NVIDIA Mellanox MCP1600-E004A 4m QSFP28 EDR / 100GbE Passive Copper Cable: This is a 4-meter passive copper QSFP28-to-QSFP28 Direct Attach Cable rated for 100Gb/s. The MCP1600 'E' suffix family is the EDR InfiniBand variant of the line and is also commonly deployed for 100GbE Ethernet on VPI-capable ports. It is a fixed-length factory-terminated assembly, not a transceiver-with-MPO-patch. This is a new unit.
Engineering Context
The MCP1600-E004A carries 4 lanes of 25Gb/s NRZ over twinax copper. At 4m, the cable typically uses 26AWG conductors to maintain insertion-loss budget for 25Gb/s per lane over the longer reach (heavier than the 30AWG used on 1m variants). Passive design means zero power draw on the host port and sub-5ns per meter propagation latency. Full EMI shielding via twinax construction. RS-FEC enablement on the host port is typically required at the 4m reach to maintain BER margin per IEEE 802.3bj.
Deployment & Use Cases
ConnectX-4 / ConnectX-5 EDR HCA to SB7700 / SB7800 series Switch-IB 2 EDR switches across a rack pair. ConnectX-5 / ConnectX-6 Dx EN to NVIDIA Spectrum 100GbE switches across moderate cable runs. HPC GPU compute node to fabric uplink. Storage-fabric ports on EDR-attached parallel filesystems (Lustre, GPFS) where the run exceeds 1–2m.
Technical Specifications
OEM: NVIDIA Mellanox
Part Number: MCP1600-E004A
Form Factor: QSFP28 to QSFP28
Data Rate: 100Gb/s (4x25Gb/s NRZ)
Cable Type: Passive Copper Direct Attach (DAC)
Length: 4 meters
Wire Gauge: 26AWG
Protocols: EDR InfiniBand, 100GbE Ethernet (VPI on supported ports)
Power Draw: 0W (passive)
Connector Lock: Pull-tab QSFP28
Condition: New
Compatibility & Hard Constraints
Compatible with NVIDIA / Mellanox Switch-IB 2 (SB7700 / SB7800) EDR InfiniBand switches and ConnectX-4 / -5 / -6 EDR HCAs. Compatible with NVIDIA Spectrum 100GbE switches when ports are configured for VPI Ethernet. RS-FEC enablement on the host port is typically required at 4m. Not compatible with HDR (50Gb/s per lane PAM4) ports — HDR uses different signaling. Not compatible with QSFP+ 40Gb ports without renegotiation. Fixed 4m length — no field-length adjustment.
Why Choose T.E.S IT-SOLUTIONS
T.E.S IT-SOLUTIONS verifies cable continuity, twinax shield integrity, and connector latch on every MCP1600-E004A before dispatch. See tes-itsolutions.com for compatibility consultation, multi-unit pricing, and 1–3 day handling on stocked items.