You really can't blame the ping this time - New Killer ethernet controller

[williamcll]

Claiming up to 3X latency reduction compared to other gigabit cards/motherboards while consuming less power compared to previous model:

Quote

Alright, they claim a new release, but really it is a rename and refresh of an older part. Rivet Networks is announcing the 2.5Gbps Ethernet controller, the E3100. We say this as last year's E3000, the second-generation was the same, but now promises to deliver more performance while using less power. "Delivering more performance while using less power, the E3100 is Killer’s second-generation Ethernet controller that achieves speeds up to 2.5 Gbps. High-performance routers are rapidly moving to support 2.5 Gbps Ethernet, so the Killer E3100 is perfect for gamers who want to take advantage of faster speeds to win more and get the most out of their online experience," says Rivet Networks. Rivet Networks offers multiple versions of the E3100, three revisions of the 3100 series; E3100, E3100G, and E3100X, but you can rest assured these will end up on motherboards as well, MSI, for example, uses these on a very regular basis in their mobo real-estate.

In addition to delivering up to 2.5 Gbps of throughput, the Killer E3100 delivers incredible speed, intelligence, and control that online gamers will love:

Speed:

• The Killer E3100 gives gamers the edge with its Killer Prioritization Engine, which automatically detects game traffic and prioritizes it above less important traffic for incredibly fast, low-latency gameplay. Gamers can expect up over 3X better in-game latency performance during peak network usage periods. Additionally, the Killer Prioritization Engine keeps streaming videos and communication fast and smooth, even while downloading game updates, movies, etc.
• The E3100 boosts gameplay experiences by freeing up to 10% of CPU cycles and 20% of PC memory with its powerful GameFast Technology. During gameplay, GameFast automatically pauses processes that are not needed when gaming, enabling the PC to devote more of its CPU and memory to the game.

Source: https://www.guru3d.com/news-story/rivet-networks-releases-killer-e3100-2-5-gbps-gaming-ethernet.html

https://www.killernetworking.com/products/killer-e3100/

Thoughts: While I know that a better network card can't solve physical distance, I think there is still space for hardware to improve latency. I'm not so sure about the price however. That and there's still no reviews yet. Plus I am still on a motherboard with a realtek NIC so I can not make comparisons.

[bcredeur97]

Does it really? because last time if I remember correctly, killer was all marketing and Intel NIC's were actually legitimately better lol

[Jurrunio]

Drivers? Last time my friend's Killer LAN on his motherboard burnt him pretty badly lol, even the Realtek in my laptop is more stable. He had to swap boards to get rid of the internet cutoffs.

[Electronics Wizardy]

Just now, Hakemon said:

Would it even matter though?  LAN only works at the slowest link.  If this marketing hype was real, the only way it would work would be if EVERYONE had this spectacular NIC.

Their demo was torrenting and gaming at the same time, and I could see it helping a good amount there. But having a router with good qos if your isp conneciton is a limit will probably help more.

[RejZoR]

I have the E2200 and while I don't notice any difference in games what so ever, it does seem to work well while doing other things. Like running P2P full tilt and still having everything else perfectly usable. Or watching Youtube or Netflix while downloading a game at full speed in Steam, GOG or Origin...

 

There is nothing magical, it just allows something at full speed, but when something else with higher priority requests certain packets, those get full attention. P2P or downloads don't really care if latency is 300ms for as long as it doesn't time out. Streaming needs to be timely otherwise it'll be pausing. And this is all this does. You can also control priority per app. For example I have an app that syncs my data to cloud and it has almost the lowest priority. It'll be doing things at full speed, just not over other things.

 

If it's done in hardware on the ethernet chip and that somehow frees up CPU, ok, but latency claims are a bit "eh" and they mostly depend on connection itself, not the controller.

 

There is also software solution named CFosSpeed from some German company:

https://www.cfos.de/en-us/cfosspeed/cfosspeed.htm

 

It's rather cheap and works with every ethernet controller. It's essentially the same thing Killer is doing, it just runs on CPU. I don't think it makes any special load on CPU if you're running something relatively modern. Prioritization is not a scam though and it does work. I remember gaming while running P2P years ago and ping was hardly affected while I was pulling stuff down in the background. Pretty neat. Iirc cFosSpeed even knows to communicate with other cFosSpeed installations within same network and it'll prioritize traffic within one computer and between all computers on same network. So they can all always get smooth data flow without interruptions from low importance traffic.

[porina]

Is it just some kind of QoS function?

 

Regardless of that, I think we're going to see a shift to 2.5G as standard on enthusiast grade mobos in the near future. Just need the switches to come down in price and we can finally move beyond gigabit without breaking the bank.

[Lurick]

12 minutes ago, porina said:

Is it just some kind of QoS function?

 

Regardless of that, I think we're going to see a shift to 2.5G as standard on enthusiast grade mobos in the near future. Just need the switches to come down in price and we can finally move beyond gigabit without breaking the bank.

Exactly, unless you have your local network setup to honor QoS markings to start with it's not going to do anything and once it leaves your network you're at the mercy of your ISP, interconnects, etc. to get you to the destination.

[BuckGup]

Killer network drivers are notorious for having issues for LAN parties. I have had much better luck with Intel 

[RejZoR]

Dunno why ppl complain so much over Killer drivers. Never really had any problems with them.

[TechyBen]

1 hour ago, bcredeur97 said:

Does it really? because last time if I remember correctly, killer was all marketing and Intel NIC's were actually legitimately better lol

I use to get a ping of 15ms seconds or less to games. My ping to my local phone exchange was about 3ms... I don't think I've seen a router/ethernet controller with a "ping" of 300ms since dialup!

[cj09beira]

all i can say is that the only time a nic gave me problems (it refused to connect no matter what) was a intel nic

[TempestCatto]

*yawns in AQUANTIA AQC107*

 

https://www.newegg.com/asrock-x470-taichi-ultimate/p/N82E16813157834

 

[Arika]

Bullshit. Every killer device I've had has been absolute crap

[WereCatf]

3 minutes ago, Arika S said:

Bullshit. Every killer device I've had has been absolute crap

I was just going to say this. The software for these Killer-products always insists on setting all sorts of weird-ass bandwidth-limits, like e.g. on a gigabit-network, I often found it setting a 5Mbps-limit for zero good reason. Latency? Literally the same with or without such limits, with or without the Killer-software disabled completely. A lot of the time the Killer-software caused random disconnects altogether, as well!

 

Fuck that, I prefer products without any Killer-stuff!

[leadeater]

2 hours ago, Lurick said:

Exactly, unless you have your local network setup to honor QoS markings to start with it's not going to do anything and once it leaves your network you're at the mercy of your ISP, interconnects, etc. to get you to the destination.

You misunderstand the testing methodology, the competition was done to a server in Russia and then the Killer NIC was done to a local US server. Make sense now?

[TrigrH]

My experience with killer NICs: 

Driver leaks all traffic into system memory till the pc runs out of ram and crashes.

[hishnash]

19 minutes ago, TrigrH said:

My experience with killer NICs: 

Driver leaks all traffic into system memory till the pc runs out of ram and crashes.

Any hardware that needs you to install drivers is a no go for me, they always have bugs and best case its just memory leaks more commonly its kernal panics.

[mr moose]

2 hours ago, leadeater said:

You misunderstand the testing methodology, the competition was done to a server in Russia and then the Killer NIC was done to a local US server. Make sense now?

60-70ms to a local server is shit numbers though.   What am I missing?

[leadeater]

9 minutes ago, mr moose said:

What am I missing?

The joke 

[mr moose]

12 minutes ago, leadeater said:

The joke 

I got your joke, but it made me think.  They claim their nic gives you 60-70ms ping.   I regularly get 30-80 ms ping and if it isn't something like a game just a local speed test then I get 8ms, and that's with generic realtek and whatever drivers windows installed.  I don't see what their claim to fame is.  Either its very dishonest claims about their competition and I am really lucky with my ping or I don't understand something about he technology.

[hishnash]

30 minutes ago, valdyrgramr said:

Well, there is hw that needs drivers to function properly, such as your GPU.  Or, do you mean to get any functionality?

That is true. But there is also a lot of hw out there that could use standard PCIe/USB specs but instead wants drivers.. the worst is the Dell thunderbolt docks that dont work without drivers... it is PCIe + USB there should be no need for drivers at all, USB and PCIe both have very well supported networking and audio device interfaces that mean modern operating systems do not need dedicated device drivers, but DELL.... you must install their kernel level driver to use the dock!

[Bananasplit_00]

2 hours ago, mr moose said:

I got your joke, but it made me think.  They claim their nic gives you 60-70ms ping.   I regularly get 30-80 ms ping and if it isn't something like a game just a local speed test then I get 8ms, and that's with generic realtek and whatever drivers windows installed.  I don't see what their claim to fame is.  Either its very dishonest claims about their competition and I am really lucky with my ping or I don't understand something about he technology.

They are comparing their new NIC to their previous ones,

[mr moose]

4 minutes ago, Bananasplit_00 said:

They are comparing their new NIC to their previous ones,

So I am not actually missing anything then,  they are joke in and off themselves with ludicrous marketing claims that even someone with no inclination or desire to understand networking performance can look at them and just wonder why anyone would bother.

[Brooksie359]

8 hours ago, RejZoR said:

Dunno why ppl complain so much over Killer drivers. Never really had any problems with them.

I have had nothing but problems with killer ethernet. I honestly have never had issues with ethernet other than the one time it was killer. Thing would randomly stop working for no apparent reason. I have tried to avoid killer ethernet after that experience.

[RejZoR]

5 hours ago, Brooksie359 said:

I have had nothing but problems with killer ethernet. I honestly have never had issues with ethernet other than the one time it was killer. Thing would randomly stop working for no apparent reason. I have tried to avoid killer ethernet after that experience.

Had Realtek, Intel, Killer, they are all the same, except Killer comes with QoS bundle and controls. I see no reason why Killer would somehow be problematic. Especially since they release drivers very often, even for my ancient E2200...