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We tested the raw throughput of the Intel Killer NIC against our standard Acer WiFi 7 test notebook with 802.11be networking using the Asus ROG Rapture GT-BE98 WiFi router supplied to us.
We used the open-source iPerf 3.1.3 software for testing, which can simulate multiple clients streaming at once. Three Windows systems were employed. Our desktop base was an Armari 32-core AMD Ryzen Threadripper workstation running Windows 11. This was connected to the router with a 10Gbit Ethernet card, attached via Cat6 cable to one of the ASUS router's 10Gbit Ethernet ports.
For the WiFi 7 testing, we used an Acer Swift 14 AI notebook, then the MSI Vector 16 HX AI A2XWIG laptop with the Killer NIC chipset. We also tested the latter's wired Ethernet connection throughput.
For all wireless tests, the notebooks were tested using a WiFi 7 connection. The notebooks were then placed in four different locations – within 1m of the router, approximately 5m away with a wall in between, 10m away and on a lower floor (with multiple walls and a floor in between), and then 15m away on the same lower floor. We tested all four distances with the four WiFi standards.
With each WiFi standard and distance, we took 60 readings of throughput at one-second intervals and calculated the average (iPerf does this automatically). We tested the Asus ROG Rapture GT-BE98 results against the MSI Radix AXE6600, NETGEAR Nighthawk X10 R9000, Synology RT2600ac, NETGEAR Nighthawk XR500, NETGEAR Nighthawk XR700, Synology RT6600ax, NETGEAR Nighthawk AX12, NETGEAR Nighthawk RS300, Acer Predator Connect X7 5G CPE, AVM FRITZ!Box 7690, and AVM FRITZ!Box 5690 Pro.
802.11be (WiFi 7)
The MSI notebook has a 2.5Gbit LAN connection and our desktop test system was attached via 10Gbit Ethernet, so while we didn't see the full theoretical bandwidth, we did achieve over 1.9Gbit/sec, which shows that wires aren't the weak link in the streamining tests.
Up to 5m, the WiFi 7 performance of the Intel Killer NIC was incredible. At 1m, our standard test Acer notebook was managing a very commendable 925Mbits/sec, but the MSI notebook's Intel Killer NIC was 44 per cent faster at 1,331.2Mbit/sec – faster than a Gigabit Ethernet wired connection.
This barely dropped at 5m, hitting 1,300.48Mbits/sec, where the Acer baseline was managing 734Mbits/sec.
At 10m, the Acer achieved an impressive 418Mbits/sec, showing the quality of the ASUS router's WiFi 7 signal. But the MSI notebook's Intel Killer NIC was 62 per cent ahead at 676Mbits/sec.
At 15m, the Acer failed to connect, but the Intel Killer NIC was still going strong with 31.8Mbits/sec.
Overall, while the ASUS ROG Rapture GT-BE98 router is already extremely potent with WiFi 7, the Intel Killer NIC takes this to the next level, delivering brute wireless networking throughput like we've never seen before.
Of course, gaming is also about response time rather than just bandwidth, but this is harder to assess scientifically so we tried the subjective experience of online gaming at the locations described above too. The house broadband is BT fibre to the home, delivering nearly a 934Mbit/sec downloads, over 100Mbits/sec uploads, and a 2ms ping – so it wasn't going to be a bottleneck. We installed Battlefield 6 on the MSI laptop and enlisted an ardent Battlefield 6 player to see how it felt compared to a direct LAN attachment to the broadband connection using Gigabit Ethernet.
The MSI Vector 16 HX AI A2XWIG laptop has a powerful Intel CPU, potent NVIDIA graphics and lots of RAM, so it's more than capable of playing Battlefield 6 at high settings. Up to 10m away, the gaming was indistinguishable from a wired connection, and even a little further away there was no sign of lag.
Only when we approached the 15m distance were there some delays, but that's really pushing the limits anyway. We did try GameFast to see if it made things even better, but the gaming was so smooth up to 10m that we didn't see any difference.
Overall, then, the Intel Killer NIC really delivers on wireless performance that matches or even exceeds a wired LAN, either for raw throughput or more ping-sensitive gaming. Allied with a great router like the ASUS ROG Rapture GT-BE98, it can deliver an incredible Internet download and gaming experience without the need for a wire.
