Appendix—Design Consideration Using Q3200
The NVIDIA Quantum-X800 Q3200 is an ideal InfiniBand switching solution for mixed-generation environments, where data-center infrastructures need to integrate modern high-speed networking (Quantum-X800 based) with prior-generation systems.
It incorporates two fully independent switches in a compact 2U air-cooled chassis, each providing 36 ports of 800 Gb/s.
The Q3200 is commonly deployed in storage-rich architectures thanks to its dense port configuration and high aggregate bandwidth. It is particularly effective for environments that require:
High-speed connectivity for new compute clusters
Seamless integration with HDR, NDR, NDR200, and XDR400 InfiniBand systems
Robust networking to large-scale storage infrastructures
Overall, the Q3200 enables flexible, high-throughput fabrics while simplifying mixed-generation deployments.
Dual Independent Switch Architecture
Two independent 36-port switches in a single 2U enclosure
18 OSFP cages per switch, each supporting 2x 800G ports
36 × 800G ports per switch
Air-cooled design
AC power
Managed switch with NVOS support
Management Interface
Dedicated InfiniBand in-band management port (FNM port), for both internal switches
FNM port connectivity to UFM at NDR200 speed
Switch Radix Capability | ||
Speed | Max Ports per Switch | Max Ports per Q3200-RA |
XDR | 36 | 72 |
XDR400 (2 lanes) | 72 | 144 |
NDR | 36 | 72 |
NDR200 (2 lanes) | 72 | 144 |
HDR | 36 | 72 |
The diagram below illustrates a Q3200 deployed in the leaf layer, connecting upstream to the Q3400 spine and downstream to the compute layer via XDR400 or NDR links. The Q3200 connects to the Q3400 at XDR speed, while connections to the servers operate at XDR400 or NDR speeds. Each 1.6 Tb/s OSFP port on the Q3200 is split into four in cases of XDR400 (or NDR200) links to support server connectivity.
The following limitations apply to ports 17, 18, 35, and 36:
- Split mode is not supported.
- Linear Active Copper Cable (LACC) is not supported (OPNs: 980-9IAO6-00X001, 980-9IAO6-00X002, 980-9IAQ6-00X001, 980-9IAQ6-00X002).
For details on known issues, limitations, and recommended workarounds for Q3200 deployments, refer to the NVIDIA NVOS Release Notes available in the Enterprise Support Portal.