NVIDIA Mellanox MCX455A-ECAT ConnectX-4 VPI Adapter, Single-Port QSFP28, 100Gb/s EDR InfiniBand and 100GbE Ethernet, PCIe Gen3 x16: This is a single-port Virtual Protocol Interconnect (VPI) network adapter card based on the Mellanox ConnectX-4 ASIC, supporting either 100Gb/s EDR InfiniBand or 100Gb Ethernet on the same QSFP28 port. It is NOT a ConnectX-5 or ConnectX-6 part, and it is NOT a dual-port card. Offered in refurbished condition, professionally inspected and tested.
Engineering Context: The ConnectX-4 silicon delivers a single 100Gb/s port over a PCI Express 3.0 x16 host interface, providing the required ~128 Gb/s of host bandwidth to drive the line-rate port. The adapter supports RDMA over Converged Ethernet (RoCE v1/v2) and native InfiniBand RDMA, allowing kernel-bypass data movement with sub-microsecond fabric latency. NVIDIA OFED drivers (MLNX_OFED) and the in-box Linux kernel rdma stack both recognize the device as mlx5_core.
Deployment & Use Cases: HPC compute nodes running MPI workloads (OpenMPI, Intel MPI, MVAPICH2), GPU training clusters using GPUDirect RDMA, NVMe-oF target and initiator hosts, distributed storage on Lustre, BeeGFS, Ceph and Spectrum Scale, high-frequency trading gateways, and 100GbE leaf/spine connectivity for ConnectX-attached servers.
Technical Specifications:
Manufacturer Part Number (MPN): MCX455A-ECAT
OPN / Box P/N: 900-9X4AC-0016-ST0
Silicon: NVIDIA Mellanox ConnectX-4
Network Protocols: VPI — InfiniBand (SDR/DDR/QDR/FDR10/FDR/EDR up to 100Gb/s) and Ethernet (1/10/25/40/50/100GbE)
Ports: 1x QSFP28
Maximum Port Rate: 100 Gb/s
Host Interface: PCI Express 3.0 x16 (8 GT/s per lane)
RDMA: RoCE v1/v2, InfiniBand verbs
Hardware Offloads: RSS, LSO/TSO, checksum, VXLAN/NVGRE, Connection Tracking
Form Factor: Standard PCIe HHHL with tall (full-height) bracket
Driver Support: MLNX_OFED, Linux in-box (mlx5_core), Windows (WinOF-2), VMware ESXi (nmlx5)
Condition: Refurbished — tested for link, driver enumeration, and PCIe training
Compatibility & Constraints: The MCX455A-ECAT requires a host with an available PCIe Gen3 x16 slot to achieve 100Gb/s line rate; running it in a Gen3 x8 slot will limit throughput to roughly 64 Gb/s. The tall bracket is included; a low-profile bracket is NOT shipped. The card is supported by ConnectX-4 firmware (16.x) and operates with NVIDIA Mellanox Spectrum Ethernet switches and Quantum/Switch-IB InfiniBand switches; it does NOT include a transceiver or DAC cable.
Why T.E.S IT-SOLUTIONS: We specialize exclusively in NVIDIA Mellanox enterprise networking — refurbished and tested, with a typical handling time of 1–3 business days from EU stock. Visit https://www.tes-itsolutions.com for additional inventory or contact us for compatibility verification before ordering.