Hardware & Technical Gaming NICs - are they worth it?

[GuruNot]

I am looking to build a new rig later this year and have started my OCDish spreadsheet for the various options and vendors.

One thing that I have questioned is the value of a dedicated Gaming Network Card. Now this new rig is going to be used for various things, including:

1) Virtualisation
2) Video conversion and editing
3) Photo manipulation and editing
4) Gaming

And a lot of that Gaming will be Elite.

I have looked at such devices as EVGA Killer Xeno Pro and the Killer NICs .

But are they worth it ? Do they help? Does anyone have any experience with them one way or another ?

 

[noodle]

I'd be astonished if it made any difference. Maybe for LAN gaming.... maybe. But across the internet, your NIC is never going to be the weakest link where latency is concerned.

 

[Stoo]

I'd be astonished if it made any difference. Maybe for LAN gaming.... maybe. But across the internet, your NIC is never going to be the weakest link where latency is concerned.

With you on this one... :smilie:

 

[Wolfs Spirit]

i am using the MSI z87 GD65 gaming board , it has one on board using killer network manager
Untill now ( i just build the system 2 weeks ago) i am pretty happy with it.
It's pretty useless unlless you use more connections at a time , like downloading/ updating etc.
Then you can set priority to a program , like gaming

You realy do not get faster internet, all it does is just reserve a certain % bandwith for the program you wish , so other programs that need internet won't steal your precious bandwith , wich could cause lag.
So yeah it it a handy program and you do not have to be worried your automatic updates interferes with your gaming

 

[Memnoch]

I don't see how it could possibly matter either. My only suggestion would be, if you absolutely have to get a discrete one, is go for an Intel one. You really can't go wrong with these.

 

[TheWombat]

The reviews of the gaming NICs suggest little to no difference, particularly for a game like ED. They can make a fractional difference for the processing of the network packets within the PC, however that part of the entire network journey is so small that any improvement is minimal to non-existent across the full network journey.

Better saving your money.

TheWombat

 

[Wolfs Spirit]

well ... if you have a slow internet connection it has more advantages ,because killer app will reserve more bandwith for whatever you use at the moment.
it's useless with fast internet , i have for instance the max available cable speed .. so i will not see much difference , that said i do see a difference in download speeds whenever i am downloading big files/programs , so i guess it does something.. it probly does optimize the connection for whatever you use.

 

[kenwshmt]

i am using the MSI z87 GD65 gaming board , it has one on board using killer network manager
Untill now ( i just build the system 2 weeks ago) i am pretty happy with it.
It's pretty useless unlless you use more connections at a time , like downloading/ updating etc.
Then you can set priority to a program , like gaming

You realy do not get faster internet, all it does is just reserve a certain % bandwith for the program you wish , so other programs that need internet won't steal your precious bandwith , wich could cause lag.
So yeah it it a handy program and you do not have to be worried your automatic updates interferes with your gaming

Not that it helps to any great degree, but most routers have QOS, quality of service based on the connection on the router by hardware =
1 which plug the system is plugged into on the router.
2 IP / MAC filter, same thing
3 PORT: If its an encrypted connections, and you should hope it is to prevent packet shaping from your ISP (they turn down netflix, they can turn down your game) , you can set it to high and everything else to low.

Practically; web browsing, It may keep things from time out, but it isn't likely to make them any more reliable. If a high draw low priority system is still getting all the bandwidth, the little router still won't balance it very well.

It is worth fiddling with, see if it makes any difference.

 

[Asp Explorer]

Gaming NIC's are a joke, as is any network optimisation software on a PC.

Just keep your network driver up to date and you'll be good, even on the relatively crappy on-board Realtek stuff.

If you must add a NIC, go for one of the Intel or SMC ones - they use very little CPU in comparison.

 

[Mazhurg]

One thing that I have questioned is the value of a dedicated Gaming Network Card.

Save your money for better graphics, processor or memory.

DGN are snake oil promoted by greedy companies taking advantage of the credibility (and technical ignorance) of many competitive gamers.

They do absolutely nothing other than cost more than good networking from motherboards.