MSI Bringing "Killer" NIC Tech to MoBos?

HotHardware acquired a press release from MSI Computer Corp before this week that announced an upcoming partnership with Bigfoot Networks. Both companies will be sharing the stage at CES 2011 then and there week jointly showcasing new computing and PC gaming solutions.

According to the PR-- which is directed to those in the press attending the show-- spectators will see "the benefits a Killer 2100 gaming network card can offer as an upgrade to even an industry-leading motherboard." It's speculated that this comment could be hinting to a new unannounced motherboard with integrated Bigfoot innovation.

"We are pleased to be working with MSI," said Michael Howse, CEO of Bigfoot Networks. "The Killer 2100 gaming network card is a perfect complement to the MSI Big Bang family of mainboard solutions that will give gamers a competitive edge in online play."

MSI said that it will be giving away Bigfoot Networks Killer 2100 cards within its prize drawings at the annual MSI Master Overclocking Arena Overclockers event, taking place on January 6th while CES 2011. The company as well added that it will be teaming up with Bigfoot Networks to pursue a variety of joint marketing programs in 2011 with leading online and retail outlets.

Although adding Bigfoot's Killer 2100 NIC tech to gaming-oriented MSI motherboards seems logical, it's quite possible that the companies will join forces to offer a motherboard/network card bundle. Either way, we'll find out straightway week while MSI's Press Conference and Research Showcase event suddenly following CES Unveiled on January 4th at Bellini 2006 in The Venetian.

The killer nic has some cool features like allowing the nic to take over the processing of VoIP (Voice over Internet Protocol) and torrent configs nevertheless really the every day user isn't going to use that and spending that money would be better spent on other hardware.If MSI can add this tech without any added cost that would be great.

Dollar or two

Don't want it if it costs more than a dollar or two. My router and just about any current router does QOS which is essentailly the same thing. The QOS on the router will make sure when I play games that other network traffic say wife browsing the web etc gets a lower priority. I just don't get optimizing a NIC like this since in the best case you might get 2-3ms lower pings and thats if you have a failry slow internet connection. Everytimme I see something on Killer NIC cards I wonder how they are for all that around.

Why would anyone buy a Killer NIC over a Intel NIC for around double the cost? I see no advantage sure their are some fancy throttling features the Killer Nic software can do, however a open source router can be set to do the same thing for the entire network and from a before section of the input data signal chain. Most of the throttling options are as well commonly available for software you'd in fact use it with like torrents.A open source router+intel nic can be had for right about the same cost as a killer nic so it make no sense at all getting a killer nic.

The same way

QoS on your router will perform the same way. Here is the biggest factor: your internet is only as fast as your ISP allows, whether that be a throttled connection or a crappy pipe. Your $150 NIC isn't going to make a difference. If you want packet priority, read the manual for your router...it already does it.Killer NIC...digital 'Snake Oil'.

@shin0bi272 - You're spot on. To add to your argument I ask anyone who would try to rationalize this card to consider this one point of logic; The extended capabilities of your nic are something you may utilize a portion of the time and maybe not that greatly. As for allocating that money toward your CPU then there's something you can utilize far more often in a variety of ways. I will say from experience in just file transfers a Realtek or Via network chip is rarely ever a match against a good budget Intel PCIe card.