Raise your hand if you feel the Killer NIC adds value to your purchase.
<crickets>
For me, Intel wired and wireless NICs add value over Realtek, QCA, and (in most cases) Broadcom. The QCA Killer NIC has never added value for me in any way, and I'd prefer a vendor just delete it and charge me less.
This. I'll pay extra for Intel networking. And with a gigabit network throughout my house, I have no need or desire to burden my wireless network with machines that already have a fast wired connection.
The Killer e2200 NIC has been the bane of my MSI Z87 MPower Max. It can't handle a large number of connections when torrenting. Took me a while to realize this was the cause of BSODs, attempted to update drivers but the old driver refuses to uninstall, prohibiting new driver installation. Emailed Qualcomm support only to wait 3 days for a response suggesting I go to my Programs list to "uninstall it." Never again will I buy a board with a Qualcomm NIC.
This Killer stuff needs to GO. It isn't welcomed by anyone and these motherboard makers seem to all be dazzled by Killer's salesman... or they're getting paid to include it... or something. I don't know what.
Not just the "out-of-the-home" cable is a bottleneck here. In order to do load balancing/trunking the network switch where the streams meet up also needs to be able to somehow push more than 1 GBit/s over some connection. I highly doubt that any of the target audience have the necessary equipment and then of course the next questions are: 1) Why in hell would a performance conscious person use WiFi at all when a cable can also be used? 2) With 10GbE or similar equipment already available, why not directly use that rather than fudging around with 1GbE? 3) Load Balancing over links with largely different latencies sucks and can easily *hurt* performance rather than improve it, so what's the benefit?
1) Well, if you happen to bump a cord... 2) 10Gb/s controllers cost about 10 times as much, and, like you said, most home users don't support them anyway.
Does anyone actually believe in the Killer networking option over the cheaper and considerably more reliable Intel option?
The whole point in buying better motherboards by better brands is to avoid non-Intel networking adapters. It's like MSI is in such a rush to diversify, they aren't thinking about how they are diversifying.
They should just copy Asus. Become the Pseudo-Asus like Asrock used to be and they'll see lots of sales.
"Killer" products have been nothing but marketing since Bigfoot Networks was bought out by Qualcomm-Atheros. The "Killer" products are nothing but Qualcomms chips with branded drivers. I'd rather have an Intel solution, which perform better in most tests and I've never had driver problems with them. Something I can't say about "Killer"-branded networking products.
Can someone explain how is the traffic managed separately, WiFi for video streaming and wired for gaming. When you are gaming you are not actually streaming videos at the same time. I am totally lost with this concept. Can someone please help explain?
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LoneWolf15 - Tuesday, November 4, 2014 - link
Raise your hand if you feel the Killer NIC adds value to your purchase.<crickets>
For me, Intel wired and wireless NICs add value over Realtek, QCA, and (in most cases) Broadcom. The QCA Killer NIC has never added value for me in any way, and I'd prefer a vendor just delete it and charge me less.
Bob Todd - Tuesday, November 4, 2014 - link
This. I'll pay extra for Intel networking. And with a gigabit network throughout my house, I have no need or desire to burden my wireless network with machines that already have a fast wired connection.etamin - Tuesday, November 4, 2014 - link
The Killer e2200 NIC has been the bane of my MSI Z87 MPower Max. It can't handle a large number of connections when torrenting. Took me a while to realize this was the cause of BSODs, attempted to update drivers but the old driver refuses to uninstall, prohibiting new driver installation. Emailed Qualcomm support only to wait 3 days for a response suggesting I go to my Programs list to "uninstall it." Never again will I buy a board with a Qualcomm NIC.colinstu - Tuesday, November 4, 2014 - link
This Killer stuff needs to GO. It isn't welcomed by anyone and these motherboard makers seem to all be dazzled by Killer's salesman... or they're getting paid to include it... or something. I don't know what.tim851 - Tuesday, November 4, 2014 - link
Beats headphones, Monster cables... I know it's a free market and all, but it just aggrevates me when people get away selling snake oil...Daniel Egger - Tuesday, November 4, 2014 - link
Not just the "out-of-the-home" cable is a bottleneck here. In order to do load balancing/trunking the network switch where the streams meet up also needs to be able to somehow push more than 1 GBit/s over some connection. I highly doubt that any of the target audience have the necessary equipment and then of course the next questions are:1) Why in hell would a performance conscious person use WiFi at all when a cable can also be used?
2) With 10GbE or similar equipment already available, why not directly use that rather than fudging around with 1GbE?
3) Load Balancing over links with largely different latencies sucks and can easily *hurt* performance rather than improve it, so what's the benefit?
Mikemk - Tuesday, November 4, 2014 - link
1) Well, if you happen to bump a cord...2) 10Gb/s controllers cost about 10 times as much, and, like you said, most home users don't support them anyway.
HisDivineOrder - Tuesday, November 4, 2014 - link
Does anyone actually believe in the Killer networking option over the cheaper and considerably more reliable Intel option?The whole point in buying better motherboards by better brands is to avoid non-Intel networking adapters. It's like MSI is in such a rush to diversify, they aren't thinking about how they are diversifying.
They should just copy Asus. Become the Pseudo-Asus like Asrock used to be and they'll see lots of sales.
Flunk - Tuesday, November 4, 2014 - link
"Killer" products have been nothing but marketing since Bigfoot Networks was bought out by Qualcomm-Atheros. The "Killer" products are nothing but Qualcomms chips with branded drivers. I'd rather have an Intel solution, which perform better in most tests and I've never had driver problems with them. Something I can't say about "Killer"-branded networking products.SantaAna12 - Tuesday, November 4, 2014 - link
My experience with Killer nics is this: No thanks.I am surprised you did not address the many known issues with these???
Egbert Souse - Tuesday, November 11, 2014 - link
"Killer" is right...any MB that includes it kills the deal for me. Intel all the way.Here2rock - Thursday, April 16, 2015 - link
Can someone explain how is the traffic managed separately, WiFi for video streaming and wired for gaming. When you are gaming you are not actually streaming videos at the same time. I am totally lost with this concept. Can someone please help explain?