Aquantia’s Gamer Edition AQtion AQN-107 10 GbE NIC Available
by Anton Shilov on July 12, 2018 2:00 PM EST
On Wednesday, Aquantia started to sell the gamer edition of its AQtion AQN-107 multi-gig network card. As the name implies, the 10 GbE NIC is aimed at demanding gamers as well as enthusiasts who are after the best network performance.
Aquantia’s gamer edition AQtion AQN-107 card is based on the company’s AQC107 (10 GbE) network controller that supports various BASE-T standards, including 100M, 1G, 2.5G, 5G, and 10G over an RJ45 connector using Cat5e/Cat6 cabling. The card uses a PCIe 3.0 x4 interface and comes on a black reference design PCB featuring an aluminum heat spreader that 'emphasizes' its gaming nature.
The key feature that differentiates gamer edition AQtion AQN-107 card from regular multi-gig network adapters from Aquantia is the company’s in-house developed gaming prioritization software. This will seem similar to the software tools offered by the Rivet Networks Killer network controllers, however both solutions approach the issue differently internally. Right now, Aquantia has three levels of prioritization supported by its software, but the company continues to work on this product.
Aquantia demonstrated a gaming rig outfitted with its AQtion AQN-107 card as well as the software at Computex. After trying the setup out, we can confirm that the software works and manages to reduce latency when priority modes are enabled and network traffic is being directed at mulitple sources.
The Aquantia Gamer Edition AQtion AQN-107 10 GbE network card is currently available from Amazon for $89.99.
The market of gaming PCs is not the most important one for Aquantia, especially in the light of the fact that there are virtually no affordable consumer-grade multi-gig switches. This partly explains why the card is currently available only from Amazon and why Aquantia is selling it under its own brand. In the meantime, it is evident that the company needs to address the market of demanding consumers with its 10 GbE offerings in a bid to establish itself a name among gamers to ensure successful competition against other multi-gig players in the future.
Related Reading
- Aquantia Multi-Gig: Single Chip USB 3.0 to 5G/2.5G Dongles Coming Soon
- Aquantia to Sell Its 5G and 10G Network Cards for $59 and $69 on Black Friday
- GIGABYTE’s GC-AQC107 10G Ethernet PCIe Card Launched and Listed
- ASUS Launches XG-C100C 10 GBase-T Adapter: Aquantia AQC107, $99
- Lower Cost 10GBase-T Switches Coming: 4, 5 and 8-port Aquantia Solutions at ~$30/Port
- Aquantia Launches New 2.5G/5G Multi-Gigabit Network Controllers for PCs
- Aquantia Launch AQtion 5G/2.5G/1G Multi-Gigabit Ethernet Cards (NICs) for PCIe
Source: Aquantia
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tech6 - Thursday, July 12, 2018 - link
The bandwidth capacity of the NIC is rarely the limiting factor for online gaming. IT is almost always the quality of your Internet connection or your graphics card.But I guess there is money to be made selling excess capacity to gamers they will never use. Now all they need is an RGB edition and this thing will be a success.
GeorgeH - Thursday, July 12, 2018 - link
In this context "gamer" primarily means "demanding consumer". You can't use words like "professional" or "workstation" without conjuring up $$$, and there really isn't a better alternative nomenclature.Gigaplex - Friday, July 13, 2018 - link
"Enthusiast"CheapSushi - Friday, July 13, 2018 - link
It's a few bucks more for a black PCB and router-like software. That's all. Aquantia are the cheapest 5G and 10G NIC controllers out there now. They have the regular green PCB version too. There's nothing $$$$$ about it. I prefer black PCBs...shocking.dgingeri - Monday, July 16, 2018 - link
It's not gaming that matters, or even video. It's file transfers, so people can keep their stuff on a NAS instead of on their gaming computer, removing hard drives from the power load and heat load the gaming system would have to contend with, while still allowing them to access the files fast enough for editing and/or installation.I know this because that is how I've done it. I have Intel X520 NICs and a Dlink DGS-1510-28X switch, to set up 10G interconnects between my 2 training VM hosts, file server, and main workstation.
oRAirwolf - Friday, July 13, 2018 - link
I really really really really really really wish Anandtech would do some real world benchmarks of the Aquantia AQC107 versus an Intel i219v, an Intel i350, an Intel X550, a Killer E2500 with their software, and a Reaktek 8111. Throughput tests, latency tests, CPU and RAM usage tests, file copy tests, and in game latency tests would actually give people a better idea of what is best suited for their needs. I am using an i219v for my regular LAN and gaming and an AQC107 directly connected to an Intel x520 for 10Gbe connectivity between my NAS and desktop. I have no idea if what I am using is the best or not because nobody will actually compare them all.CheapSushi - Friday, July 13, 2018 - link
same! there's a lot of kind sort maybe hearsay on a lot of NICs. There hasn't really been a big benchmarking like they do for CPUsdgingeri - Monday, July 16, 2018 - link
Did you know that Cisco and many other switch vendors have included in their software license agreement that users cannot publish performance comparison information? Their performance is so dependent on a variety of environmental circumstances that such comparisons can be unreliable. A comparison between network adapters can be troublesome, and almost always needs to be done without a switch.CheapSushi - Friday, July 13, 2018 - link
I love that they have a black PCB version now. I bought their 5G version when it was on sale a few months ago. I know most on here are cynical as hell and don't care. But even in my 6 whitebox builds, I have all black components. I don't mind the router-like software. I won't be using it. But it's not a bad value add on. It's basically what Qualcomm offers with their Atheros / Killer NIC variant. Aquantia has been kicking butt lately on bring more of these affordable chips to market. I'm seeing more HEDT boards offering it too. But again, just glad there's a black PCB option now. Options are part of what makes this hobby great.lmcd - Friday, July 13, 2018 - link
The card itself is bandwidth-limited to 4GBps. I know Ethernet real-world throughput is lower than advertised, but isn't 4GBps still a bottleneck before a 10G Ethernet connection?