Intel Acquires Killer NIC

erek

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Excited? remember Killer NIC?

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"Looking beyond Rivet Networks, however, Intel has made moves on its own with products based on Wi-Fi 6 (802.11ax) and is pushing its Project Athena initiative which specifies a set of standards for laptops and 2-in-1 convertibles using 10th generation Core processors, NVMe storage, USB-C fast charging, Thunderbolt 3/Wi-Fi 6 support and ultra-fast wake speeds.



“We are committed to enabling our customers to deliver the best PC experiences, especially when we have become more reliant on technology,” Intel added. “We know how important connectivity is in enriching our lives.”"


https://hothardware.com/news/intel-acquires-rivet-networks-for-killer-networking
 
Saw this last night I think, I think it's a good grab for intel. I liked some of their software management/monitoring tools, but don't remember anything special about their hardware.
 
I had a Killer NIC integrated into one of my old motherboards (don't recall which one). It was hot garbage. Constantly woke my computer up from sleep and would randomly lose connection. Luckily it was a secondary NIC so I just used the other one that was on the board.
 
Are killer not used in some am4 boards?
Not sure about Killer, but many use the new Realtek 2.5G NICs. Its on my motherboard. I've been using it for 2 months now and honestly can't tell the difference between it and the Intel Gigabit NIC I have on my X99 board. Realtek also was hot garbage a decade ago, but it seems like their latest products actually perform well.
 
Ugh, had a killer NIC on a board ages ago and hated it for similar reasons to what exlink mentioned above.
 
I'm indifferent. I know some have done well with killer products. I have a killer NIC on my mainboard and it works. It's no better than anything else I've tried. However, the network management software was complete ass. It slowed everything down to a crawl, did the exact opposite of what it was supposed to. Uninstalled it and use only the driver. Works fine.
 
Killer has never made anything worthwhile.

It's all about the "gaming" branding. I'm sure Intel could use that.
 
I have one on my board and cannot tell the difference between it and the Intel.

I have gigabit internet and as far as I can tell, it provides the exact same experience and performance. I fucked around with it for a few days when I first got hooked up to gigabit.
 
My motherboards have it built in, I disabled everything they had just using stock drivers.
 
Despite my feelings about the "killer" nics, I've always had great experiences with pretty much anything network related that was made by Intel. Hopefully that continues, and maybe they can turn "killer" nics into something more than just marketing. It's telling that my AMD X570 motherboard has Intel Ethernet and Intel WiFi.
 
I had one built-in to a motherboard 7-8 years ago. Other than needing its own drivers, I didn't notice anything unique about it.
 
Saw this last night I think, I think it's a good grab for intel. I liked some of their software management/monitoring tools, but don't remember anything special about their hardware.
Interesting. It was their software that most despised.
And just like 3dfx, Aureal, etc. Killer products become yet another footnote in history...
No, not like them. 3dfx and Aureal pushed technology and left a long lasting positive mark on the industry. Killer NIC left a shitstain.
 
I have a Killer NIC in the 6C /12T laptop I am typing from however I never use it in wired mode.
 
Its on a 17 inch MSI GP73 Leopard 8RF that I purchased in the FS/FT on this site after I accidentally killed my previous 17 inch MSI 4C/8T laptop with a 20 ounce cup of coffee
 
most of the experience I’ve had with killer products were their wireless solutions. We had so much trouble with them at work - signal issues and Bluetooth trouble especially - that I told my team to make sure any laptop we purchased had an intel WiFi/by solution in it. We even went back and bought intel ones to replace the killer ones.

The few I’d used on The desktop were fine I guess, but I use Ubuntu so it was just another Ethernet nic to me. Nothing special.
 
I had the "killer nic" software stack on Qualcomm hardware, it was interesting since it allowed you to managed bandwidth QoS / throughput caps between different applications running in windows, though this is very different than the original killer nic with the whole dedicated coprocessor. However the drivers always seemed to cause issues after sleep/suspend and I ended up going back to the stock qualcomm drivers. If it worked reliably, it could be useful if you had network contention on your PC and you did everything on it, but I have all my downloading/streaming on a different box, and QoS handled at the firewall.
 
The killer nic on my gigabyte Z77 board was hot garbage. When I used it I had all sorts of disconnects and random slowdowns. Switched to the intel gigabit one and was problem free for the next 6 years.
 
And just like 3dfx, Aureal, etc. Killer products become yet another footnote in history...

I don't think Killer really owns any technology of any value Intel is after. They are likely just after the brand.

They might use this to market gaming focused Intel networking products, which honestly might be a good thing.

I mean, Killer was utter trash. Snake oil which didn't do anything it said it did, and was unreliable and subpar, but OMG it had fancy heatsinks!

The concept of actively prioritizing game traffic wasn't a bad one, but unless you are the only machine/device on a network, and like running lots of heavy networking stuff in the background, it was completely pointless to try to implement it on a NIC.

With Intel's technology in there they may actually be able to make something decent. I'm no Intel fanboy, but anyone who has tinkered with server stuff knows that if you want reliability it's Intel NIC's or nothing.

Maybe a router product which can identify and prioritize game packets network wide? That could actually be useful to those on congested family networks fighting with Netflix streams and torrent downloads.

That's my theory. Intel buys the brand, discards their shitty technology, relaunches it with Intel network chips inside and makes it actually work. They'll probably keep the heatsink design :p
 
Gigabyte loved using them on some of their boards. I have one on my z97 mobo, no real issues but I think I just use the bare minimum drivers. My X370 came with killer and intel nics, I use the intel one exclusively on that system.
 
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I have one on my board and cannot tell the difference between it and the Intel.

My mobo has both Killer (2400) & Intel (1219v) nics onboard, and I when I first built this rig, I tried out both for several weeks, and honestly could not tell the difference performance-wise. All of many downloads & uploads were at about the same speeds, so it really does not matter which one I use...

But as with most computer stuff, YMMV :D
 
I don't think Killer really owns any technology of any value Intel is after. They are likely just after the brand.

They might use this to market gaming focused Intel networking products, which honestly might be a good thing.

I mean, Killer was utter trash. Snake oil which didn't do anything it said it did, and was unreliable and subpar, but OMG it had fancy heatsinks!

The concept of actively prioritizing game traffic wasn't a bad one, but unless you are the only machine/device on a network, and like running lots of heavy networking stuff in the background, it was completely pointless to try to implement it on a NIC.

With Intel's technology in there they may actually be able to make something decent. I'm no Intel fanboy, but anyone who has tinkered with server stuff knows that if you want reliability it's Intel NIC's or nothing.

Maybe a router product which can identify and prioritize game packets network wide? That could actually be useful to those on congested family networks fighting with Netflix streams and torrent downloads.

That's my theory. Intel buys the brand, discards their shitty technology, relaunches it with Intel network chips inside and makes it actually work. They'll probably keep the heatsink design :p
That's pretty much what Ian says here https://www.anandtech.com/show/1580...rks-killer-networking-is-all-in-for-team-blue

Ian Cutress said:
I had an on-the-record call with the Rivet Networks team and Intel, with lots of interesting information. While the value of the acquisition is not being disclosed, talks started in earnest at the end of last year about the right time and the level of synergy between the two companies. There is no mention of personnel, however every person that Intel offered a position too at Rivet took that offer. Rivet's CEO Mike Cubbage will now be Intel's Senior Director of Connectivity Innovations.


Intel is set to keep the Killer brand and integrate it into its portfolio of products. I asked if there were any particular brands that Intel was keen on or not keen on - Intel's Eric McLaughlin, VP and GM of the Wireless Group stated that Intel is interested in all of them, especially in how they've been deployed so far and how Intel can scale them in more places and different ways.


I did ask a question about the integration, given how when Rivet/Bigfoot Networks was acquired by Qualcomm and then had to spin out again in order to drive the product, I was worried Intel might do the same. Mike told me that Rivet's Killer brand strengths back then, and even today, are in the PC and Gaming space, which perfectly aligns with what Intel is focused on. This is different to the previous acquisition, where is was more of a business portfolio play, but this time around Intel looks set on developing the Killer technology into a wide variety of products at scale, something which Rivet wasn't able to do previously.
 
i have a laptop with a Killer wifi card and its hot garbage, disconnects often, so copying files over LAN is problematic.
My current X570 has one of the new Realtek NICs (1Gb i'm pretty sure) and its been really good so far, my x370 (now wife's) has an Intel NIC and it always filled the event logs with these "disconenct" errors, I don't think I've actually been affected by it but it was super annoying and was making me think this Intel NIC is horrible and going to die, but it hasn't died yet.
 
i have a laptop with a Killer wifi card and its hot garbage, disconnects often, so copying files over LAN is problematic.
My current X570 has one of the new Realtek NICs (1Gb i'm pretty sure) and its been really good so far, my x370 (now wife's) has an Intel NIC and it always filled the event logs with these "disconenct" errors, I don't think I've actually been affected by it but it was super annoying and was making me think this Intel NIC is horrible and going to die, but it hasn't died yet.
:(
 
i have a laptop with a Killer wifi card and its hot garbage, disconnects often, so copying files over LAN is problematic.
My current X570 has one of the new Realtek NICs (1Gb i'm pretty sure) and its been really good so far, my x370 (now wife's) has an Intel NIC and it always filled the event logs with these "disconenct" errors, I don't think I've actually been affected by it but it was super annoying and was making me think this Intel NIC is horrible and going to die, but it hasn't died yet.
I was hesitant in purchasing my X570 board as it only has a Realtek 2.5Gb NIC but the thing is shockingly solid. It was my first Realtek NIC in probably close to a decade. My home network is limited to gigabit at the moment, but it has no problem saturating that bandwidth. Not a single disconnection, slowdown, or unwelcomed wake-up event in the now almost 3 months time I've owned it.
 
Sign of the times, your product can be complete shite as long as you have a Killer name. Ironically its the same for our modern society.
 
Sign of the times, your product can be complete shite as long as you have a Killer name. Ironically its the same for our modern society.
Killer NICs have been around since 2007 or earlier, if I remember right, and even back then while the hardware was very good itself, I remember the software stack and drivers being absolutely terrible.
Even by the late 2000s, the performance improvements using their NICs was minimal compared to Intel's then-offerings, was far more expensive, and the high-CPU overhead from their software/drivers negated any gains that the NIC itself made (slightly lower latencies).

I do have to say that the NIC itself was pretty awesome looking for the time.
 
Cards ran really hot, had to keep hunting to find a working driver, and there was hardware issues. Sent one away for warranty, and the replacement had messy hand soldered repairs on it. That card had different issues than the original.

Concept was really interesting, but I never could get their stuff working long enough to try it out.
 
Other than the first or second product release, "Killer" hasnt used its own hardware at all. They were bought and just used basic Qualcomm stuff. Now Intel bought them so they will probably just use basic Intel stuff going forward. The company was nothing more than a bloated software interface for basic driver tweaks we all already had. The whole bypassing network stack and programmable network processing unit were dead beyond the first product releases.
 
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