Mellanox ConnectX-3 VPI FDR (56Gbit) + 40GbE dual-port cards for $299

[dba]

We've seen a number of very good deals on Mellanox ConnectX-2 VPI 40Gbit/10Gbit Infiniband/Ethernet cards - as low as $130 each. Until now, however, the very latest 56/40Gbit cards have all been above $800 each. Now, finally, there are some ConnectX-3 cards for just $299:

Mellanox MCX354A FCBT CX354A FDR QDR Infiniband 40 GB s Ethernet Connectx 3 2P | eBay

These are dual-port PCIe3 x8 cards that can do 56Gbit Infiniband and/or 40Gbit Ethernet. The price is surprisingly low, as evidenced by the fact that they sold twenty of them in the two days that they've been listed. I expect these to be gone in the next week or less.

By the way, there is also a Mellanox FDR switch that's available for $1,700 on eBay.

 

[jtreble]

... Now, finally, there are some ConnectX-3 cards for just $299 ...

BINed. Awesome - thanks for sharing.

 

[Patrick]

WOW! That is awesome!!!!

 

[Patrick]

I did BIN for 2 more.

 

[PigLover]

Could be interesting even if using a QDR switch. Remember that the PCIe 2.0 x8 connection on the ConnectX-2 cards can't really drive both 40gig IB ports at full speed simultaneously. With the ConnectX-3 plugged into a PCIe 3.0 slot it can drive them both full speed.

Maybe no a realistic use case very often...

 

[dba]

Could be interesting even if using a QDR switch. Remember that the PCIe 2.0 x8 connection on the ConnectX-2 cards can't really drive both 40gig IB ports at full speed simultaneously. With the ConnectX-3 plugged into a PCIe 3.0 slot it can drive them both full speed.

Maybe no a realistic use case very often...

That's absolutely true. Even a single port PCIe2 QDR card is already limited by the PCI bus, not the Infiniband bandwidth.

 

[mrkrad]

That is awesome! I wish there was a cheap 40gbe switch

Remember that in most companies, redundancy is key, so even if you have two ports and only one is usable, you may still install another nic and setup the 2 nic's in standby mode.

It would be interesting to throw that in a low end pci-e 3 server and see how fast it can go (the ram might become a bottleneck!).

What cable does 40gbe use? A quad SFP+? ouch!

Now if you could break out that nic to become 8 x 10gbe - you'd have a hardware (ASIC) accelerated switch in one pci-e slot. 4 in a server with openvswitch would be awesome!

If I hadn't just bought a pair of quadro's for vSVGA i'd be all over this insane deal!!

 

[dba]

That is awesome! I wish there was a cheap 40gbe switch ...

I paid $861 for my Mellanox 4036 36 port switch. You can think of it as $24 per port, $6 for the equivalent of a 10GbE port worth of bandwidth, or sixty cents for a gigabit port equivalent. I call that cheap!

 

[awedio]

By the way, there is also a Mellanox FDR switch that's available for $1,700 on eBay.

What switch is it?

 

[dba]

What switch is it?

It's a Mellanox MSX6002FLR. I share only because, if I do not, I may be tempted to spend way too much money replacing a perfectly good QDR network with an FDR network.

Warning: While the above auction shows a switch in the photos, and the description says that it's a switch, the item being sold is a spine module for a modular IB switch, not a standalone switch.

Mellanox MSX6002FLR | ebay

 

[awedio]

dba,

Was that you on ebay that took ownership of quantity 15?

 

[dba]

dba,

Was that you on ebay that took ownership of quantity 15?

I wish! At these prices I can't say that I wasn't tempted, but I can't justify upgrading my 22 QDR nodes to FDR.

 

[MiniKnight]

Dear dba, This is another amazing deal! I feel that you are a little too good at this. Tempted to see how many they have and see if I can't flip for $500. 26 sold as of now. 16 left. $150 profit on them? Next lowest is like $700.

 

[mrkrad]

The ebay price is true market value imo. Why you can get emulex nic's with optics for $120 that would approach $2000 (branded HP optics are not cheap at all!).

IMO - call me paranoid - the whole networking racket is a price fixing b/s - this is going to surface soon when nvidia comes out with a video/nic/ramdisk card in one . If you think about remote 3D graphics, having the video card off the gpu is the big problem (right now you are going back to CPU then back to nic).

network gear is seriously overpriced . Nic's should not cost more than whole servers lol.

 

[doofoo]

Any affordable IB switches w/ 10/40Gbe Ethernet interconnects?

How much are the optics and cables for this guy for IB/10Gbe/40Gbe?

Anyone planning on using this in C6100 node's?

 

[mobilenvidia]

network gear is seriously overpriced . Nic's should not cost more than whole servers lol.

Then how are OEM executives going to fuel their private jets if they can't over charge us ?

 

[adrian]

Looks like i got the last 2 pcs. Wanted more but it seems i moved too slow.

Is anyone running QDR/FDR cards in VPI mode? I'm interested in what switches are u using?

 

[mrkrad]

why don't you just run port in IB and one in GBe and run the IPoIB and bridge yourself.

if you setup DAC with IB host to host and GBe to switch you could build a pair of bridging servers !

 

[Aluminum]

I hate you for posting this

Seller relisted them, theres more...

 

[atlanticdeals]

We have just listed another 32 x Mellanox MCX354A-FCBT on Ebay. $299 ! Will ship Monday or Tuesday.
Ebay item 261282457107

Last ones we can offer at this low price.

We also have new Mellanox QDR 36 port 2.88 Tb/s switches, with rails. See Ebay item 251328547074 $2295 / best offer

See our Ebay store for other Infiniband cards and switches.

Joe