Killer NIC benchmarks

Killer NIC will be the online gamer’s best weapon in the hunt for more frags and improved gameplay. But many has questioned the concept of an external network card costing close to $300 for “just” handling the computer’s local network or internet connection. Bigfoot Networks has claimed from the start that Killer NIC will offer improved ping when playing online but also increase the performance as the network card relieves the processor. At the game site IGN they’ve performed a number of preliminary benchmarks with Killer NIC and it actually looks quite promising.

From an average ping of 67ms and a framerate at 74 fps when playing F.E.A.R with a regular integrated network controller (there’s no information about which controller) they went to an average of 45ms and a framrate at 86 fps with the same system but with Killer NIC instead. Although they were different game sessions it is still a positive indication which match what Bigfoot Networks has claimed. IGN will published more and more thurough tests with Killer NIC soon and would these preliminary tests be representative for how the Killer NIC performs, things are starting to look very interesting. But still, is it worth $300?

:: Check out the first part of IGN’s article