PowerColor Sniper HD 5770 + Killer NIC Up Close

[btarunr]

Call it the admin's graphics card or the gamer's network card, but PowerColor seems to have come up with an unusual combination of a graphics processor (ATI Radeon HD 5770) with a hardware-accelerated network processor (Bigfoot Killer), which are seated on the same board, and share the system bus using a PCI-Express bridge chip. The GPU is a fairly standard HD 5770 that packs DirectX 11 support, 800 stream processors, and 1 GB of GDDR5 memory across a 128-bit wide interface, while the NPU is an ARM-derived system-on-chip (SoC) which offloads network stack processing completely from the host in a bid to cut system latencies. The inclusion of a PCI-Express bridge chip and the NPU significantly increased the size of PCB, yet the card seems to make do with just a single 6-pin power input. Given that a standalone PCI-E Killer NIC easily costs over $120 and the HD 5770 around the $150 mark, with the $10-odd PCI-E bridge chip, one can expect this product to easily cost over $250.

[Loosenut]

PowerColor's on an innovation rampage...

[Arrakis+9]

killer nic + hydra + dual 5770 anyone ?

[mdm-adph]

While neat, all I see here is a driver mess.

[btarunr]

Originally Posted by mdm-adph

While neat, all I see here is a driver mess.

Once plugged in, the system will see two completely independent devices: the GPU and the NIC. So standard (generic) Killer and Catalyst drivers can be used

[Mussels]

Originally Posted by Arrakis+9

killer nic + hydra + dual 5770 anyone ?

i had the same thought, i'm loving the idea of bundling other PCI-E hardware on a video card.


i guess ATI started it with the realtek HD audio, but i never expected it to go further than that.

[iamverysmart]

5770x2 would be awesome

[FreedomEclipse]

Originally Posted by iamverysmart

5770x2 would be awesome

theres no market for it. for a similar price you could probably pick up a 5850.

[LAN_deRf_HA]

I'd really like to see something like this with a X-fi based card on a 480 GTX. That way your ultimate quad sli system will actually be bearable for daily usage.

[TheLaughingMan]

Originally Posted by FreedomEclipse

theres no market for it. for a similar price you could probably pick up a 5850.

2x HD 5770 will out perform a single 5850, plus you get the Killer NIC as a bonus. How is there no market for that?

[FreedomEclipse]

Originally Posted by LAN_deRf_HA

I'd really like to see something like this with a X-fi based card on a 480 GTX. That way your ultimate quad sli system will actually be bearable for daily usage.

never going to happen - but its an idea i guess.

I dont think Creative would be willing to partner with ATi or Nvidia for an innovative combo product like this 5770 here. Asus on the other hand might as they dont seem that anal about their soundcards like creative are

[$immond$]

Originally Posted by TheLaughingMan

2x HD 5770 will out perform a single 5850, plus you get the Killer NIC as a bonus. How is there no market for that?

Yea 2 5770's heavily overclocked can easily beat even a 5870 in some tests.

[newtekie1]

Ok, while this is a novel idea, in the end I just see it as stupid.

Ignoring the fact that the Killer NIC has been shown time and time again to not actually do anything there are some other glaringly stupid things here.

What engineer said "Hey lets make it so that when you upgrade your GPU, you loose the Killer NIC"? And what second idiotic engineer said "that sounds great, but lets make it even better by putting it on a GPU that is already a generation behind in performance"?

I mean, come on, if your going to do something like this, do it on something that isn't already performance outdated.

Not to mention the bridge chip I spy under that heatsink probably means the GPU runs at PCI-E x8 and the NIC uses the other x8.

Yeah, you can get one of these and a standard HD5770 for crossfire. However, at the price point this will probably be at, $250+, and the $150 price tag on a second HD5770 we are up to $400. You can get an HD5870 for $390... Yes, two HD5770s heavily overclocked will outperform an HD5870 in some tests, but not in most, and a mildly overclocked HD5870 will outperform two heavily overclocked HD5770 almost always. Yes, with the HD5870 you don't get the "benefits" of the Killer NIC, but the thing doesn't do anything. If you really must have the plecebo effect, buy a $20 PCI-E 10/100/1000 NIC.

[LittleLizard]

I see this as some sort of partnership between Killer and Powercolor. As killer only sells their cards to people who like to spend a lot on their computer AND know nothing of computers at the same time, they see its a good idea to sell a 5770 (Good bang for the buck) with a NIC thing. They are doing this either to sell more because they are desperate or they have nothing better to do than piss people and ruin powercolor's reputation for making awesome things

[eidairaman1]

Cool Idea, Just wonder if there is a Mux Bus between the NIC portion and graphics portion that can Communicate. Then comes the other issue, gonna need a heatsink for all the ICs, just like the PC Evo HD5770

[FreedomEclipse]

I wouldnt call this partnership bang for buck anymore. & for the record Killer Nic does boost fps a little but the increase is so small it cant be picked up by the human eye.

5770 = bang for buck

5770 + K.N = Price Premium (1st gen Killer Nics are still about £100ish here in the UK)

For that extra £100 you'd get more result spending the cash on a better graphics card. 5770s are good. but they aint great. they dont have what it takes to go toe to toe with 4870s due to their 128mb memory bus.

[zithe]

wtf?

[lemonadesoda]

In other news, Integrated SSD and floppy drive

Oh wait, 5770 and killer NIC and dual parallel printer ports on AGP-PCIe bridge-chip might be novel.

[chaotic_uk]

Originally Posted by $immond$

Yea 2 5770's heavily overclocked can easily beat even a 5870 in some tests.

2 @ stock speeds can never mind overclocked

[Mussels]

Originally Posted by chaotic_uk

2 @ stock speeds can never mind overclocked

at low res/low AA in older tests, maybe. the 128 bit bus is a pretty severe bottleneck at those levels of GPU power.

[Kaleid]

I don't think this is a particularly good idea because the graphic card will end up outdated (and to some already is).

[DaedalusHelios]

Originally Posted by TheLaughingMan

2x HD 5770 will out perform a single 5850, plus you get the Killer NIC as a bonus. How is there no market for that?

Provided that the given apps you use support dual GPU well and that the price won't be rediculous. If it wasn't so big and was without needing a pci express plug for power it would have been a must for Mini-ITX gaming rigs. But unfortunately it isn't that innovative. Neat hybrid card though.

[cauby]

what if your video card suddenly die?do you still get to use the NIC part?

[FreedomEclipse]

Originally Posted by cauby

what if your video card suddenly die?do you still get to use the NIC part?

no - you will get a blank screen.... common sense

[a_ump]

Originally Posted by cauby

what if your video card suddenly die?do you still get to use the NIC part?

i think he meant could you keep the video card in and use the NIC and then install another graphic card. but the GPU would still be generating heat, sucking up power, and a dead gpu's fan always goes 100% so more noise as well. be very unintelligent to keep the card in.