A brief history
When originally launched, the K1 and M1 featured a USB port on the card, which featured a 333 MHz CPU. The card was really a Linux computer which communicated with host Windows machine via the PCI-Express slot and some custom drivers. Users could run applications on the card—FNApps, they were called. A full SDK was available to developers, and Bigfoot held a contest to convince developers to make FNApps. Some example FNApps were FTP clients and servers, Telnet/SSH clients, and even BitTorrent clients. Users could have BitTorrent running on the card while gaming and never see lag.
However, as with any embedded system which allows just anything to run on it, as folks added more apps, the system slowed down.
In 2009, Bigfoot introduced the Xeno Pro. Xeno Pro shedded the ability to develop and use FNApps, but gained audio ports for the offload of VoIP onto the card. It also cut the price in half, a very much needed change to put this once extravagant device into the hands of enthusiasts.
However, the promise of audio offloading never really materialized. Xeno Chat, an application which used a fantastic (IMHO) open source VoIP client called Mumble, was ineffective and support for it eventually crumbled. It’s no longer offered on Bigfoot’s web site and doesn’t actually connect to the built-in server when found and launched.
Also, Bigfoot found that folks didn’t really tweak the onboard firewall on the K1, M1, or Xeno Pro. It wasn’t as easily to configure as existing firewall softwares (even Windows Firewall), so Bigfoot decided to drop it in version 6 of the firmware and in the Killer 2100. Bigfoot also found that users didn’t care for the separate applications used to manage the bandwidth controls, firewall, and such, and those were merged into a single tool—Network Manager—for the v6 firmware.
Hardware-wise, the Xeno Pro and Killer 2100 are very similar. The underlying architecture is most the same, but there are faster parts and other changes which make the Killer 2100 technologically superior to the Xeno Pro. Here they are side by side.
So, why did the Killer 2100 lose all of the extra stuff? Bigfoot must have taken the words of 20th century French pilot and writer Antoine de Saint-Exupery to heart.
Perfection is achieved, not when there is nothing more to add, but when there is nothing left to take away.
Bigfoot found that in removing little-used features, it could focus its development on its core mission: reduce lag in on-line gaming.
Am I sad to see these features go? Yes. Should these features existed before now? Arguable, as removing features is rarely a popular move. However, Bigfoot is on the right track. The Killer NIC was bling at first, now it’s time to get practical.
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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