General Cooling Recommendations for Partner-Cooled SuperNICs
IMPORTANT NOTES:
This section applies to 900-9X81E-00EX-SL0 SuperNIC.
The customer holds exclusive responsibility for the thermal design and for ensuring all board components never exceed their designated thermal operating limits.
The recommendations provided in this section are based on NVIDIA reference thermal design. For further information, please refer to your NVIDIA representative.
If the customer's environment has low or no airflow (e.g., liquid cooling) where the SuperNIC is to be installed, the customer must ensure proper cooling for all the other board components that are not covered by the recommendations of this chapter or in the product's thermal model. The customer must guarantee those components do not exceed their thermal operating limits as well.
The partner-cooled thermal solution dimensions may exceed the PCIe size specifications.
Recommended torque values for the bracket screws: M2: 0.21-0.23 Nm. Use tool with Torx #5 bit drive.
Recommended torque values for the customer cooling solution interface: M2.5: 0.44~0.46 Nm.
It is the responsibility of the customer to ensure proper cooling and thermal regulation for all components on the board. The provided guidelines are minimal and are based on NVIDIA's reference thermal solution for partner-cooled solutions.
There are three components that require cooling, the assembled TTP (Areas A + B), the PCB (Area C) and networking port cage (Area D).
The maximum allowed force for NVIDIA's partner-cooled reference design is described below, per area. Different thermal pad placement and size may require different force values. Please contact NVIDIA support for further analysis.
Related Component | Area in Drawing | Maximum Allowed Force |
TTP | Area A | 65 Newtons |
Area B | 55 Newtons | |
PCB | Area C | 25 Newtons |
Networking Cage | Area D | The thermal grease the comes in contact with the networking cage thermal bridge. Recommended thermal grease for the cage's thermal bridge is DOWSIL TC-5622 0.1+-0.05 mm thickness. The customer partner-solution should protrude the OSFP thermal bridge by 0.2mm nominal. |
Thermal Pad minimum allowable conductivity is 2.5 W/mK (Lena/Michal)
Suggested Server Connectivity Interfaces
According to the customer design, the screws should be assembled from the customer cooling solution, through the standoffs on the ConnectX-8 SuperNIC (6 standoffs are available on the card).
The standoffs type is M2x0.4 thread and the maximum thread depth 2.0 mm.
To ensure proper SuperNIC connectivity to the server and TTP, the below figure displays the SuperNIC threads and holes and provides its size and tolerance.
Bracket Replacement Instructions
The ConnectX-8 Partner-Cooled SuperNIC and PCIe Auxiliary card are shipped with an assembled high-profile bracket. If this form factor is suitable for your requirements, you can skip the remainder of this section and move to Installation Instructions. If you need to replace the high-profile bracket with the short bracket that is included in the shipping box, please follow the instructions in this section.
During the bracket replacement procedure, do not pull, bend, or damage the EMI fingers cage. It is recommended to limit bracket replacements to three times.
To replace the bracket you will need the following parts:
The new brackets of the proper height
The 2 screws and 2 standoffs saved from the removal of the bracket
A customized jig. The jig design will be provided in a future version of this document.
Removing the Existing Bracket
Using a torque driver, remove the two screws and two standoffs holding the bracket in place.
Separate the bracket from the ConnectX-8 SuperNIC.
WarningBe careful not to put stress on the LEDs on the SuperNIC.
Save the three screws and two standoffs, as shown below.
Installing the New Bracket
Place the bracket onto the SuperNIC until the screw holes line up.
WarningDo not force the bracket onto the SuperNIC.
Screw on the bracket using the screws and standoffs saved from the bracket removal procedure above.
Use a torque driver to apply up torque on the screws and standoffs as described in the below.
