronic video hardware for personal computers. Although it is most widely known for its WinTV line of TV tuner cards for PCs, Hauppauge also produces personal video recorders, digital video editors, digital media players, hybrid video recorders and digital television products for both Windows and Mac. The company is named after the hamlet of Hauppauge, New York, in which it is based.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Wireless network interface controller</span> Hardware component that connects a computer to a wireless computer network

A wireless network interface controller (WNIC) is a network interface controller which connects to a wireless network, such as Wi-Fi or Bluetooth, rather than a wired network, such as a Token Ring or Ethernet. A WNIC, just like other NICs, works on the layers 1 and 2 of the OSI model and uses an antenna to communicate via radio waves.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Wireless router</span> Computer networking device

A wireless router is a device that performs the functions of a router and also includes the functions of a wireless access point. It is used to provide access to the Internet or a private computer network. Depending on the manufacturer and model, it can function in a wired local area network, in a wireless-only LAN, or in a mixed wired and wireless network.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">NDISwrapper</span> Driver wrapper for Windows devices used on Linux

NDISwrapper is a free software driver wrapper that enables the use of Windows XP network device drivers on Linux operating systems. NDISwrapper works by implementing the Windows kernel and NDIS APIs and dynamically linking Windows network drivers to this implementation. As a result, it only works on systems based on the instruction set architectures supported by Windows, namely IA-32 and x86-64.

The NSLU2 is a network-attached storage (NAS) device made by Linksys introduced in 2004 and discontinued in 2008. It makes USB flash memory and hard disks accessible over a network using the SMB protocol. It was superseded mainly by the NAS200 and in another sense by the WRT600N and WRT300N/350N which both combine a Wi-Fi router with a storage link.

Enthusiast computing refers to a group of people who build high-end personal computers that facilitate gaming, stock trading, video editing, music creation and editing, photograph editing, programming, remote work, cryptocurrency mining, and other hardware-intensive applications.

Biostar Microtech International Corp. is a Taiwanese company which designs and manufactures computer hardware products such as motherboards, video cards, expansion cards, thermal grease, headphones, home theater PCs, remote controls, desktops, barebone computers, system-on-chip solutions and industrial PCs.

In computing, the motherboard form factor is the specification of a motherboard – the dimensions, power supply type, location of mounting holes, number of ports on the back panel, etc. Specifically, in the IBM PC compatible industry, standard form factors ensure that parts are interchangeable across competing vendors and generations of technology, while in enterprise computing, form factors ensure that server modules fit into existing rackmount systems. Traditionally, the most significant specification is for that of the motherboard, which generally dictates the overall size of the case. Small form factors have been developed and implemented.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Network block device</span> Network storage protocol

On Linux, network block device (NBD) is a network protocol that can be used to forward a block device from one machine to a second machine. As an example, a local machine can access a hard disk drive that is attached to another computer.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">AMD Lance Am7990</span>

AMD Lance Am7990 IEEE 802.3 Ethernet Media Access Controller (MAC) controller were introduced in 1985. Its architecture is the basis for AMD's PCnet Family of highly integrated single-chip Ethernet controllers. The one exception is the Am79C940 MAC. The Am7990 chip was fabricated in NMOS technology and has no integrated Manchester encoder/decoder (ENDEC) nor does it have an integrated 10BASE-T transceiver.

NVM Express (NVMe) or Non-Volatile Memory Host Controller Interface Specification (NVMHCIS) is an open, logical-device interface specification for accessing a computer's non-volatile storage media usually attached via the PCI Express bus. The initialism NVM stands for non-volatile memory, which is often NAND flash memory that comes in several physical form factors, including solid-state drives (SSDs), PCIe add-in cards, and M.2 cards, the successor to mSATA cards. NVM Express, as a logical-device interface, has been designed to capitalize on the low latency and internal parallelism of solid-state storage devices.

Intel X99, codenamed "Wellsburg", is a Platform Controller Hub (PCH) designed and manufactured by Intel, targeted at the high-end desktop (HEDT) and enthusiast segments of the Intel product lineup. The X99 chipset supports both Intel Core i7 Extreme and Intel Xeon E5-16xx v3 and E5-26xx v3 processors, which belong to the Haswell-E and Haswell-EP variants of the Haswell microarchitecture, respectively. All supported processors use the LGA 2011-v3 socket.

References

  1. "GA-X99-Ultra Gaming (rev. 1.0) | Motherboard - GIGABYTE Global". GIGABYTE. Retrieved 2018-03-19.
  2. "Z97 GAMING 5 | Motherboard - The world leader in motherboard design | MSI USA" . Retrieved 2018-03-19.
  3. "ASRock > Fatal1ty Z97M Killer". www.asrock.com. Retrieved 2018-03-19.
  4. "Answer : [News] Killer NIC is Back and It Runs Linux". Archived from the original on 2013-01-23. Retrieved 2012-09-17.
  5. "BigFoot Networks Killer NIC K1 and FNA Bit Torrent Client Review | FNA Torrent Application". www.pcper.com. Retrieved 2018-03-19.
  6. "Bigfoot Networks Killer 2100 Review | bit-tech.net" . Retrieved 2018-03-19.
  7. "Killer Gaming :: Home". Archived from the original on 2012-09-15. Retrieved 2012-09-17.
  8. "Killer Gaming :: Solutions :: Network Cards". Archived from the original on 2012-10-13. Retrieved 2012-09-17.
  9. "IGN Tech: Electronics, Gadgets, TVs, Video Game Hardware". IGN. Archived from the original on November 4, 2006. Retrieved 2018-03-19.
  10. 1 2 Key, Gary. "BigFoot Networks Killer NIC: Killer Marketing or Killer Product?" . Retrieved 2018-03-19.