What is the main difference between ConnectX 4 and ConnectX 5Ex?
My systems require 2x100G QSFP28 ports to support 100GBase-CR4 DAC.
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What will be the suitable PCIe card to use? ConnectX 4 or 5Ex?
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Can connectx 4 and 5Ex supports 4x25G mode?
Hello Bala,
Thank you for posting your inquiry on the NVIDIA Networking Community.
Both adapters support 100GBase-CR DAC. Please review the supported and tested cables through the following links:
- ConnectX-4 → https://docs.mellanox.com/display/ConnectX4Firmwarev12282006/Firmware+Compatible+Products
- ConnectX-5 → https://docs.mellanox.com/display/ConnectX5Firmwarev16311014/Firmware+Compatible+Products
The adapter which will give you the highest performance, that is the ConnectX-5 Ex as it is PCIe 4.0 x16. The ConnectX-4 is only available in PCIe 3.0 x16
The following link will provide the PB for the adapters in question:
- ConnectX-4 → https://mellanox.com/files/doc-2020/pb-connectx-4-en-card.pdf
- ConnectX-5 → https://www.mellanox.com/files/doc-2020/pb-connectx-5-en-card.pdf
Our adapters do not support the feature to split the port into 4x25GbE is this is only available on our switches.
Thank you and regards,
~NVIDIA Networking Technical Support
Thanks for your response. Hope connectX-5 adapter will support the feature or accept 4x25GbE that comes from switch or MAC. I assume within one of 100G port at connect x5 adapter side can operate all 4 RF channels(high speed data) independently or 100G as a whole?
Refer drawing below. Kindly let me know.
