Bigfoot Networks Killer NIC M1

Verdict: A network card that's actually exciting - whatever next?

Bigfoot Network's Killer NIC isn't unlike one-time boxing loudmouth Prince Naseem Hamed - it's haunted by hype. Yet Hamed had the skills to walk the talk. The hype surrounding the Killer NIC isn't quite as brutal as Hamed's reputation in his hey-day; despite the name, all the Killer purports to do is preserve your frame rate while you're gaming online. There's a whole Linux computer on this PCI card, with the aim of usurping the Windows TCP/IP stack with a more efficient Penguin-based one, giving you a lower ping, and a more responsive and reliable PC for online gaming.

First impressions of this card are worthy of admiring raised eyebrows. It looks the business, flaunting a trés chic 'K-blade' magnesium alloy heatsink. With the card installed, you have a Linux sub-system that you can access directly from Windows. This lets you do cool things through the dedicated Linux system without bothering your main system, but let's cover the theory behind the bold claim that 'Killer provides the edge in online gaming' first.

According to Bigfoot, the Windows networking stack isn't particularly efficient when dealing with the profusion of small packets common when gaming online. To circumvent this, you need a clever network interface card that can deal with all the necessaries, including IP reassembly, and UDP/IP and TCP/IP checksums. To achieve this, you pretty much need a dedicated computer, so under the heatsink, you'll find a 400MHz Freescale Semiconductor MPC8343EVRAGD processor. This also deals directly with network traffic, without ever troubling - or being held back by - the layers of the Windows networking stack. There's even 64MB of PC2100 RAM on the card, so that it can run the Linux OS from its 8MB ROM.

The Killer has a few brand-name technologies to help, including 'LLR' (lag and latency reduction), which performs the legwork. It uses 'Game First', which prioritises inbound and outbound UDP packets, based on their type. There's also 'Max FPS', which alleviates CPU, cache and main system bottlenecks, and 'Ultimate Ping', which prioritises every packet and improves response time. The Killer also accelerates TCP/IP requests, but specifically, it's the low latency of network gaming offload that's the focus of these technologies. Note, however, that the Killer is only a network card, so it can only deal with local problems - if you have a rubbish ISP or laggy server, the Killer can't help.

During in-game testing, we switched between the Killer NIC and the on-board Realtek Gigabit Ethernet of a MSI K9A Platinum motherboard. Both are rated at Gigabit speeds, so we were eager to find out if the Killer justifies being £180 more expensive than an integrated controller.

First up was Counter Strike: Source, a game that should benefit from prioritised UDP packets. The hype claimed that the Killer could make as much as a 20fps difference, but this was wide of the mark. It did make a noticeable difference, though, especially in action-dense maps such as 'Office'. During frenzied firefights, FRAPS showed that our PC, with the Killer fitted, managed speeds of mid-50fps, peaking at 62fps. Meanwhile, using the on-board NIC dropped performance to the low 40s in the same action-intensive areas and peaked in the mid-50s, giving the Killer around a 10fps advantage.

Further proof was seen while testing with Battlefield 2142. In a 64-player conquest map, average frame rates were between the low 50s and low 70s with the Killer dropping to 45-60fps with on-board LAN. The Killer certainly provided an edge, or rather, maintained the edge that Windows (and possibly the integrated Realtek chip) was otherwise blunting.

Finally, we really noticed the difference in Lord of the Rings Online. Logging into Bree - one of the game's most densely populated areas - was tricky without the Killer. Frame rates dropped to 10fps, eventually allowing normal character movement after 60 seconds of high lag and latency. No such problems were present with the Killer, however - we breezed straight in at a cool 45fps, which remained consistent even in mob-thick areas, and rose to a high of 92fps when trekking alone across Middle Earth. This proves Bigfoot's claims that MMOs receive a clear improvement from the Killer. It also helped to improve the ping in these games, dropping the ping in Counter Strike: Source from 25 to 17, in Battlefield 2142 from 23 to 15 and in Lord of the Rings Online from 29 to 15.

However, there's more to the Killer NIC M1 than just better frame rates and pings - you can also run applications on the Killer, called 'FNApps'. There are currently six FNApps, including FNA Bit Torrent and FNA Firewall, which are free to download and easily accessible from the Killer's system tray menu.

We downloaded a free185MB film, 'Five Minutes to Live', from www.bittorrent.com to a USB flash drive plugged directly into the Killer while playing CS:S (you can use any form of external storage), and saw no obvious dip in server connection, game load time or in-game frame rates. Without the Killer, there was obvious slowdown, as the Bit Torrent data interfered with our game packets. Our frame rates fell from 40fps to 30fps, and our ping doubled.

Conclusion

The Killer NIC's claim of being able to maintain the frame rate by avoiding the Windows TCP/IP stack in favour of a more efficient Linux-based one held up during testing. Frame rates are much higher and more consistent - more in line with our test PC's actual performance - than with an on-board Ethernet chip. The ability to run apps such as a Bit Torrent client without it affecting your ping or frame rate is excellent. The Killer NIC is certainly a desirable piece of kit; if you can stomach the £180 price tag, it's a great purchase.