Interfaces

The network ports of the ConnectX®-5 adapter cards are compliant with the InfiniBand Architecture Specification, Release 1.3 and Release 1.4. InfiniBand traffic is transmitted through the cards' QSFP28 connectors.

The network ports of the ConnectX®-5 adapter card are compliant with the IEEE 802.3 Ethernet standards listed in Features and Benefits. Ethernet traffic is transmitted through the cards' QSFP28 connectors.

Divide per configuration

The ConnectX®-5 adapter card supports PCI Express Gen 3.0 (1.1 and 2.0 compatible) through four PCIe x4 edge connectors. The device can be either a master initiating the PCI Express bus operations, or a slave responding to PCI bus operations. The following lists PCIe interface features:

  • PCIe Gen 3.0 compliant, 2.0 and 1.1 compatible

  • 2.5, 5.0, or 8.0, GT/s link rate x4 (per card)

  • Auto-negotiates to x4, x2, or x1

  • Support for MSI/MSI-X mechanisms

Adapter Card LED interface

There is one bi-color (yellow/green) I/O LED per port to indicate link status located on the adapter card.

Physical and Logical Link Indications - Ethernet Mode:

State

LED Behavior

Beacon command for locating the card

Blinks yellow at 1Hz

Error

Blinks yellow at 4Hz until error is resolved. The reason for the error may be:

  • Failure of I2C access to the port

  • Over-current conditions of the port

Link Activity

Blinks green reflecting the link speed

Link Up

Constant green light

Physical and Logical Link Indications - InfiniBand Mode:

State

LED Behavior

Beacon command for locating the card

Blinks yellow at 1Hz

Error

Blinks yellow at 4Hz until error is resolved. The reason for the error may be:

  • Failure of I2C access to the port

  • Over-current conditions of the port

Link Activity

Blinks green reflecting the link speed

Link Up

Constant green light

PCIe Auxilliary Cards LEDs Interface

Warning

Will be updated in a future revision of the document.

The heatsink is attached to the ConnectX-5 IC in order to dissipate the heat from the ConnectX-5 IC. It is attached either by using four spring-loaded push pins that insert into four mounting holes.
ConnectX-5 IC has a thermal shutdown safety mechanism which automatically shuts down the ConnectX-5 card in cases of high-temperature event, improper thermal coupling or heatsink removal.
For the required airflow (LFM) per OPN, please refer to .Specifications v3.1.

ConnectX-5 technology maintains support for manageability through a BMC. ConnectX-5 PCIe stand-up adapter can be connected to a BMC using MCTP over SMBus or MCTP over PCIe protocols as if it is a standard NVIDIA PCIe stand-up adapter. For configuring the adapter for the specific manageability solution in use by the server, please contact NVIDIA Support.

ConnectX-5 Main Adapter Card: The voltage regulator power is derived from the PCI Express edge connector 12V supply pins. These voltage supply pins feed on-board regulators that provide the necessary power to the various components on the card.

PCIe Auxilliary Cards: The cards are powered by 3.3V from the PCI Express edge connector.

© Copyright 2023, NVIDIA. Last updated on May 22, 2023.