Package
There really is no add-in card quite like the KillerNIC. Similar in shape and size to modern high-end sound cards, the KillerNIC features a large “K”-shaped heatsink that cools the processor and memory on the board. A quick glance at the rear of the board reveals the location of the processor grid array, and the method with which the heatsink is mounted. It would seem that third-party heatsinks could potentially be added to the card, although we couldn’t imagine the scenario in which the provided cooling solution would not be more than adequate. The I/O panel of the KillerNIC consists of an RJ45 ethernet port and a USB port - the purpose of the latter will be discussed later.


Aside from the card itself, Bigfoot includes two neat KillerNIC stickers, a case badge, a driver CD, and a full version DVD of the popular first-person shooter, F.E.A.R.

Features
Perhaps the easiest way to discuss this card is to dissect the underlying technology that it uses: Lag and Latency Reduction (LLR). LLR was originally introduced in March of 2006, but with no hardware built utilizing the technology, it did not really win Bigfoot too many fans. It was not until the first card to use LLR, the KillerNIC, was announced that people really started to pay attention. LLR is essentially a multi-featured network chipset that is designed specifically to provide computer gamers with an unparalleled online gaming experience.

The LLR chipset consists of essentially just 2 chips, the NPU and the LLR ASIC. The NPU, or network processing unit, is the foundation of a fully functional mini-computer embedded onto the KillerNIC. The NPU operates at 400MHz, and in conjunction with the 64MB of on-board DDR memory, is capable of running a streamlined version of Linux. The architecture of the NPU is specifically designed to handle the networking load of a system, similar to what we saw with the PhysX PPU and physics load. This means that not only can the NPU handle the networking load that would previously be placed on the shoulders of the CPU, but it can also do so more quickly and efficiently. The more important aspect of this NPU is that it runs Linux. This allows Bigfoot to implement their Flexible Network Architecture (FNA) on the KillerNIC. FNA will be discussed in much more detail a bit later. The Application Specific Integrated Circuit (ASIC) that is implemented in the LLR chipset is essentially there to just aid the NPU in networking calculations and allow it to provide the features of LLR.