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Old 01-10-2008, 09:40 PM   #11 (permalink)
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NIC, Network Interface Card? Is that what you're talking about? If not, what?


So if these X-Fi sound cards don't directly increase your frame rates, they probably increase gaming performance by relieving sound responsibly away from the processor, thus speeding up everything else the chip does.
Yes, NIC = Network Interface Card. The Killer NIC has it's own dedicated processor to off load networking duties from the CPU to it's own processor.

Increased framerates may have been more significant when single core processors were the norm, however with dual/quad core processors, the slight bit of CPU usage that onboard sound uses isn't really enough to notice a difference.
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Old 01-10-2008, 09:50 PM   #12 (permalink)
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Yes, NIC = Network Interface Card. The Killer NIC has it's own dedicated processor to off load networking duties from the CPU to it's own processor.

Increased framerates may have been more significant when single core processors were the norm, however with dual/quad core processors, the slight bit of CPU usage that onboard sound uses isn't really enough to notice a difference.
Is a LAN card the same thing as a NIC? I'm not really familiar with someone have a "Killer Network Interface Card."
Fill me in, thanks.

Can someone give me some links to these nice gaming sound cards? Thanks.
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Old 01-11-2008, 12:38 AM   #13 (permalink)
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They don't increase your framerates in real world gaming, I ran a test using onboard vs the X-Fi I have now and it didn't improve the average framerates. Then again most people buy sound cards for higher quality sound, not for higher framerates. You would probably have better luck trying to increase your FPS by installing a Killer NIC, haha
True, processors now and days are advance enough to not take a hit from processing sound. However, on older machines, such as my old 3500+, I did notice an higher framerates in most of my games from e new sound card.

Sorry, just repeated what had already been said.
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Old 01-11-2008, 02:08 AM   #14 (permalink)
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So is it worth getting a soundcard for a gaming system? I'm not even going to care about the extra nice sound very much. Is it worth it?
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Old 01-11-2008, 03:34 AM   #15 (permalink)
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Can someone give me some links to these nice gaming sound cards? Thanks.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...eGamer&x=0&y=0

One with XRAM, one without. Which ever you prefer.
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Old 01-11-2008, 06:42 AM   #16 (permalink)
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Can anyone expand on this Killer NIC that Omega was talking about? I guess this would replace the onboard LAN that allot of newer mobos have.
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Old 01-11-2008, 06:44 AM   #17 (permalink)
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And by killer NIC you really meant killer NIC. I see the brand name now. haha

What do these NICs do to help gaming and online applications altogether?
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Old 01-11-2008, 06:54 AM   #18 (permalink)
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It's not worth the price for getting that NIC thing. Sound card, yes. It actually makes you better at games like CS.
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Old 01-11-2008, 06:56 PM   #19 (permalink)
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It's not worth the price for getting that NIC thing. Sound card, yes. It actually makes you better at games like CS.
Haha. Better you mean like having better sound will supposedly allow you to play better? Or better performance wise? And if you are saying this, I guess you mean releaving the CPU of some pressure by handling the sound junk. Thanks
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Old 01-14-2008, 12:20 PM   #20 (permalink)
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From what I have heard though, the onboard RAM in the X-FI Fatal1ty cards can only utalised in certain games... and the list I saw was nto a long one. i could be wrong but this is just what I have heard
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