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  • Phylyp - Thursday, August 7, 2014 - link

    Compelling specs, but they lost me at the Killer NIC. Why do they opt for this snake oil instead of a good Intel NIC (or better, 2 of them!)?
  • dgingeri - Thursday, August 7, 2014 - link

    Well, the Killer NIC isn't as good as an Intel, and is more expensive, and uses a precious PCIe lane instead of the chipset's dedicated NIC interface, but it is better than a RealTek or Broadcom NIC. So, there's that at least.
  • takeshi7 - Thursday, August 7, 2014 - link

    Every test I've seen the Killer uses way more CPU than any other NIC, only performed equally, and sucks because it's Windows only. I will avoid any motherboard with a Killer NIC. Buying one was a mistake I won't make twice.
  • R3MF - Friday, August 8, 2014 - link

    Re Windows only

    Absolutely yes, will never buy a m/b that forces this.
    I guess the Creative based Supreme FX is in the same category...?
  • DanNeely - Thursday, August 7, 2014 - link

    Do you know any sites that've benched current wired NICs from Killer and Intel? I've seen articles showing both of them trouncing RealTek, Broadcom, etc; but am not sure if I've ever seen one comparing both of them for wired use.
  • Kumouri - Thursday, August 7, 2014 - link

    The last article I read with a review of a Killer NIC was on (I believe) TomsHardware and it was only wireless, unfortunately. The Killer killed the Intel, the Intel killed everything else. This was also a few years ago, who knows how it is now.
  • dgingeri - Thursday, August 7, 2014 - link

    I've read that while the Killer N2200 can match the Intel in performance, the Killer software makes the system a bit unstable. Some people are actually reverting it back to the Atheros basic driver (It is actually an Atheros 8161 with a modified PCI identifier that allows the Killer software to be used) in order to make their systems stable. It apparently doesn't work very well at all with Windows 8 or 8.1, and the Atheros driver is much better.

    The Atheros chip is a good NIC, but it's $8 compared to the Intel i217-LM being $1.92, as was the 82579LM. The Killer N2200 is $40! Obviously to me, the Intel NIC is much better for the price, since it is more stable and performs just as well.

    Still, it is better than putting a RealTek or Broadcom NIC on the board. Those are both under $1, but the performance hit is just too much to justify saving $1. Anyone who puts a RealTek NIC on a board has money on their mind too much, and are not interested in putting out a decent product. (I have a Asus H97 board with a RealTek NIC, and I am annoyed with it.)
  • mzrxa - Thursday, August 7, 2014 - link

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N7w4bsGV4Rk
  • Tarkhein - Friday, August 8, 2014 - link

    Asus ROG did some testing earlier this year (11th April) with three wired NICs and concluded that Intel was better than Realtek or Killer. Their specific configuration was a Maximus VI Formula for Intel, a Z87-Deluxe for Realtek and an MSI Z87-GD65 for Killer. It's on their ROG blog if you want to search for it as I can't link to it due to the spam filters.
  • WithoutWeakness - Thursday, August 7, 2014 - link

    I'm fine with third-party NICs on board as long as an Intel NIC is there as well. I don't mind manufacturers putting Killer NICs on to try to sell them to the "gamer" crowd or slapping on an additional Realtek NIC but at least leave the Intel NIC on the board.
  • redwolfe98 - Thursday, August 7, 2014 - link

    i agree.. i will not buy a board with a "killer" NIC because its software conflicts with some av-programs..
  • RaistlinZ - Thursday, August 7, 2014 - link

    They must be locked into some long term contract they can't get out of. I avoid MSI boards exclusively because of all the crap I've heard about Killer NIC.
  • nathanddrews - Thursday, August 7, 2014 - link

    If it actually emitted radiant particles like that, I would buy it.
  • willis936 - Thursday, August 7, 2014 - link

    The marketing guys might be able to cook something up for you. "Quad channel DDR4 mode activates hyper LASER particle effects with high end ambient occlusion and triple phase modulation!"
  • QuantumPion - Thursday, August 7, 2014 - link

    Does it support pci-e ssd's?
  • jwhannell - Thursday, August 7, 2014 - link

    do you mean as a bootable device? I am sure that it supports them as disk drives - that support has been around forever...
  • willis936 - Thursday, August 7, 2014 - link

    I think it's obvious that he's asking about nvme and sata express.
  • bigdog1984 - Thursday, August 7, 2014 - link

    Soooo...you can give me enough PCIe for quad Crossfire, TBs of solid state storage, the speediest of WiFi...and only 1 NIC? I just dont understand the choices that get made sometimes.
  • Redstorm - Thursday, August 7, 2014 - link

    Whats the big deal with only 1 nic, its not like your using it as a router. or teaming it for 2Gb, Its a waste of time as most internet connections are 10x slower than 1Gb anyway.
  • Gigaplex - Thursday, August 7, 2014 - link

    I'd team for 2Gbit if I could, as 1Gbit network transfers are by far the biggest bottleneck for data transfer to my network storage.
  • Penti - Thursday, August 7, 2014 - link

    So will a normal enthusiast Core i7 Haswell-E support 8 (eight) DIMM's of DDR4-memory or not?
  • Redstorm - Thursday, August 7, 2014 - link

    Time will tell but all Haswell-e CPU's should support 8 DDR4 DIMMs if the board has them.

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