EXPIRED Mellanox ConnectX-6 2x100GbE NIC for $229

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wifiholic

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I bought one of these Mellanox ConnectX-6 CX623106A NICs last month from this seller at slightly higher price; since then, they've reposted the listing with the price lowered to $229 (plus $10 shipping). This seemed like too good a deal to pass up, so I bought another and thought you all might also appreciate a heads up as well.

www.ebay.com

Mellanox ConnectX-6 CX623106A 2 Port 100GbE QSFP56 NIC | eBay

Find many great new & used options and get the best deals for Mellanox ConnectX-6 CX623106A 2 Port 100GbE QSFP56 NIC at the best online prices at eBay! Free shipping for many products!
www.ebay.com

Edit: as pointed out by GladLock96 below, these are actually Cisco UCS-flavored Mellanox NICs. In my experience, they are not transceiver-locked and work fine with non-Cisco switches, but GladLock96 pointed out and I confirmed with my own sample that they cannot be directly flashed by Nvidia's firmware tool to an Nvidia-supplied firmware image. Caveat emptor, they seem to work fine IME, but firmware updates will be an issue unless you have the expensive MTUSB-1 tool mentioned further downthread.
 
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GladLock96

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Can these Cisco Mellanox cards be reflashed with a stock Mellanox firmware image? If so, is obtaining the Mellanox firmware and updating the firmware difficult?
 
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wifiholic

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Firmware is trivial to find on Nvidia's website. I have not attempted cross-flashing yet.

According to this document from Cisco, the UCSC-P-M6DD100GF in the listing correlates with the Mellanox MCX623106AS-CDAT.
 
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GladLock96

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Yeah, the reason I ask is it looks like this guy on the Nvidia forums tried to cross flash and ran into issues since it's a secured Cisco FW image: Non-Standard ConnectX-6 Dx Firmware

Maybe this is a dumb question, but can these cards be used without Cisco switches? I assume they would work fine in a Peer to Peer scenario, right?
 
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wifiholic

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For what it's worth, in my experience, it works fine in a Supermicro H11SSL motherboard using standard Windows drivers from Nvidia, with one of those cheap Intel CWDM4 QSFP28 transceivers connecting to a very much not Cisco switch on the other end.
 
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NablaSquaredG

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Ah Jesus Christ, I hate when this happens. Had them on my watchlist for weeks, but not really budget for it.. But now that they're posted here, we'll see the STH effect TM™ and they'll likely be gone in next to no time, so I had to grab eight.

Reminds me of this one scene in Star Wars - Then Phantom Menace
"This turn of events is unfortunate. We must accelerate our plans. Begin landing your troops. Buy the Mellanox NICs."
 
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GladLock96

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wifiholic said:
For what it's worth, in my experience, it works fine in a Supermicro H11SSL motherboard using standard Windows drivers from Nvidia, with one of those cheap Intel CWDM4 QSFP28 transceivers connecting to a very much not Cisco switch on the other end.
Click to expand...
What 100GbE QSFP56 switch are you using?
 
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wifiholic

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I'm using it with the ill-fated and short lived UDC-Leaf (not to be confused with the earlier also ill-fated and short lived UniFi Leaf).
 
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mach3.2

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NablaSquaredG said:
Where are you located?

Once I have the process confirmed and working, I can offer reflash services in Europe
Click to expand...
i don't need a cx6.... i don't need a cx6.... i don't need a cx6...

Anyway I'm all the way in south east asia so that's probably a non-starter shipping wise.
 
Stephan

Stephan

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NablaSquaredG said:
Hope y'all have also ordered MTUSB-1 in order to crossflash those cards
Click to expand...
Can you open your device up and upload some high-res photos of the board and its backside? Also the funny adapter (3.3V to 1.8V level shifter?). Would like to gauge if it might be replaceable with an Adafruit MCP2221a for 10 fiat.
 
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NablaSquaredG

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Stephan said:
Can you open your device up and upload some high-res photos of the board and its backside? Also the funny adapter (3.3V to 1.8V level shifter?). Would like to gauge if it might be replaceable with an Adafruit MCP2221a for 10 fiat.
Click to expand...
I will try to take some photos.

Except the level shifter and the cables, you should be able to get the exact same thing by ordering an XDIMAX SUB-20 / SUB-20-EB

I think the problem is going to be having mst recognise it as mtusb-1
 
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