Dell 08KP6W (Mellanox CX324A) ConnectX-3 40GbE Dual-Port QSFP+ Network Adapter, PCI Express, Low-Profile Bracket: This is a Dell-OEM rebrand of the Mellanox ConnectX-3 dual-port 40 Gigabit Ethernet adapter (MCX324A class), shipped with a low-profile bracket for 1U/2U Dell PowerEdge chassis. It is NOT a ConnectX-4 or ConnectX-5 card, and it is NOT an InfiniBand-only adapter — it operates in Ethernet mode. Offered refurbished and tested.
Engineering Context: The ConnectX-3 silicon delivers two QSFP+ ports each capable of 40GbE line rate, supported by a PCI Express 3.0 x8 host interface (~64 Gb/s available host bandwidth). The adapter supports RoCE RDMA, allowing kernel-bypass storage and HPC traffic. As a Dell OEM SKU, the firmware is custom-keyed for Dell PowerEdge platforms and is recognized in iDRAC and the Lifecycle Controller.
Deployment & Use Cases: Dell PowerEdge R-series and C-series servers needing 40GbE uplinks, vSphere clusters with iSCSI/NFS over 40GbE, Storage Spaces Direct (S2D) and Hyper-V live migration networks, OpenStack/Ceph storage front-ends, and consolidated 4x10GbE breakout deployments via 40G-to-4x10G QSFP-to-SFP+ breakout cables.
Technical Specifications:
- OEM Part Number (Dell): 08KP6W (also listed as 0XYT17 / 8KP6W on some SKUs)
- Underlying Mellanox SKU: CX324A (ConnectX-3 EN, 40GbE dual-port)
- Silicon: Mellanox ConnectX-3
- Network Protocol: 40 Gigabit Ethernet (10/40GbE)
- Ports: 2x QSFP+
- Maximum Port Rate: 40 Gb/s per port
- Host Interface: PCI Express 3.0 x8
- RDMA: RoCE
- Hardware Offloads: TSO/LSO, checksum, RSS, VXLAN encap/decap
- Form Factor: Low-Profile (LP) bracket
- Server Compatibility: Dell PowerEdge (firmware-keyed)
- Condition: Refurbished — link and PCIe enumeration verified
Compatibility & Constraints: This is a Dell-OEM card with Dell-keyed firmware, intended for Dell PowerEdge servers; it MAY not boot or be flashable on non-Dell hosts (white-box, HP, Lenovo) without firmware re-keying. The card ships with a low-profile bracket only; a full-height tall bracket is NOT included. The card does NOT include QSFP+ transceivers or DAC cables. ConnectX-3 has reached End-of-Life status for new driver development on some operating systems — verify driver support for your OS version (recent RHEL and ESXi releases have removed mlx4_en in some builds).
Why T.E.S IT-SOLUTIONS: We specialize in refurbished NVIDIA Mellanox networking and OEM-rebranded equivalents. Typical handling time is 1–3 business days from EU stock. Visit https://www.tes-itsolutions.com or contact us for compatibility verification.