NVIDIA Mellanox® MCX514A-GCHT — ConnectX-5 EN 40/50GbE Dual-Port QSFP28 PCIe 3.0 x8 NIC (Refurbished)
Technical Identity
The NVIDIA Mellanox® MCX514A-GCHT is a refurbished ConnectX-5 EN dual-port Ethernet network adapter. Each QSFP28 port delivers selectable 1/10/25/40/50 Gigabit Ethernet (headline 40GbE and 50GbE), driven by a PCIe 3.0 x8 host interface. The trailing "H" designates host-side management (sideband NC-SI / MCTP over PCIe to the BMC) and "T" indicates a tall (full-height) bracket. This card is Ethernet-only (EN ASIC) — it does NOT support InfiniBand. ConnectX-5 has reached End-of-Life with NVIDIA; firmware and MLNX_OFED driver branches for ConnectX-5 remain available but are no longer actively developed. Condition: refurbished, EEPROM-verified, link-tested, EU stock.
Specifications
Brand: NVIDIA Mellanox
Model / MPN: MCX514A-GCHT
Product family: ConnectX-5 EN (Ethernet)
ASIC: ConnectX-5 (Ethernet-only EN ASIC)
Ports: 2× QSFP28 (dual-port)
Port speeds: 1 / 10 / 25 / 40 / 50 Gigabit Ethernet per port (auto-negotiated)
Aggregate bandwidth: Up to 100 Gb/s (2× 50GbE)
Host interface: PCIe 3.0 x8 (8 GT/s); backward-compatible PCIe 2.0 / 1.1 at reduced bandwidth
Host management: NC-SI over RBT / MCTP over PCIe for BMC / IPMI sideband control (H suffix)
Form factor: Standard half-length adapter card
Bracket: Tall / full-height (low-profile bracket sold separately)
RDMA: RoCE v1 & v2, OOO RDMA, hardware-driven congestion control
Virtualization / SDN: SR-IOV (up to 256 VFs), ASAP² for OVS hardware offload, VXLAN / NVGRE / GENEVE / MPLS encapsulation offload
Storage offloads: NVMe-oF target/initiator, T10-DIF/PI, Erasure Coding, NVMe SNAP-ready
EOL status: End-of-Life — verify OS/kernel/firmware compatibility before ordering
Condition: Refurbished
What This Is NOT
NOT a VPI / InfiniBand card. The MCX514A-GCHT is EN-only — Ethernet exclusively. For InfiniBand or VPI dual-protocol, see MCX556A-EDAT (ConnectX-5 VPI) or MCX555A-ECAT.
NOT a 100GbE per-port card. Maximum 50GbE per port; for 100GbE per QSFP28 port, see MCX516A-CCAT / MCX516A-CDAT (ConnectX-5) or MCX623106AN-CDAT (ConnectX-6 Dx).
NOT a Multi-Host / Socket-Direct variant. Single-host adapter; suffix carries no MH/SD encoding.
NOT bundled with cables, transceivers, low-profile bracket, or NVIDIA support contract — sold standalone.
NOT a Lx (cost-optimized) variant. Full ConnectX-5 EN feature set, not the reduced-offload Lx ASIC.
Compatibility
Host slot: PCIe 3.0 x8 mechanical and electrical slot; runs in any longer slot (x16). Reduced bandwidth in PCIe 2.0/1.1 slots.
Cabling — 50GbE per port (QSFP28): 50G DAC (e.g., MCP1600-E0xxE26), 50G AOC, or 50G-LR/SR transceivers in QSFP28 form factor.
Cabling — 40GbE per port (QSFP28 cage, QSFP+ compatible): 40G-CR4 DAC, 40G-SR4 AOC, 40G-LR4/SR4 QSFP+ transceivers; QSFP28 cage accepts QSFP+ optics.
Switch pairing (Ethernet): NVIDIA Spectrum / Spectrum-2 (SN2000 / SN3000 series), or any 40/50GbE QSFP28-capable Ethernet switch (Cisco Nexus, Arista 7060/7280, Dell PowerSwitch S5200, etc.).
Drivers / OS: MLNX_OFED for Linux (RHEL/Rocky/Ubuntu/SLES), WinOF-2 for Windows Server, native inbox drivers for recent Linux kernels (mlx5_core). VMware ESXi via NVIDIA NMLX5 driver.
Cooling: Server chassis airflow ≥ 200 LFM front-to-back recommended.
EOL caveat: Verify the latest firmware branch (≥ fw-ConnectX-5 16.35.x or buyer-tested baseline) and confirm MLNX_OFED version supports your kernel before deployment.
Frequently Asked Questions
Q. What is the MCX514A-GCHT?
The MCX514A-GCHT is a refurbished NVIDIA Mellanox ConnectX-5 EN dual-port 40/50GbE NIC with two QSFP28 cages, PCIe 3.0 x8 host interface, host management (NC-SI / MCTP), and a tall bracket. It is Ethernet-only (EN ASIC) and reached EOL with NVIDIA.
Q. Does the MCX514A-GCHT support both 40GbE and 50GbE?
Yes — each QSFP28 port auto-negotiates to 1, 10, 25, 40, or 50 Gigabit Ethernet, depending on the head-end switch port mode and cable/transceiver.
Q. Is the MCX514A-GCHT InfiniBand capable?
No. The MCX514A-GCHT uses the ConnectX-5 EN (Ethernet-only) ASIC. For InfiniBand EDR or VPI (Ethernet + InfiniBand) operation, use MCX556A-EDAT (VPI dual-protocol) or MCX555A-ECAT.
Q. What does host management provide on the MCX514A-GCHT?
The "H" suffix enables a sideband control path — NC-SI over RBT and MCTP over PCIe — so the server BMC / IPMI controller can monitor link state, configure ports, and push firmware updates to the NIC out-of-band, independent of the host OS.
Q. What condition is supplied by T.E.S IT-SOLUTIONS?
Refurbished Grade A — each unit is EEPROM-verified for genuine NVIDIA Mellanox vendor data, link-tested at the rated port speed, and cosmetically inspected. Shipped in ESD-safe packaging from EU stock. EOL firmware/driver compatibility verification remains the buyer's responsibility.
Why Choose T.E.S IT-SOLUTIONS
T.E.S IT-SOLUTIONS is a Europe-based NVIDIA Mellanox specialist. Every adapter is identified by MPN, NVIDIA P/N, and ASIC generation before shipping; every customer gets free pre-sale switch/cable/firmware compatibility review. We support multi-currency B2B invoicing, EU stock with global express logistics (DHL/UPS/FedEx), and direct access to our network engineering team — not a call-center. For ConnectX-5 EOL infrastructure refresh and brownfield expansion, we keep tested refurbished inventory ready to ship.