NVIDIA Mellanox MCX414A-GCAT ConnectX-4 EN Network Interface Card, Dual-Port QSFP28, up to 50GbE, PCIe 3.0 x8: This is a server-class Ethernet network adapter (NIC) based on the ConnectX-4 EN ASIC, with two QSFP28 cages supporting per-port speeds of 10/25/40/50 GbE. It connects to the host through an eight-lane PCIe 3.0 interface. This is an Ethernet-only adapter (not VPI/InfiniBand), it is not a switch, and it is not a DPU/SmartNIC. This is a refurbished unit.
Engineering Context
The ConnectX-4 EN family supports RDMA over Converged Ethernet (RoCE) v1 and v2, hardware stateless TCP/UDP offloads, VXLAN and NVGRE encapsulation/decapsulation in silicon, and SR-IOV. PCIe 3.0 x8 yields a theoretical ~63 Gb/s of usable host bandwidth, which is sufficient to saturate one 50GbE port at line rate or service both ports under typical asymmetric data center traffic. The dual-port design enables active/active link aggregation (LACP) or active/standby failover. End-to-end latency is sub-microsecond for RDMA verbs.
Deployment & Use Cases
Hyperconverged infrastructure nodes (Nutanix AHV, VMware vSAN, Microsoft Azure Stack HCI / S2D) where 50GbE provides headroom for both storage replication and east-west VM traffic. NVMe-over-Fabrics target and initiator hosts using RoCEv2. Hadoop and Spark workers with heavy shuffle phases. Software-defined storage controllers (Ceph OSD, GlusterFS) where dual-port aggregation lifts throughput above any single 25GbE link. Lab and validation servers building out 50GbE Ethernet topologies.
Technical Specifications
- OEM: NVIDIA Mellanox
- Part Number: MCX414A-GCAT
- NVIDIA P/N: 900-9X4AC-0014-ST1
- Family / ASIC: ConnectX-4 EN
- Ports: 2 × QSFP28
- Max Data Rate per Port: 50GbE (also 10/25/40 GbE)
- Host Interface: PCIe 3.0 x8
- Form Factor: PCIe HHHL with tall bracket
- Stateless Offloads: TCP/UDP/IP checksum, TSO/LSO, RSS
- RDMA: RoCE v1, RoCE v2
- Virtualization: SR-IOV
- Condition: Refurbished — Tested by T.E.S IT-SOLUTIONS
Compatibility & Hard Constraints
Drivers are available in NVIDIA MLNX_EN / OFED for Linux (RHEL, Ubuntu, SUSE), in-box on VMware ESXi, and in-box on Windows Server. This part is Ethernet-only and does NOT switch firmware to InfiniBand mode — it is not a VPI adapter. The QSFP28 cages accept QSFP28 transceivers and DACs/AOCs; SFP28 transceivers require a QSA28 adapter. PCIe 3.0 x8 is a hard ceiling — installing in a PCIe 2.0 slot or a slot with fewer than 8 electrical lanes will throttle aggregate throughput. For single-port 100GbE or for PCIe 3.0 x16 host bandwidth, use the MCX415A-CCAT or MCX416A-CCAT series instead.
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)
Q. What is the MCX414A-GCAT?
The MCX414A-GCAT is a ConnectX-4 EN dual-port 50GbE Ethernet adapter with QSFP28 cages, PCIe 3.0 x8.
Q. Does it support InfiniBand?
No. ConnectX-4 EN is Ethernet-only.
Q. Will T.E.S IT-SOLUTIONS confirm the configuration of MCX414A-GCAT before shipping?
Yes. T.E.S IT-SOLUTIONS (tes-itsolutions.com) bench-tests each unit where test topology is available, before dispatch from EU stock.
Why Choose T.E.S IT-SOLUTIONS
Every ConnectX-4 EN adapter is bench-tested for link training, transceiver detection, RoCE functionality, and PCIe link width before shipment. T.E.S IT-SOLUTIONS provides expert consultation on Ethernet fabric design, global shipping, and 1–3 day order handling.