Posted on Monday, March 23 2009 @ 12:58 CET by Thomas De Maesschalck
OCModShop had a talk with the guys from Bigfoot Networks and got to see the Killer Xeno, the successor to the Killer NIC network card. The network card offloads voice chat and network traffic from the CPU, and has some additional features like a personal firewall. More details on how the Killer Xeno will work to reduce lag can be read
at OCModShop.
To address the Pink Elephant in the room, Harlan started off by admitting that they "over-promised" on the original Killer NIC. They maintain that the LLR (Lag and Latency Reduction) technology was sound, and does in fact improve ping times by bypassing the network stack, but admitted that much of network lag is beyond the control of the network card.
Bigfoot Networks is starting to become a major player in the PC gaming market, as they have landed OEM contracts with Dell, Falcon Northwest, and Alienware. These companies will be implementing Killer Xeno cards in their respective lines of gaming computers, which currently make up to 40% of the pre-built gaming market. Harlan said that they will be focusing on the add-on card market very soon, releasing their Xeno Ultimate card in May.
The Killer Xeno Ultra will debut in May for $179.99, and the $129.99 Killer Xeno Pro will follow later.
