Thanks to the availability of energy-efficient processing, which provides excellent performance without the need for extensive cooling settings, thin and light notebook computers are quickly becoming mainstream. Although this greatly contributes to portability, the disadvantage is that OEMs must reduce port selection in order to achieve the slim goal required by the market.
In the pursuit of thin and light utopia, we see the trend that OEMs don’t mind omitting Ethernet ports. Popular arguments are:
Although these are not completely ineffective reasons, in terms of raw performance, wired Ethernet is still the best choice, especially for gamers and advanced users. Of course, there are indeed many high-end gaming routers on the market that can bridge the gap between Ethernet and Wi-Fi, but performance-conscious users and professional gamers still swear by wired Ethernet. In addition, users may want to get a much faster upgrade network experience than the default Wi-Fi and Ethernet NICs on their devices without having to upgrade the entire laptop.
In addition, there are security issues. Plugging into enterprise systems for diagnostics or data transmission can usually only be enabled via Ethernet, which makes the absence of an Ethernet port a huge disadvantage.
But what if your device does not have an Ethernet port or only has a low-performance port? The new Killer 2.5 Gigabit RJ-45 to USB-C 3.1 Ethernet Adapter ($49.99 at Amazon) is the answer to all your high-performance and secure networking needs.
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There is no shortage of Ethernet to USB adapters on the market. Most notebook OEMs also provide accessory USB or Thunderbolt docking stations, which contain at least one Gigabit Ethernet port. So, what makes Killer 2.5 Gigabit RJ-45 to USB-C 3.1 Ethernet Adapter different? There are many factors, and they are far beyond the original speed.
Most Ethernet USB dongles or docking stations only provide Gigabit Ethernet. If your router supports 2.5G or higher throughput, you will lose a lot of bandwidth. Using Killer 2.5 Gigabit RJ-45 to USB-C 3.1 Ethernet Adapter, you can use the complete 2.5G throughput without any restriction, thus realizing fast and efficient online multitasking.
As mentioned earlier, the benefits of Killer are not limited to unhindered 2.5G throughput. In fact, the vast majority of ISP pipes around the world only provide about one-tenth or less of bandwidth, which further highlights the importance of Killer's famous packet priority function.
The Killer 2.5 Gigabit RJ-45 to USB-C 3.1 Ethernet adapter has the same Killer priority engine, making the Killer Network Interface Card (NIC) popular in gaming laptops. The Killer Priority Engine is designed to optimize game traffic and ensure that it has priority over other network packets, so that low-latency gaming can be achieved even during peak bandwidth usage.
Generally, wanting to watch our favorite online episodes in 4K format means reducing all other parallel network traffic, including other communications, game updates, and downloads. With the Killer priority engine, this is no longer a problem, because the algorithm intelligently prioritizes network packets to ensure you have the best of both worlds.
Another killer technology that gamers appreciate is GameFast, which can pause processes that are not important to the game. This can free up to 10% of CPU cycles and 20% of memory during online playback, thereby making better use of hardware resources.
The Killer Extreme game mode technology and Killer Intelligence Engine are used together with the GameFast function. Connecting to a relatively uncongested network is not always possible, so Killer’s extreme game mode is activated to ensure that game traffic is not hindered by other network activities. Killer Intelligence Engine is a boon for gamers and enthusiasts, they need a reliable method to assess the bottleneck on the network path.
Today, many laptops and high-performance gaming desktops are equipped with Killer Wi-Fi network cards. If you happen to own such a PC, then you will have real enjoyment. With Killer DoubleShot Pro technology, Killer Wi-Fi and the new 2.5 Gbps Ethernet USB-C adapter can be used at the same time, with a maximum throughput of up to 4.9 Gbps. Using Killer Control Center 2.0, DoubleShot Pro can be configured to determine which data packets can use Wi-Fi and which can go through Ethernet.
Killer Control Center 2.0 is a highly intuitive application that helps users easily monitor the bandwidth used by each application and adjust the priority of their favorite applications as needed.
Now that we know the potential of this beautiful Ethernet adapter, how about testing Killer's claims with some real-world usage? We used various test equipment to check compatibility. We compared Killer 2.5G Ethernet adapters with similar devices, including:
iperf3 is used to measure total throughput. We also recorded the power consumption and temperature under idle and load conditions.
The Killer 2.5G Ethernet adapter is based on the E3100 chipset, which offers three variants-E3100, E3100G and E3100X. Windows detects Killer 2.5G Ethernet adapter as E3100U. We can confirm that the Killer 2.5G Ethernet Adapter works out of the box in Windows, macOS, iOS and Ubuntu, and has full 2.5G functions without the need to install any drivers.
In order to use iperf3 for testing, we use a desktop computer powered by Intel Core i7-8086K as a server. This server PC is equipped with Intel X550 10 Gbit NIC and is connected to a Netgear GS110EMX Ethernet switch that provides two 10G ports. Other client test equipment includes:
The Killer E3100U 2.5G Ethernet to USB-C adapter performed as expected in the iperf3 total throughput test. We recorded a consistent 2.38 Gbits in both iperf3 reception and transmission tests. The maximum output of the remaining gigabit adapters is close to the 950 Mbps mark.
When buying an Ethernet to USB adapter, power consumption may be the last thing people want to consider, but in the process of moving, every part of the battery is very important. We tested the power consumption of all USB adapters under idle and load conditions. Power consumption was tested on MacBook Pro 16 and Honor MagicBook and summarized in the table below.
Please note that USB devices consume power as needed, so there may be slight differences in voltage (and power) readings. We are having problems running Amazon AX88179 and Dell DA200 hubs in macOS, so we recommend considering taking load readings for these devices under Windows.
Overall, we found that the Killer 2.5G adapter is very economical in terms of power consumption under idle and load conditions on macOS and Windows laptops.
All measured values are in W
We found that the Killer 2.5G Ethernet adapter, despite providing the highest performance, is still a cool customer. We used Fluke infrared thermometers and FLIR thermal imaging cameras to measure the temperature under idle and load conditions.
At an ambient temperature of 23 °C, we found that Killer 2.5G measured 27.6 °C in idle state and about 30.4 °C under long-term load phase. It was run for several hours with MacBook Pro 16 to ensure safe and comfortable use. .
The reduced chassis configuration of modern ultrabooks means the loss of port selection, especially the Ethernet port. Although USB 3.1 Type-C and Thunderbolt 3/4 provide excellent scalability and Ethernet, most USB and Thunderbolt docking stations on the market are limited to gigabit speeds and lack any form of network packet priority .
Killer aims to alleviate these problems through a 2.5G Ethernet to USB-C adapter. The adapter is designed to provide maximum bandwidth for gamers and advanced users who prefer Ethernet low latency over Wi-Fi. In addition to providing the largest raw throughput, the Killer 2.5G adapter also provides a full set of Killer software enhancements, including the acclaimed Killer Priority Engine, GameFast, Killer Extreme Game Mode, Killer Smart Engine, and DoubleShot Pro. All these functions can be managed intuitively through the Killer Control Center 2.0 application.
In our test, we saw that Killer 2.5G achieved its throughput requirements in the iperf3 transmission and reception test. We have also observed that the device consumes electricity economically and runs cool under load, which is very useful for mobile users.
With the Killer 2.5 Ethernet USB-C Adapter, you are more than just adding an Ethernet port to your laptop. Instead, you will get a complete software package that provides smart data prioritization with low latency and high throughput to help you make the most of the available bandwidth for work and entertainment.
Buy Killer 2.5G Ethernet to USB-C Adapter from Amazon