nic comparation ??

hi everyone I m currently looking for an upgrade of mb and cpu. I am leaning towards the msi z87 gaming ac itx but I heard numerous horror stories about the killer nic. so I am now looking for Intel nic solution.and here is my question
1. I am wondering the I217V nic from Asus z87 I deluxe is any different from I218V nic from the Asus z97I plus.
2. I am also open for suggestions for comparing the killer and Intel although tons of post over the net already and its two sided .
3. And if I use the stripped down driver only killer nic would it be identical performance and reliability with the intel nics ? Thanks

Have you looked at the ASRock Z97E-ITX/AC?
It uses the Intel NIC.

Haven't noticed anyone on this forum with issues using a Killer NIC instead of Intel.

yes.. the asrock ASRock Z97E-ITX/AC is one of the option I m looking at as well... many users of killer saying the software that comes with it really sucks and kills it.. and my own impression that Intel is more stable and reliable and the qualcom athero based killer nic?? So I m just really stuck and stoned now... chipset is no biggie for me just I don't want he net to suck

If it has Gigabit Ethernet, you'll be fine.

edhahaha said:

yes.. the asrock ASRock Z97E-ITX/AC is one of the option I m looking at as well... many users of killer saying the software that comes with it really sucks and kills it.. and my own impression that Intel is more stable and reliable and the qualcom athero based killer nic?? So I m just really stuck and stoned now... chipset is no biggie for me just I don't want he net to suck

Click to expand...

Chipset should be a big deal. You definitely want Z97 and not Z87. Given that you can have it for the same price, the choice is obvious. Pick up a 4690K and a Z97-A, Z97XUD4H, Z97 Fatal1ty K1ller, Z97 Extreme 4 or Z97 Extreme 6.

Look at the audio implementation too. It's very important... unless you're exporting audio digitally to a TV, receiver, external DAC/amp, etc.

From my research, a high end Intel NIC is better than a Killer NIC and gives you all the same advantages in terms of traffic shaping the Killer does. Killer is poor man's Intel, really.

Theocnoob said:

Chipset should be a big deal. You definitely want Z97 and not Z87. Given that you can have it for the same price, the choice is obvious. Pick up a 4690K and a Z97-A, Z97XUD4H, Z97 Fatal1ty K1ller, Z97 Extreme 4 or Z97 Extreme 6.

Look at the audio implementation too. It's very important... unless you're exporting audio digitally to a TV, receiver, external DAC/amp, etc.

From my research, a high end Intel NIC is better than a Killer NIC and gives you all the same advantages in terms of traffic shaping the Killer does. Killer is poor man's Intel, really.

Click to expand...

Those aren't ITX boards...

ATMINSIDE said:

Those aren't ITX boards...

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No they aren't. I'm just enlightening the OP to other possibilities.
I've come to realize that I'm not a fan of ITX's limited expandability options.

Theocnoob said:

No they aren't. I'm just enlightening the OP to other possibilities.
I've come to realize that I'm not a fan of ITX's limited expandability options.

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When your board has Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, and good audio what else do you need expansion slots for?
There's one for a GPU, that's all you really need.

edhahaha said:

hi everyone I m currently looking for an upgrade of mb and cpu. I am leaning towards the msi z87 gaming ac itx but I heard numerous horror stories about the killer nic. so I am now looking for Intel nic solution.and here is my question
1. I am wondering the I217V nic from Asus z87 I deluxe is any different from I218V nic from the Asus z97I plus.
2. I am also open for suggestions for comparing the killer and Intel although tons of post over the net already and its two sided .
3. And if I use the stripped down driver only killer nic would it be identical performance and reliability with the intel nics ? Thanks

Click to expand...

from best to worst (correct me if im wrong, but i am only listing this from experiance)

1. Intel nics stomp on everyone else
2. Broadcom is about as good as intel
3. realtek is decent
4. killer shot itself in the foot and still does every time you fire it up.

if you absolutely need a board with a good nic check out this board. It has an intel NIC.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813157504

[QUOTE='(G{in}[AK)TION]
if you absolutely need a board with a good nic check out this board. It has an intel NIC.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813157504[/QUOTE]

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produ..._re=maximus_VII_impact-_-13-132-266-_-Product

Why stop there? Buy the best or die like the rest rofl.

ATMINSIDE said:

When your board has Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, and good audio what else do you need expansion slots for?
There's one for a GPU, that's all you really need.

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Sound cards, extra SATA/SAS/SATA Express, additional GPUs, etc...

Theocnoob said:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produ..._re=maximus_VII_impact-_-13-132-266-_-Product

Why stop there? Buy the best or die like the rest rofl.



Sound cards, extra SATA/SAS/SATA Express, additional GPUs, etc...

Click to expand...

Unless you're going 4K you don't need another GPU.
The ITX board that G linked allows 6 SATA connections, who needs more than that unless it's for a server?
Sound card I literally just covered. Onboard sound is leaps and bounds ahead of where it used to be, only audiophiles pushing incredibly high-end headphones need an add-on sound card now.

Isn't Killer just a rebrand of Qualcomm nowadays?

Intel and Qualcomm are considered the best for both wired and wireless NICs. Broadcom was known for mixed results on wireless NICs but last time I checked, their wired stuff is great. Realtek is cheap but generally works OK. Some of their chipsets are particularly sensitive to signal quality even with wired connections.

And then there are the true premium brands like Emulex and Mellanox that can do 10Gbit and above with cool features like RoCE and FCoE. They're designed for high end servers and I'm having a hard time thinking of why you would need that at home...

Theocnoob said:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produ..._re=maximus_VII_impact-_-13-132-266-_-Product

Why stop there? Buy the best or die like the rest rofl.

Sound cards, extra SATA/SAS/SATA Express, additional GPUs, etc...

Click to expand...

that board is overkill for the OP and its way more than the board that already has what the OP needs. and Asus customer supports sucks. in fact, im hoping that the OP wont buy any asus boards because if he does, and that asus board he bought spontaniously dies, customer support will tell him "Customer Induced Damage".

if the OP wants multiple GPUs, then he is better off getting a dual gpu setup like the AMD Radeon R9 295x2 or the nVidia Titan black or whatever amd and nvidia come out with.

ATMINSIDE said:

Unless you're going 4K you don't need another GPU.
The ITX board that G linked allows 6 SATA connections, who needs more than that unless it's for a server?
Sound card I literally just covered. Onboard sound is leaps and bounds ahead of where it used to be, only audiophiles pushing incredibly high-end headphones need an add-on sound card now.

Click to expand...

did not know that the amount of sata connectors mattered...i mean, the board is less expensive than the asus boards and has higher chance of having a longer life span than the asus boards.

im not being mean here...only informing that i did not know sata ports also mattered.

But in general I feel Asus is a bit more superior or other brands such as gb msi or asrock.. had two boards one p8p67 and maximus v formula both still going strong. A bit of Asus fan here.. I m going for 4690k and since z87 and z97 the main dif is just the m.2 and sata express which i am not huge interested in that still strong in my vertex 4 .. so chipset really isn't my biggest concern ..but is there like difference between Intel I218V or I217V nic? cuz I don't really wanna risk and try the msi gaming ac now thanks for the killer nic. My choice remains Asus z87 Itx deluxe , z97 itx pro or ASRock Z97E-ITX/AC, both z97 board spots the I218v nic while z87 Asus boars has I217v.. both asrock and Asus z87 boars has Realtek ALC1150 Audio Codec and the asrock has on board headphone amp although I m keeping the thunderfx from maxus v formula..I am leaning towards asrock too but just never had any experience with them although they are sister company of asus..and this review http://www.anandtech.com/show/8276/...k-z97e-itx-msi-z97i-ac-and-gigabyte-z97n-wifi

shows its a bit inferior than other board in terms of performance ...otherwise I would go for asrock with no hesitation..
I love rog boards too but its just too expensive for me..

z97 itx pro then.