NVIDIA Mellanox MCX354A-FCAT ConnectX-3 Pro VPI Dual-Port QSFP Adapter, FDR InfiniBand and 40/56GbE: This is a dual-port Virtual Protocol Interconnect (VPI) host adapter that supports InfiniBand FDR (56 Gb/s) or Ethernet (40/56GbE) per QSFP port, with the protocol selectable in the driver. This is a standard PCIe 3.0 x8 add-in card, not an OCP mezzanine variant. This is a refurbished unit, tested in working order.
Engineering Context
The MCX354A-FCAT is built on the ConnectX-3 Pro silicon, which adds NVGRE and VXLAN hardware offloads on top of the original ConnectX-3 feature set. Each QSFP port operates independently, so one port can run InfiniBand while the other runs Ethernet. The card uses a PCIe 3.0 x8 8 GT/s host interface and supports RDMA and RoCE on the Ethernet side. Bus throughput at PCIe Gen3 x8 is approximately 64 Gb/s in one direction, so dual 56 Gb/s ports are most useful when traffic is split or one port is held in standby.
Deployment & Use Cases
HPC compute nodes connecting to FDR InfiniBand fabrics for MPI workloads. Storage servers fronting Ceph, Lustre, or ZFS over RDMA (NFS-RDMA, iSER, NVMe-oF over RoCE). VMware ESXi or KVM hypervisor hosts that need SR-IOV and overlay offloads (VXLAN, NVGRE). General data center hosts where a single card must bridge InfiniBand and Ethernet workloads.
Technical Specifications
OEM: NVIDIA Mellanox
Part Number: MCX354A-FCAT
ASIC: ConnectX-3 Pro
Ports: 2 x QSFP (VPI)
InfiniBand Speed: Up to FDR 56 Gb/s per port
Ethernet Speed: 10/40/56GbE per port
Host Bus: PCIe 3.0 x8 (8 GT/s)
Form Factor: Standard PCIe (low-profile and full-height brackets)
Offloads: RDMA, RoCE, NVGRE, VXLAN, SR-IOV
Compliance: RoHS R6
Condition: Refurbished — Tested by T.E.S IT-SOLUTIONS
Compatibility & Hard Constraints
Works with QSFP+ FDR InfiniBand and QSFP+ 40/56GbE switches such as Mellanox SX6036, SX6512, SX1036, and SX1710 series, and with MLNX_OFED drivers within the ConnectX-3 Pro support lifecycle. 56GbE is a Mellanox proprietary rate and requires Mellanox at both ends; against third-party 40GbE switches the link will train at 40GbE. Not compatible with EDR (100 Gb/s) or HDR (200 Gb/s) InfiniBand fabrics — this card tops out at FDR. A PCIe 3.0 x8 host slot is required for full bandwidth; the card will negotiate down in narrower slots.
Why Choose T.E.S IT-SOLUTIONS
Each MCX354A-FCAT is bench-tested by T.E.S IT-SOLUTIONS for link-up on both QSFP ports, RDMA function, and PCIe link training before shipment. We offer expert consultation on InfiniBand and RoCE deployments, global shipping, and 1–3 day handling time.