Joined: 13 Nov 2006 Posts: 7 Location: Louisville, KY
Posted: Sat Nov 25, 2006 19:45 Post subject: "Killer Nic" compatability
I've recently seen a new network card coming out that should really show a significant difference in througput if you were able to use a few of these in a router. Here's the site:
It's a PCI card that has a 400mhz proc in it running embedded linux, I am thinking of purchasing a few if I would be able to throw them in an x86 box. I'm sure they're not supported right now but if someone doesn't mind doing a little poking, I was wondering how likely it is for support for this card to be added.
-Hitman _________________ --F@H Team: 46543
SecureNix - SysAdmin
Ubuntu for the Massess...
Joined: 13 Nov 2006 Posts: 7 Location: Louisville, KY
Posted: Sun Nov 26, 2006 0:46 Post subject:
I thought to at first, but then I saw the benchmarks.
23% through put in FEAR
41% performance increase in Wow.
I admit there is some retarded marketing attached to it, but in theory it holds up a legitmate argument, doing all of the processing on the card rather than on the CPU of the host machine.
I thought to at first, but then I saw the benchmarks.
23% through put in FEAR
41% performance increase in Wow.
41 percent um no. More like 5-10 percent according to anandtech's website review.
They go so far as saying overclocking your computer by 5 percent will have the same impact on your gaming experiece.
The windows version was plauged with slow windows boot times, slow windows explorer load times etc. They are continually working on the drivers to imrove on them and many say they are much better now, but I don't own one so I cannot say.
You can expect the linux drivers to suck when the linux version comes out. WHo knows how long it will take for them to get them optimised to work with any or all version of linux.
I don't think the killer nic is a bad product, they just need more time to make it right. Maybee the killer nic version 2 (if they make one) will be a more stable product.
Joined: 06 Jun 2006 Posts: 7492 Location: Dresden, Germany
Posted: Sun Nov 26, 2006 4:31 Post subject:
you must really have slow computer to see any benefits. a standard line pc from today can do many gigabit wireless cards with full speed at the same time _________________ "So you tried to use the computer and it started smoking? Sounds like a Mac to me.." - Louis Rossmann https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eL_5YDRWqGE&t=60s
Joined: 06 Nov 2006 Posts: 10 Location: San Francisco CA
Posted: Sun Nov 26, 2006 10:02 Post subject:
all this is a Linux core running a tcp offload engine attached to a gigabit nic, high end servers have been using these for quite some time; this is, however, a cheaper alternative.
which brings a thought BS, if you see enough dd-wrt (mostly x86) boxes with multiple gig nics or a sizable amount of 100mbps nics you may want to support an offload engine or, hell, even the killernic. you may even be able to make some dd-wrt specific modules for the linux distro inside.
Joined: 13 Nov 2006 Posts: 7 Location: Louisville, KY
Posted: Sun Nov 26, 2006 16:44 Post subject:
Cool, thanks, that was the type of information I was looking for, especially if high end servers have been doing this for a while; I could just get some of those cards. The fact is, I just haven't seen anything like this before and I could definately see where the performance difference would shine through, I just haven't ever seen it before. Thanks to all,
-Hitman _________________ --F@H Team: 46543
SecureNix - SysAdmin
Ubuntu for the Massess...
Posted: Thu Nov 30, 2006 21:05 Post subject: is this new?
Most high end NICs from Intel and 3com already does TCP/IP offloading tasks like generating checksums and so on. All multi-port NICs use a decent I/O processing unit which is like a embedded CPU and it also has a heatsink.
I don't see the point of this Killer Nic. no really I don't. _________________ I own a Linksys WRT54G v3.1 and I am using DD-WRT
Joined: 13 Nov 2006 Posts: 7 Location: Louisville, KY
Posted: Fri Dec 01, 2006 2:53 Post subject:
OK, I'm pretty sure after digging around some that I agree...I think it would be it would be great to make a thread of some of the highest/best performance nics out there within a reasonable price...I'm going to start looking into that. _________________ --F@H Team: 46543
SecureNix - SysAdmin
Ubuntu for the Massess...
