ZOTAC to Equip ZBOX MAGNUS Gaming PCs with Killer Network Controllers
by Anton Shilov on June 4, 2018 10:04 AM EST
ZOTAC announced plans to upgrade its flagship ZBOX MAGNUS SFF gaming systems/barebones with Rivet Networks’ Killer network controllers. The first systems to get the new chips will be demonstrated at Computex next week.
ZOTAC intends to equip its upcoming ZBOX MAGNUS gaming systems with the flagship Killer Wireless AC 1550 2×2 802.11ac Wave 2 Wi-Fi + Bluetooth 5 controller (which is based on an Intel IP) that supports up to 1.73 Gbps throughput over 160 MHz channels as well as the Killer Ethernet E2500 GbE controller that supports a number of special features to reduce latency and prioritize gaming traffic over everything else. Meanwhile, a key advantage of using the two controllers from Rivet is the company’s Killer DoubleShot Pro technology that fuses usage of two controllers to provide an aggregate bandwidth of 1.83 Gbps or higher when an 802.11ac Wave 2 network is used.
The first ZBOX MAGNUS system to get the Killer network controllers will be the latest machines powered by Intel’s six-core Core i7-8700 (Coffee Lake) processors. In addition to the Killer ICs and the Coffee Lake CPU, another highlight of the aforementioned ZBOX MAGNUS is ZOTAC’s off-the-shelf GeForce GTX Mini graphics card.
The new ZBOX MAGNUS will not be the only systems to be equipped with the Killer controllers as the manufacturer plans to use the aforementioned Killer controllers for its upcoming MEK Mini PCs. It is likely that over time ZOTAC will expand usage of Killer ICs to other products (e.g., AMD Ryzen-based systems), but the company yet has to make appropriate announcements.
ZOTAC will demonstrate its systems featuring Rivet’s Killet network controllers at Computex next week, so stay tuned with us for more details about the new PCs.
| ZOTAC's ZBOX MAGNUS with Coffee Lake | ||||
| ZBOX MAGNUS with 8th Generation Core i7 CPU | ||||
| CPU | Intel Core i7-8700 6C/12T 3.2 - 4.6 GHz 12 MB 65 W (flagship model, other may use a different CPU) |
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| GPU | NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1080 2560 CUDA Cores 8 GB GDDR5X (flagship model, other may use a different card) |
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| Memory | 2 × DDR4 SO-DIMM slots, up to 32 GB of memory |
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| Storage | M.2 | M.2 2280 slot for PCIe/SATA SSD | ||
| DFF | 1 × 2.5" SSD/HDD | |||
| Card Reader | SD/microSD | |||
| Wireless | Killer Wireless AC 1550 2×2 802.11ac Wave 2 Wi-Fi + Bluetooth 5 controller | |||
| Ethernet | 2 × Gigabit Ethernet Killer Ethernet E2500 controller |
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| Display Outputs | 3 × DisplayPort 1.2 1 × HDMI 1 × DVI-D (depends on graphics card) |
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| Audio | 3.5 mm audio-in 3.5 mm audio-out |
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| USB | 4 x USB 3.0 Type-A 1 x USB 3.1 Type-A 1 x USB 3.1 Type-C |
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| PSU | External | |||
| OS | Microsoft Windows 10 or none | |||
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Related Reading:
- Zotac at CES 2018: ZBOX MAGNUS Upgraded with Coffee
- Zotac ZBOX MAGNUS EK71080 Compact Gaming PC Review
- Zotac ZBOX MAGNUS EN1080K Compact Gaming PC Review
- Rivet Networks Launches the Killer E2500 Network Controller: Website Detection, New UI
- It’s Actually an Intel Chip: Rivet Networks Launches the Killer Wireless-AC 1550
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PeachNCream - Monday, June 4, 2018 - link
It's nice to know which products use Killer networking adapters so I know which products I should never, ever purchase. :DoRAirwolf - Monday, June 4, 2018 - link
Troof. Intel, Aquantia, or GTFO.Piyodamari - Monday, June 4, 2018 - link
How much for the i7 again??? I clicked the Amazon link and it's close to $2.7k..... Oh, but that's bundle with HTC Vive.....okay, clicked one without Vive and it's ..... $2.1k.....? Surely, that's just b/c it's 3rd party price gouging, right?cosmotic - Monday, June 4, 2018 - link
I thought everyone agreed the Killer stuff is all smoke and mirrors.PeachNCream - Monday, June 4, 2018 - link
OEMs are looking for a premium brand of almost every component in order to achieve product stratification (think RAM with heat spreaders versus plain vanilla PCBs or "gamer" power supplies and mouse pads with RGB lighting) in the name of justifying a higher selling price and bigger per-unit sales margin. Right now, the reality is that only Rivet Networks markets a so-called "gamer/premium" NIC with any name recognition so hardware companies are turning to them for part of their stratification efforts.cfenton - Monday, June 4, 2018 - link
Is this supposed to be a positive announcement? I'd take an Intel NIC over Killer any day. Also, if you care about latency, run an ethernet cable.edzieba - Monday, June 4, 2018 - link
It's not a feature, it's a bug.