NVIDIA Mellanox MCX4431A-GCAN ConnectX-4 Lx EN 50GbE Network Interface Card: This is a single-port 50 Gigabit Ethernet adapter in OCP Mezzanine 2.0 Type 1 form factor with a QSFP28 cage. The card is engineered for cost-optimized 50GbE server connectivity in cloud, web, and storage tiers. This is an OCP mezzanine card, not a standard PCIe slot adapter, and requires an OCP-compliant host chassis. This is a refurbished unit.
Engineering Context
The MCX4431A-GCAN is built on the ConnectX-4 Lx ASIC, a streamlined variant of the full ConnectX-4 family targeting Ethernet-only workloads. The card supports RDMA over Converged Ethernet (RoCE) v1/v2, stateless TCP/UDP/IP offloads, and Open vSwitch hardware offload (ASAP²). The single-port QSFP28 cage runs at 50GbE (2x25Gb/s NRZ) by default and can be configured for 40GbE/25GbE/10GbE backward compatibility. Host interface is PCIe Gen3 x8.
Deployment & Use Cases
OCP-compliant hyperscale server platforms requiring 50GbE uplink consolidation. Hyperconverged infrastructure (HCI) nodes for VMware vSAN, Nutanix, and Microsoft Storage Spaces Direct. SDN leaf-spine fabrics with Open vSwitch (OVS) offload to free CPU cycles. Container networking and NFV environments leveraging SR-IOV and DPDK acceleration.
Technical Specifications
- OEM: NVIDIA Mellanox
- Part Number: MCX4431A-GCAN
- Product Family: ConnectX-4 Lx EN
- Form Factor: OCP Mezzanine 2.0 Type 1
- Host Interface: PCIe 3.0 x8
- Data Rate: 50GbE (2x25Gb/s NRZ)
- Ports: 1 (Single-Port)
- Connector: QSFP28
- Backward Compatibility: 40/25/10GbE
- RDMA: RoCE v1 and v2
- Offloads: ASAP² OVS, SR-IOV, DPDK
- Condition: Refurbished — Tested by T.E.S IT-SOLUTIONS
Compatibility & Hard Constraints
Designed for OCP Mezzanine 2.0 Type 1 server slots — not a standard PCIe slot adapter and cannot be installed in conventional servers without an OCP-compatible chassis. QSFP28 cage accepts 50GbE/40GbE/25GbE/10GbE optics and DACs. This is the EN (Ethernet-only) variant; it does not support InfiniBand. Note that 50GbE on this card is 2x25Gb/s NRZ — it is not the newer 50G PAM4 standard (200GbE/400GbE family). Driver support: Mellanox OFED, Linux mlx5_core, Windows WinOF-2.
Why Choose T.E.S IT-SOLUTIONS
T.E.S IT-SOLUTIONS (https://www.tes-itsolutions.com) tests every NIC for link establishment, RDMA functionality, and OVS offload provisioning before shipment. Standard 1–3 day handling time. Expert consultation on OCP-compatible host platforms, global shipping, and comprehensive warranty.