So how is the Killer Xeno different from the original Killer NIC and Killer K1? Obviously the card is a PCIe x1 animal instead of PCI—and yes, it works just fine in PCIe x16 slots. The Xeno Pro runs at 400MHz and has 128MB of RAM, which gives you a little more breathing run to run the "F'N Apps" than the 64MB found on previous Killer cards. We never found those apps to be all that great, but more may be on the way. There will be a Killer Xeno Ultra as well, with 256MB, but that's not what we're reviewing here today.

Any discussion of the Killer network cards should start with LLR, or "Lag and Latency Reduction." This is the marketing term Bigfoot Networks has come up with for the collection of techniques and technologies it employs on all Killer cards to reduce latency and improve responsiveness. Basically, the Killer cards (including the old and new ones) offload the entire network stack from Windows. It offloads both TCP and UDP network traffic, offers packet prioritization and bandwidth control, and uses hardware interrupts to quickly report network data when there is none. For more on LLR, look at our Killer K1 review.

LLR hasn't changed much since those earlier cards were introduced. Bigfoot Networks continues to refine its algorithms and software, but the principles are the same. The tool tray applet that is installed with the Killer Xeno drivers includes a bandwidth control applet with some interesting options. You can limit the upload and download bandwidth of any running application, choose packet priority between three settings (Game, Real-Time, and Standard), and limit your overall upload/download speed.

Read the entire article at ExtremeTech.