Control
The Bigfoot Networks Killer Network Manager control panel is a highly simplified and unified version of the several utilities included in the Killer Xeno’s software suite.
When I started it, I was immediately prompted to test my bandwidth.
The overview page shows the system’s processor, main network card, memory, graphics, and all that jazz, plus network staticstics and a current bandwidth usage graph.
The network page enables the user to set the card’s connection speed (10, 100, 1000) and duplexing, as well as the upload and download speeds. These are needed to calculate the amount of bandwidth given to processes when the Quality of Service is changed in the applications page. Also key on this page is a setting which excepts LAN communication from throttling. It’s very important that this remain checked if the upload and download speeds are not set to your LAN’s speeds.
The PC monitor page offers several modes showing graphs of current activity: CPU%, NPU%, Bandwidth and offloaded bandwidth, memory, FPS using Fraps, PING (icmp, udp).
The applications page of monitor enables user to adjust bandwidth limits per application, as well as priority and block misbehaving apps. The drop downs set priority of the application or disallow its network traffic altogether. The bars on there are actually sliders which can be moved to limit bandwidth available to an application. During some playing around, I played back a 1080p video from my NAS and limited it to 10 Mbps. This obviously made the video instantaneously stutter. This where the Advanced Game Detect™ automatically identifies online game traffic and prioritizes it above other traffic coming in to your PC.
The advanced page shows some other options, including defaults and unit specifications. A neat feature of the software is the ability to turn off the lights on the card. Not everyone likes LEDs inside their case, so this software switch is quite welcome.
While the tray application is loaded, it will send data to a connected Logitech keyboard’s LCD display, if present. It’s actually kinda neat on my first-generation Logitech G15’s display.
Xeno Pro users will likely remember the Dashboard. Dashboard is a precursor to the Network Manager, and has many of the same features. Network Manager replaces Dashboard for the newest version of the firmware. A great thing about Dashboard is that non-Killer users can use Dashboard, too. Not so with Network Manager, and there’s not really a need for it, either.
This is one of the best reviews of this or any product, I have seen anywhere. Sites like tested.com actually had the balls to “review” this product without even seeing it (I guess http://www.untested.com was already taken), so it's good to see someone still has the journalistic integrity and commitment to actually put a product through its paces before casting judgment. Not only that, we get a free Antoine de Saint-Exupery quote thrown in for good measure. Great job Colin.
Thanks for the compliment, Stan. It really means a lot to hear positive remarks about our review process.
Excellent review on this new Killer 2100 gaming network card and well written, good testing..I have heard so much about this new gaming network card and technology so helpful to see some real world true feedback on this Killer 2100, looks like this gaming network card helps boost the online gaming experience and performance, good stuff!
Excellent review on this new Killer 2100 gaming network card and well written, good testing..I have heard so much about this new gaming network card and technology so helpful to see some real world true feedback on this Killer 2100, looks like this gaming network card helps boost the online gaming experience and performance, good stuff!
Got this url referred. Not going to read more than the first page if there's no way to get the entire review in one page though. In fact I don't come back to sites I know lack that feature. Just so you know.
Great Review.. I own the Bigfoot Networks Xeno Pro, and their steadily getting better with the driver updates, altho I still have some problems in games like BFBC2 compared to the onboard, but its good to see a company I adore getting better all the time.. The logic is sound tho, if you've ever programmed to a database via a dll that bypasses the network stack and compared it with mS jet ado its very similiar to that transfer difference.. I love the way you did testing in this review, Kudos!!!!
Thanks for the kudos!
Thanks for the kudos!
Thanks! I'm glad you liked it.
I don't know why you guy's said they are offering the card for sell in all these links. They only selling VisionTek Killer Xeno Pro Gaming Network Card. NOT THE BIGFOOT KILLER 2100 CARD. Please do us a favor and get it right.
Non professional review…
45Mbps for UDP on integrated NIC ? impossible !
1ms ping with the killer nic ? impossible !
Those results are glitches and your conlcusions are then completly wrong
Does someone with a Athlon X2 6000+ and 8800gtx in 2010 would invest $100 in a NIC ?
Do your benches with a i7-980x and a gtx480 SLI…
I don’t see how this could reduce game lag…
When I ping my router, it’s under 1ms, with a very basic on board NIC.
I know there’s something I’m not getting… can someone explain?
I don’t see how this could reduce game lag…
When I ping my router, it’s under 1ms, with a very basic on board NIC.
I know there’s something I’m not getting… can someone explain?
It’s not the ping time to your router which is of concern. Well, not if it’s under ~10 ms. Any more than than and you should have some concern!
The ping time of concern is that between your computer and the game server on which you are playing. Every little bit counts. Some people can tell the difference between 90 and 100 ms, others need more of a difference to tell.
The Killer NIC reduces ping times by a offloading packet construction and deconstruction to a dedicated processor solely for that purpose. No other software is running on that NPU (well, it’s a “full” Linux system in relative terms), so it can focus on accepting data from the host machine, packaging it, and sending it on its way. When data is received, it can get the data and pass it up to the operating system really quickly.
That’s one way the ping time is reduced. The second is really a side effect of the above. All that work needed to construct/deconstruct the packet would normally be done by the CPU. The CPU has better things to do, such as calculating the physics of things in the next frame or handing an AI decision. Since it doesn’t have to handle packet transfer, you see a lower ping because your system is more responsive. Additionally, your framerate is higher because the CPU doesn’t have to spend time waiting for packet stuff to happen.
It’s not unlike how a GPU improves performance by offloading graphics calculations to a dedicated processor.
I’m really considering to buy this product to reduce game lag.
But I understand it can reduce my TCP-based file transfer speeds does this mean it can affect my download speed?
Atm my download speed can reach 10,75 mb/s could this network card reduce this speed?
The gain at that speed is unlikely to be significant. The Killer NIC is aimed more at *UDP* traffic, not TCP. If you are using UDP for file transfers, you /could/ see an increase, but the only major file transfer protocol which uses UDP is NFS, and NFS isn’t ever really used on Windows.
hi can you tell me how the hell network cards can boost your fps
They don’t boost your fps….
The short and sweet explanation is that the NPU offloads network packet construction and deconstruction from the CPU just like a GPU offloads graphics work from the CPU. You see lower pings because the NPU is able to do its job faster than a CPU which is already doing a bunch of other stuff. You see an increase in framerate in some games because the CPU is then able to spend more time processing game action and rendering frames.
See my reply to the parent.
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