Star Wars Galaxies: Death to Lag: Killer NIC

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Death to Lag: Killer NIC

By David Ara Greene
SWG.WarCry.com

The network interface card, or NIC, has become a key component in our computing lives. Although there is a NIC in almost every PC around us, not much has changed in the design and implementation of the cards them selves. With newer communication protocols such as UDP the concept of the NIC needed to be revisited. User Datagram Protocol (UDP) is a communications protocol for the Internet network layer, transport layer, and session layer, which makes it possible to send a datagram message from one computer to an application running in another computer. Like TCP (Transmission Control Protocol), UDP is used with IP (the Internet Protocol). Unlike TCP, UDP is connectionless and does not guarantee reliable communication; the application itself must process any errors and check for reliable delivery. The gaming industry has jumped on the UDP bandwagon because it is a faster transport as the data is checked less at the network interface, but instead is checked at the server software level.

March 2006, Bigfoot Networks introduced a new technology called LLR™, which stands for Lag and Latency Reduction. Harlan 'Tytus' Beverly, Bigfoot Networks CEO and the architect behind Killer was sick of playing games online and suffering from Lag. As a gamer, he hated losing due to circumstances out of his control. Harlan researched Lag and Latency in online games for over two years, and the fruits of his work became the foundation for LLR Technology. With this new vision of reducing or eliminating lag Harlan Beverly, Bob Grim, and Mike Cubbage set out to do what needed to be done, remake the network interface card.

A Killer was born of their union, or should I say the Killer NIC. Bigfoot's LLR technology was incorporated into the card via a custom designed Network Processing Unit (NPU) that allows gamers' PCs to offload their networking tasks from the CPU. Killer literally bypasses the Microsoft network stack and replaces it with the hardware network stack in the NPU. This NPU is a 400 Mhz Network Processing Unit: Runs a highly optimized version of embedded Linux. 64MB DDR memory works in conjunction with the NPU to support the network offload functionality as well as the Flexible Network Architecture. Flexible Network Architecture (FNA) exposes the underlying Linux Operating System running on the Killer to the user. The KillerNIC ships with the ability for a user to get to the Linux command prompt. FNA allows users to write Applications themselves or download them from KillerNIC.com that will runner on the cards NPU. Offloading applications is another way to allow your CPU to stay focused on making sure your game plays at peak performance online.

For us gamers it comes down to, will my game function faster. KillerNIC approaches this fight from several angles. By using packet prioritization KillerNIC prioritizes your inbound and outbound network traffic so that your gaming packets are delivered first. By pushing your gaming UDP and TCP packet first you gain every millisecond that is there to be gained. Another major feature is the way Killernic actually increases your games Frames Per Second (FPS). KillerNIC offloads network processing to the Killer's NPU. The Windows network stack is completely bypassed, freeing your computer's main processor to focus on running the game. More CPU power means faster frame rates. This is especially true when main game loops (e.g. a frame loop) includes networking function calls that used to go to Windows, and now go to Killer. Interestingly, this improves frame rates, even when no network data is available to process, because most main game loops check for data at least once per frame. KillerNIC sends this data to the CPU so there is not need to go looking for it and this can have amazing results.

Now for the down and dirty, I have had the pleasure of being able to test one of these cards and bring you the results.

The control

All tests were over the course of 90 minutes and performed between the hours of 9:00am EST and 10:30am EST.

All tests were performed on the same PC with the following configuration:

CPU: AMD|SEMPRON64 3400+

Memory: GEIL D400 2x512M GE1GB3200BDC (1 gig Total)

Mother Board: ASROCK K8UPGRADE-NF3 NF3

Video Card : G-Force FX 6800le 128 megs RAM in 1280x1024 Forceware 91.31

Sound Card : AudioTrak Maya 6 Channel Sound Card

OS : Microsoft Windows XP Home Edition

Internet : 8meg/sec Cable

Direct X : 9.0c

Servers:

WoW: Stonemaul

SWG: Sunrunner

EQ2: Venekor

Vanguard: Bata Server

EvE: Tranqulity

Graphic Quality Settings:

WoW: all sliders on high

SWG: all sliders on high

EQ2: High Quality Option

Vanguard: Default

EvE: Default

All FPS was messured with Fraps, and all Ping was taken with Lag Meter

Now for the results and I have to say I am impressed.

Realtek RTL8139 NIC:

KillerNIC:

As you can see Bigfoot's KillerNIC meets and in some cases exceeds their quoted 10% increase. High end gamers will quite often buy a 200-300 dollar video card to get 5-6%, why not go to the root of your internet gaming issues and try Bigfoot's answer. As computer games become more demanding we need to find hardware that steps up to the challenge, and KillerNIC does just that. Playing todays MMO's KillerNIC is our newest weapon to use against the beast called LAG.

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