NVIDIA BlueField-2 200GbE DPUs for under $469

[MiniKnight]

Here's the link: NVIDIA BlueField-2 Ethernet DPU200GbE Model number:BF2M515A | eBay

Looks like they're BF2M515A-VENOT

From what I saw searching, they're ES cards, and have only Port 1 active.

They're $469 for one, but if you're at four, you're at $422 each. That's one of the cheaper 200GbE options out there. Even if you're not using Arm, it's just a ConnectX-6 full-height.

 

[wifiholic]

I bought one of these from this seller last fall. For what it's worth, they can be cross flashed to the 516A (IIRC) 2x100G model.

 

[MiniKnight]

I bought one of these from this seller last fall. For what it's worth, they can be cross flashed to the 516A (IIRC) 2x100G model.

Oh wow, so you've now got two 100G ports on it? Was it hard?

 

[wifiholic]

Oh wow, so you've now got two 100G ports on it? Was it hard?

Yes, I have two 100G ports now on a BF2M515A. It was very difficult because I didn't know what I was doing, so I stumbled through it and didn't document the steps well enough in the moment. A few days later I tried to write up the process from memory, but that memory had already gotten pretty fuzzy, so I'm hesitant to share for fear of enabling someone else to brick their Bluefield...

In short, however, I recall having to bridge the JP1 (FLASH_PRSNT) jumper to be able to change the PSID, and I used flint with -allow_psid_change to flash firmware from the MBF2M516A. That's all I can say for certain, I'm sorry.

Edit: I thought I'd checked if both ports actually worked after I flashed it, but I checked now just in case, and after moving the link from one port to the other, it worked fine.

P.P.S. I trust that most of you all know this, but for anyone new to these type of NICs, if you're going to use one in a desktop, I strongly recommend rigging up a fan in the PCIe slot bay below it. They get hot if they don't have enough airflow.