Bigfoot launches first PCIe accelrated Ethernet card
updated 10:00 am EDT, Mon March 23, 2009
Bigfoot Killer Xeno
Bigfoot on Monday introduced its first true sequels to its controversial Killer K1 Ethernet card. The Xeno Pro and Xeno Ultra both get more headroom over the PCI Express bus and use a new, more generalized Freescale processor. Besides still reportedly reducing network lag, it also takes on hardware processing for some dedicated VoIP clients and reduce the system overhead from running voice chat at the same time as a game.
Differences between the two cards center on memory; the stock Xeno Pro carries a 128MB buffer for its data, while the Xeno Ultra doubles this to 256MB. It also brings a simple LED display on the card's edge that lets owners of windowed cases program custom text to appear while the system is running.
Bigfoot further plans to improve on the K1 in price and will ship the Xeno Pro for less; it will cost $130 when it ships in April. The Xeno Ultra's premium lifts the price to $180 and puts it into a May release timeframe. [via Tech Report]
