BIGFOOT "Gaming" Network Cards...

[Zephik]

http://www.crunchgear.com/2010/05/11/im-not-buying-this-performance-gaming-nic-nonsense

What do you guys think? Utter non-sense or are these things worth buying?

(more debate material in the comments)

[x88x]

From what I remember of testing I've seen done, it's kinda like the 6' HDMI Monster cables. Yes, there is a tiny difference viewable when you're actually looking at the raw data, but when you're actually using it the way it was meant to be used, you'll never notice any difference. There are just too many other network devices that your data is gonna have to go through to convince me that it will really make any difference. Maybe back when it came out, when most of us only had a single, single-core CPU, but now any gamer is gonna have enough spare CPU power that the tiny amount that the networking operations might take up is going to imperceptibly tiny.

My personal opinion: It'll never be worth it.

[Zephik]

I think my opinion resides in that there is no longer any real benefit over these cards compared to anything else out there. I think we've ironed out all the home based issues over the past 5+ years or so. The problems now exist outside of our homes, and nothing we can do will change or affect that.

Btw: a coat hanger wire works just as good as a monster cable. In analog, yes there would be a difference. But with digital, it either works or it doesn't. There's no inbetween. That's why cheap cables work just as well as expensive cables. You just have to watch out for shotty workmanship. But that's a physical problem, not a technological one.

[mDust]

I think for the price this is not worth it. It might give you an advantage at a LAN party, but won't do anything significant for online gaming.
After reading about it on their website, I think the company is desperately trying to put a positive spin on their solution to a minimal problem. They talk about the difference between latency and bandwidth without mentioning that lack of bandwidth is responsible for latency. If network traffic remains the same and bandwidth goes up, latency will come down. Therefor, we should be hooking up higher speed internet before buying this "performance" NIC.

Maybe they'll loan one to TBCS to review?