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Introduction

When Ageia released a PhysX physics processing unit several years ago, many people thought the technology would never catch on; simply because it was another thing they had to buy, another add-on card. However, while they were right in that the PPU itself didn’t do so well, the technology did and has now been encorporated into nVidia’s GPUs.

Today we’re looking at a product with a similar pedigree in that it doesn’t have everyone convinced. It’s a NIC, but a gamer one designed to improve your in-game latency giving you a smoother playing experience. While we don’t know whether this will ultimately end up as another onboard GPU chip, let’s see if it’s worth your money in its current form.

Specifications

• Speeds 10/100/1000 Mbps auto-negotiation
• Features
  • Control Panel Application & Tray Indicator
  • Advanced Game Detect™ (traffic classification)
  • Visual Bandwidth Control™
  • Application Blocker
• Online Gaming PC Monitor™
• UDP traffic offload & acceleration
• Windows Network Stack bypass
• Compatibility
  • Microsoft Windows 7 32 bit
  • Microsoft Windows 7 64 bit
  • Microsoft Windows Vista 32 bit
  • Microsoft Windows Vista 64 bit
  • Microsoft Windows XP 32 bit
• Processor 400 MHz Bigfoot Networks Processor
• Memory 128MB DDR2 266MHz
• Connector PCIe x1
• Ports RJ-45 Ethernet
• Power Requirements Max 10W, Typical 3W
• Certification /Compliance
  
  • Microsoft WHQL Certification for:
    • Windows XP 32 bit, Vista, and Windows 7
• IEEE Compliance 802.3, 802.3u, 820.3x, 802.3z, 802.3ac, 802.3ab
• Regulatory FCC Class B (CFR 47, Part 15, Subpart B) CE
• Physical
  
  • Dimensions
    • 4.75” x 4.97” x .875”
    • 11.1cm x 12.6cm x 2.1cm
    • Single slot PCIe
• Weight 4 oz.

Features

• Advanced Game Detect™ – Automatically classifies and accelerates traffic to and from your game faster than any other desktop, gigabit networking product on the planet.
• Visual Bandwidth Control™ – See which applications are hogging bandwidth and fine-tune each, so they don’t interfere with your online gameplay.
• Application Blocking – Provides per-application control to block programs that access the network for increased performance and safety.
• Online Gaming PC Monitor™ – Monitor and manage the performance of your gaming rig with graphical displays, detailed logging and a new user interface.
• Automatic Bandwidth Sensors – Measure total networking bandwidth and monitor real-time usage details for each application, so you can optimize your online gaming experience.
• Plug and Play – Killer™ 2100 automatically works with all online games with no mods, patches or updates required.