UK Mellanox CX354A - Bargain

[gb00s]

I know 'everybody' is on the way to 100Gbps and Connect-CX3 isn't a thing anymore. But this seller is constantly throwing CX354A out 23 still to get. I offered 16.67 GBP was accepted automatically.

Source: Mellanox CX354A - eBay

 

[Stephan]

I contend this is still the best card for a low-power, near-silent, cheap, beyond-10 Gbps home lab. Later cards are faster but also hotter. Also need PCIe 4.0 which leads to way more expensive systems than socket 3647 platforms. Also next to impossible to get a 100 Gbps switch anywhere near silent.

 

[gseeley]

And..... they're gone.

 

[ano]

for low power, they are really better thn the cx6s

we use a LOT of theese, on ehh pcie 4.0 systems/servers, especially storage clusters, where each node cannot really exceed 80gbps

silent 100g switches do exist now, I know of sevral

 

[rtech]

Why is description saying + SAS expander when it is actually just passive adapter.

 

[applepi]

Why is description saying + SAS expander when it is actually just passive adapter.

Likely a misstranslation, It's just a pass through for an internal port.

 

[UhClem]

Likely a misstranslation, It's just a pass through for an internal port.

Exactly, what are the external and internal connectors [SFF-xxxx?] on that variant? and does the external have any non-standard "keying"? thanks

(I'll buy them with the "sidecar", but only if the dog & the ol' lady will fit.)

 

[Cruzader]

Looks like external 8644 and internal 8087

This UK seller has cx354a without the sas addon at 21.93£ and 30+ left, might be worth trying some offers also.

 

[UhClem]

Thanks. That was about where my eyeball-ing left me.
But, looks can (and often are) deceiving; I'll get around to asking, directly, in Networking. (and since connectors alone don't tell the whole story, the pinouts/"wiring" must also be ascertained. ie, a success story.)

 

[piranha32]

There are tons of MCX354A-FCBT on ebay for $20-$30 shipped (at least within the US). All the ones I saw were from 2015-ish, and "Made in Israel". Are these fakes? I did not see any with identical MAC addresses.

 

[tinfoil3d]

No they're not fakes, that generation is historically all made in Israel, even OEM parts, that's where Mellanox HQ was (until bought out by nvidia). I'm used to buying mcx354a in various OEM and non-OEM p/ns, for 20~25 a piece or less. Sometimes you can snatch a few locally in Japan for under 15 bucks.

 

[tinfoil3d]

BTW for those looking for some niche solution for even cheaper, there's this 2xSFP28 mlx4 proprietary form-factor NIC for dell 12 and 13th gen. Maybe newer can work too, i wouldn't know!
Dell P/N 0R887V sold on ebay for under 20 bucks. This replaces your default 2x10/2x1/4x1 ports.

 

[Rand__]

silent 100g switches do exist now, I know of several

Examples?
Silent like datacenter-silent or office- or bedroom-silent?

 

[TheMartel]

BTW for those looking for some niche solution for even cheaper, there's this 2xSFP28 mlx4 proprietary form-factor NIC for dell 12 and 13th gen. Maybe newer can work too, i wouldn't know!
Dell P/N 0R887V sold on ebay for under 20 bucks. This replaces your default 2x10/2x1/4x1 ports.

That wouldn't be such a good price for a Connectx3... but they are Connectx4 25gbit.
Hoever hard to see how to adapt them to a standard pciex...

 

[Cruzader]

But, looks can (and often are) deceiving; I'll get around to asking, directly, in Networking. (and since connectors alone don't tell the whole story, the pinouts/"wiring" must also be ascertained. ie, a success story.)

Looking at PCB it literally say HD mini sas to internal sas, by the shape that is 8644->8087 connectors of the 2 gens.

BTW for those looking for some niche solution for even cheaper, there's this 2xSFP28 mlx4 proprietary form-factor NIC for dell 12 and 13th gen. Maybe newer can work too, i wouldn't know!
Dell P/N 0R887V sold on ebay for under 20 bucks. This replaces your default 2x10/2x1/4x1 ports.

That tends to be part of the sales pitch for off the shelf servers in general, that they have heavily discounted custom slots.

The main reason i bought my old cisco C240 M4 units (beyond being dirt cheap) was the mlom slot, that they had 2x qsfp available around 40-50$ that both is esxi8 supported and supports 4x10 split from cards side.

For 10/25 you generaly find all the mezzanine formfactors at 20-30$.

 

[ano]

Examples?
Silent like datacenter-silent or office- or bedroom-silent?

office silent, aristas you can do fan override, mellanox etc all throttle down with mlnx os

and miikrotik are bedroom silent ish

 

[Samir]

There are tons of MCX354A-FCBT on ebay for $20-$30 shipped (at least within the US). All the ones I saw were from 2015-ish, and "Made in Israel". Are these fakes? I did not see any with identical MAC addresses.

Do they all say 'Made in Israel' in all the different price ranges? That would tell me that they are made there. I'd also look at pictures of people's successful setups and see if you can make out 'made in' sticker on those that are actively in use. If all signs point to Israel then they must be made there. You can also see if their sales or support teams will answer this.

 

[frameshift18]

BTW for those looking for some niche solution for even cheaper, there's this 2xSFP28 mlx4 proprietary form-factor NIC for dell 12 and 13th gen. Maybe newer can work too, i wouldn't know!
Dell P/N 0R887V sold on ebay for under 20 bucks. This replaces your default 2x10/2x1/4x1 ports.

I've always been under the assumption the 13th gen rNDCs won't work in the 12th gen servers? Even though the form factor is the same.

 

[tinfoil3d]

I've always been under the assumption the 13th gen rNDCs won't work in the 12th gen servers? Even though the form factor is the same.

Im using this very P/N in 12th gen(620, 720). It gives error message during boot which can be ignored. Boot menu(if any) isn't loaded from these either, but in OS it just works and no, there are no pcie lane limits enountered either. It 100% works on E5 v1/v2 family.

 

[UhClem]

Looking at PCB it literally say HD mini sas to internal sas, by the shape that is 8644->8087 connectors of the 2 gens. ...

Thanks, again. Though I'd looked at several (listing) photos over the last months (and closely searched mellanox.com), this is the best "confirmation" yet. Mellanox probably chose sff8644 (vs sff8088) for a better physical fit; would have been super-nifty if it was 8644->8643--then useful for SAS or PCIe/NVMe. But they made that decision in ~2015.