NVIDIA Mellanox MNPH29D-XTR ConnectX-2 EN Dual-Port SFP+ 10GbE Adapter, PCIe 2.0 x8 (Lot of 4): This is a lot of four refurbished ConnectX-2 EN Ethernet-only network adapters. Each card has two SFP+ ports rated for 10 Gigabit Ethernet on a PCIe 2.0 x8 host interface. This is the EN (Ethernet) variant — it does NOT support InfiniBand and cannot be reconfigured to VPI mode. The bundle of four units is intended for cluster builds, lab racks, or paired NIC deployments. Each unit is refurbished.
Engineering Context
ConnectX-2 is a generation-2 Mellanox controller introduced before VPI became firmware-selectable, so EN cards are physically and logically Ethernet-only. PCIe 2.0 x8 provides 32Gb/s of host bandwidth, which is the minimum needed to move two saturated 10GbE streams plus PCIe overhead — running on a PCIe 2.0 x4 link will bottleneck dual-port line-rate traffic. The card supports stateless TCP/UDP/IP offload, RSS, and VMware NetQueue, but does not support RoCE on early ConnectX-2 firmware revisions. Power draw is approximately 6W typical per card.
Deployment & Use Cases
Building or refreshing entry-level 10GbE storage networks (iSCSI, NFS). Lab environments testing dual-homed bonding, LACP, or active/passive failover. Replacement spares for legacy ConnectX-2 deployments still in production. Cost-sensitive deployments where four matched NICs are needed for symmetric server pairs or cluster nodes.
Technical Specifications
OEM: NVIDIA Mellanox
Part Number: MNPH29D-XTR
Controller: ConnectX-2 EN (Ethernet only)
Ports: Dual SFP+
Data Rate: 10 Gigabit Ethernet (10GbE)
Host Interface: PCIe 2.0 x8 (5GT/s/lane)
Form Factor: Standard PCIe full-height bracket
Stateless Offload: TCP/UDP/IP checksum, LSO, RSS
Quantity: Lot of 4 cards
Condition: Refurbished — Tested by T.E.S IT-SOLUTIONS
Compliance: RoHS
Compatibility & Constraints
Compatible with PCIe 2.0/3.0 x8 and x16 slots. SFP+ cages accept passive DAC, active DAC, and SR/LR optical transceivers; transceiver vendor coding may be enforced depending on firmware. This is an EN card — it cannot run InfiniBand and cannot be "unlocked" to VPI in firmware. Driver support exists in modern Linux kernels and in Windows via legacy MLNX drivers; Windows Server 2019/2022 may require driver sourcing from older Mellanox archives. Not suitable for new RoCE deployments — for production RoCEv2 use ConnectX-4 or newer.
Why TES
T.E.S IT-SOLUTIONS tests every ConnectX-2 NIC in the lot for link establishment on both ports, PCIe lane width, and firmware reachability before shipment. Visit tes-itsolutions.com for matched-lot pricing on legacy 10GbE hardware. Handling time 1–3 business days with international shipping.