Description
Product Specification
The Mellanox Connectx-5 EN Ethernet Card PCI-E 2 Ports Adapter, also known as MCX516A-GCAT, is a powerful network adapter designed for high-performance computing environments. It is a product of Mellanox Technologies, a leading provider of networking solutions for data centers, cloud computing, and high-performance computing (HPC) systems. This Ethernet card provides two 25 Gigabit Ethernet (GbE) ports and is compatible with PCI-Express 3.0 x16 slots. In this article, we will discuss the key features and benefits of MCX516A-GCAT.
Key Features
The MCX516A-GCAT Mellanox Connectx-5 EN Ethernet Card Pci-E 2 Ports Adapter has several key features that make it a powerful networking solution for HPC systems.
ConnectX-5 EN Ethernet Controller: The MCX516A-GCAT is built around Mellanox’s ConnectX-5 EN Ethernet controller, which is specifically designed to provide high-performance networking for HPC environments. This controller supports RDMA over Converged Ethernet (RoCE), which allows for low-latency and high-bandwidth communication between nodes in a cluster.
PCI-Express 3.0 x16 Interface: The MCX516A-GCAT is designed to be used with PCI-Express 3.0 x16 slots, which provide high-bandwidth connectivity to the system’s CPU and memory. This ensures that the network adapter does not become a bottleneck in the system’s overall performance.
Two 25GbE Ports: The MCX516A-GCAT provides two 25GbE ports, which are compatible with SFP28 optical modules. These ports can be used to connect to other nodes in a cluster or to connect to high-speed storage devices.
Low Power Consumption: The MCX516A-GCAT is designed to be energy-efficient, with a typical power consumption of only 11 watts per port. This makes it an ideal choice for HPC systems that require high-performance networking but also need to minimize power consumption.
Benefits of MCX516A-GCAT
High Performance: The MCX516A-GCAT provides high-performance networking capabilities for HPC systems. Its ConnectX-5 EN Ethernet controller supports RoCE, which provides low-latency and high-bandwidth communication between nodes in a cluster. The two 25GbE ports provide high-speed connectivity to other nodes or storage devices, ensuring that the network does not become a bottleneck in the system’s overall performance.
Scalability: The MCX516A-GCAT is designed to be scalable, with support for up to 100GbE throughput. This allows it to be used in large-scale HPC environments where high-performance networking is critical.
Energy Efficiency: The MCX516A-GCAT is designed to be energy-efficient, with a typical power consumption of only 11 watts per port. This makes it an ideal choice for HPC systems that need to minimize power consumption while still providing high-performance networking.
Compatibility: The MCX516A-GCAT is compatible with a wide range of operating systems, including Linux, Windows, and VMware ESXi. This makes it easy to integrate into existing HPC environments.
Main Information about the Mellanox MCX516A-GCAT
- Manufacturer: Mellanox
- Part Number or SKU # MCX516A-GCAT
- Device Type: Network Adapter
Networking
- Interface (Bus) Type : Pci Express 3.0 X16
- Ports : 50 Gigabit Qsfp28 X 2
- Connectivity Technology : Wired
- Data Link Protocol : Gige, 10 Gige, 40 Gigabit Lan, 25 Gigabit Lan, 50 Gigabit Lan
- Data Transfer Rate : 50 GBps
- Network / Transport Protocol : Tcp/Ip, Udp/Ip, Iscsi
- Features : Auto-Negotiation, Vlan Support, Quality Of Service (Qos), Jumbo Frames Support, Rdma Support, Pxe Support, Large Send Offload (Lso), Large Receive Offload (Lro), Receive Side Scaling (Rss), Uefi Support, Transmit Side Scaling (Tss), Rdma Over Converged Ethernet (Roce), Extended Reliable Connected Transport (Xrc), Dynamically Connected Transport (Dct), On Demand Paging (Odp)
- Compliant Standards : IEEE 802.1q, IEEE 802.1p, IEEE 802.3ad (Lacp), IEEE 802.3ae, IEEE 802.3ap, IEEE 802.3az, IEEE 802.3ba, IEEE 802.1ax, IEEE 802.1qbb, IEEE 802.1qaz, IEEE 802.1qau, IEEE 802.1qbg, IEEE 1588v2, IEEE 802.3bj, IEEE 802.3bm, IEEE 802.3by
Expansion / Connectivity
- Interfaces : 2 X 50GB Ethernet – QSFP28
