BigFoot Networks Killer NIC: Killer Marketing or Killer Product?

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• mlau - Tuesday, October 31, 2006 - link

  Correct, I haven't (I do have bills to pay and don't waste what's left on improving my laptop). To me it's absolutely not worth shelling out 500$ so that oblivion runs with 5 fps more. Reducing resolution costs nothing. With the saved money you can buy loads of beers which will make playing that game much more interesting :)
  
  The card is too expensive for what it offers, and its benefits will vanish with the
  next cpu generation, no doubt. What makes the card interesting is the integrated
  offload of all of linux' filtering/routing. The card is marketed to the wrong crowd.
  
  PS: I think ati and nvidia need to be congratulated for finding another
  reason for gamers to shell out money. (and look, ati also wants you to buy 3 cards in the
  near future, for another completely useless thing: physics "simulation". I bet hundreds
  of people can't wait to post benchmarks and how it improved their framerates and how
  "physically correct" the dust now settles in $GAME)
  

• rushfan2006 - Wednesday, November 1, 2006 - link

  Agreed. I am a gamer a very long time gamer btw...if that counts for anything to do with anything...LOL...I've always built my own gaming boxes throughout the years -- so I think I have some relevant experience to base my opinions on. Though the guy is a bit brutish in how he makes his remarks, factually I believe he's correct in that right now with the state of technology the price:performance ratio for dual cards in games is just not there. If I'm going to invest a total of $1000 (two cards) I'd want to see DRAMATIC improvements. Now we all have our own standards -- so let me define mine...even 10% performance game for that investment is NOT "dramatic" to me. Research the benchmarks from your favorite tech sites, don't take my word for it -- the benchmarks speak for it.
  
  As for the topic of this Killer NIC...for me personally, as a gamer, its just a waste of money and the concept of it kind of makes me laugh to be honest.
  
  

• imaheadcase - Tuesday, October 31, 2006 - link

  I agree, crossfire/SLI is not all that at all. Its just a marketing tool to make gamers think they need it. The difference though is that it has some nice uses other than games.
  
  Games should be the LAST thing people should think about when getting SLI/Crossfire.

• Frumious1 - Tuesday, October 31, 2006 - link

  I'm not sure if you're being sarcastic or idiotic. Hopefully the former? Marketing tools are trying to peddle something that has a negligible impact. You know, convincing people to upgrade from a 2.4 GHz E6600 to a 2.93 GHz X6800 for three times the cost... maximum performance increase is 22% for a 200% price hike! CrossFire and SLI on the other hand can give up to a 90% (and usually at least 50%) performance increase for a 100% price increase.
  
  Yup, that's totally marketing. So are large LCDs, because those are completely useless. (Yes, that's sarcasm.)

• feelingshorter - Tuesday, October 31, 2006 - link

  How about spend 300 bucks and buy windows? My bit defender works just fine as a firewall and doesn't use 300 dollars worth of CPU. Hell, you can buy a new cpu and off set any performance hit using software firewall with 300 bucks!

• Hypernova - Tuesday, October 31, 2006 - link

  But as the review says currently there are still NOTHING that shows the potential of FNapps. This is the card 2nd biggest selling point yet there's still nothing to show for it.

• cosmotic - Tuesday, October 31, 2006 - link

  quote:
  

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  Yes, we will present data such as frame rates per second and ping times in several of the latest games available today.

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  I don't think the "per second" is appropriate.