Explain Killer LAN for me please

[HeLiOn PrImE]

Hey there guys!

I hope I'm posting this in the right section. I've searched over the internet about this detail I see on today's motherboards, but honestly I didn't catch all the details.

A lot of gaming motherboards have the feature called Killer LAN. I've seen that you can monitor traffic and performance, but...are there any other advantages over a normal LAN port?

What exactly makes this thing stand out? Or better said, does it really stand out, or it's just a marketing thing? I've used the search function here, but I only found people reporting issues with it.

 

Soo...yeah... I'd appreciate a 1.01.

[edutechie]

It's software-optimized Atheros LAN chips with a fancy colour and a cool name. No benefit, and sometimes a disadvantage compared to Intel NICs.

[Enderman]

It sucks, get something with intel LAN instead.

[Marshnt]

26 minutes ago, HeLiOn PrImE said:

Hey there guys!

I hope I'm posting this in the right section. I've searched over the internet about this detail I see on today's motherboards, but honestly I didn't catch all the details.

A lot of gaming motherboards have the feature called Killer LAN. I've seen that you can monitor traffic and performance, but...are there any other advantages over a normal LAN port?

What exactly makes this thing stand out? Or better said, does it really stand out, or it's just a marketing thing? I've used the search function here, but I only found people reporting issues with it.

 

Soo...yeah... I'd appreciate a 1.01.

Same reason why apple is better then PC.

[SCHISCHKA]

Killer LAN does a bit more work in hardware, where other LAN would use CPU cycles.

It uses more power.

It has more bugs, or a different set of bugs.

Its not worth the extra cost/performance.

 

[sazrocks]

15 minutes ago, Marshnt said:

Same reason why apple is better then PC.

Better security and reliability? I don't see how that fits here.

[Marshnt]

2 minutes ago, sazrocks said:

Better security and reliability? I don't see how that fits here.

More money for the same result in the end.

[sazrocks]

53 minutes ago, Marshnt said:

More money for the same result in the end.

And how does that in any way relate to

1 hour ago, Marshnt said:

why apple is better then PC.

 

[Marshnt]

4 minutes ago, sazrocks said:

And how does that in any way relate to

 

You tell me, why a comparable MAC is more then a PC the ill tell you why killer is worth more then Intel or Broadcom.

[sazrocks]

1 hour ago, Marshnt said:

You tell me, why a comparable MAC is more then a PC the ill tell you why killer is worth more then Intel or Broadcom.

1. Better Security

2. Better Reliability

3. Is UNIX based

4. Has a great coherent ecosystem

5. Comes with Pages, Numbers, Keynote, etc. instead of having to subscribe yearly.

6. Doesn't spy on your every move

7. Looks better

8. Is a status symbol

 

Now, please, tell me why killer is better.

 

And honestly, I don't want to derail this thread into a Mac vs PC flame war, so this will be my last post on this topic (of Macs vs. PCs).

[HeLiOn PrImE]

I don't think I've seen a motherboard that only has the killer LAN. At least not yet.

I've only seen ones that have both of them. Anyway, thank you for replying.

[edutechie]

6 hours ago, sazrocks said:

1. Better Security

2. Better Reliability

3. Is UNIX based

4. Has a great coherent ecosystem

5. Comes with Pages, Numbers, Keynote, etc. instead of having to subscribe yearly.

6. Doesn't spy on your every move

7. Looks better

8. Is a status symbol

 

Now, please, tell me why killer is better.

 

And honestly, I don't want to derail this thread into a Mac vs PC flame war, so this will be my last post on this topic (of Macs vs. PCs).

While this is off-topic, all of those points are anecdotal evidence of why it's better rather than quantitative. Number 6 is also a complete lie. The rest are objective.

 

On topic: I think it was originally marketed as one of those QoS programs with better LAN drivers to enable that... however I think now they just want to get rid of the stock they have and try use it as a selling point.

[kirashi]

On 9/3/2017 at 7:34 PM, edutechie said:

It's software-optimized Atheros LAN chips with a fancy colour and a cool name. No benefit, and sometimes a disadvantage compared to Intel NICs.

On 9/3/2017 at 7:41 PM, Enderman said:

It sucks, get something with intel LAN instead.

Can confirm; it's a marketing gimick that doesn't work properly. Both my desktop and Dell XPS 15 have Killer LAN / WiFi chipsets. In both cases I chose to nuke the Killer Management Software since it caused my connection to drop or flat out fail (have an IP but no connection) and only use the generic Atheros drivers that Windows provides for me.

 

[HeLiOn PrImE]

Thanks for clearing it up for me, guys.