Myricom 10G-PCIE-8B-QP NIC Specifications

Product photo Product Codes:
• 10G-PCIE-8B-QP: NIC with a standard PCI faceplate
• 10G-PCIE-8BL-QP: NIC with a low-profile PCI faceplate

Key Features:
• Low-profile PCI Express x8 add-in card
• Dual-protocol network port, 10-Gigabit Ethernet or 10-Gigabit Myrinet
• Wire-speed performance
• 3.3 Watts typical when used with 10G-QC passive copper cables
• Preferred one-port NIC for HPC applications with the MX-10G software distribution

About Myri-10G QP ports: Although the Myri-10G "QP" Physical layer (PHY) can be used for 10-Gigabit Ethernet applications, QP ports are generally used for HPC applications with MX software and Myrinet network protocols. A QP port uses an industry-standard QSFP (Quad Small Form-factor Pluggable) socket with XAUI signaling per IEEE 802.3ae, electrical power, and the standard QSFP management interface. The advantages of QP ports are low cost, low latency, low power, and the flexibility of being able to use either low-cost, passive, copper cables (10G-QC-xM) up to 5m or Electrical-Optical-Electrical (EOE) fiber cables (10G-QP-xM) up to 200m. (See this Guide to Myri-10G PHYs (pdf).)

High Performance, Low Power: At SC08, the Indiana University and Technische Universität Dresden team used 10G-PCIE-8B-QP NICs along with a Myri-10G switch with QP ports in an IBM iDataPlex system to win first place in the SC08 Cluster Challenge. The rules of this competition were to achieve the highest cluster performance across a set of benchmarks and applications within a limited power budget.

For even higher performance: See the 10G-PCIE2-8B2-2QP NIC, which has a "Gen 2" (5 GT/s) PCI Express x8 host port and two QP ports for up to nearly 20 Gb/s aggregate unidirectional throughput, or nearly 40 Gb/s aggregate bidirectional performance.

Specifications:

Myri-10G network port: QSFP (Quad Small Form factor Pluggable) socket for QSFP-terminated passive copper cables, QSFP-terminated EOE cables, or QSFP transceivers, 10+10 Gbit/s data rate, full-duplex. The QSFP socket provides XAUI signaling per IEEE 802.3ae, electrical power, and the standard QSFP management interface. The port can operate with either Ethernet or Myrinet protocols at the Data Link layer. When operating in Ethernet mode, the port supports Ethernet flow control as defined by IEEE 802.3x. When operating in Myrinet mode, the fiber link is limited to 200m by Myrinet flow control. (See this Guide to Myri-10G PHYs (pdf).)

Laser Safety: When used with QSFP transceivers, this is a Class 1M Laser Product. Do not view optical-fiber ports directly with optical instruments.

Myri-10G network ports (2): 10GBase-CX4, 10+10 Gbit/s data rate, full-duplex. The ports are fully compliant with the IEEE 802.3ak specifications for the 10GBase-CX4 10-Gigabit Ethernet Physical layer (PHY), and can operate with either Ethernet or Myrinet protocols at the Data Link layer. When operating in Ethernet mode, the ports support Ethernet flow control as defined by IEEE 802.3x. The ports may be connected with standard 10GBase-CX4 cables up to 15m in length. (See this Guide to Myri-10G PHYs (pdf).)

PCI Express host port: This NIC is an x8 (8 lane) PCI Express Add-in Card. It is capable of exchanging data with a host computer at up to 2 GBytes/s (250 MBytes/s per lane) data rate in each direction, full-duplex. This NIC is fully compliant with the PCI Express Card Electromechanical Specification Rev. 2.0, and with the PCI Express Base Specification Rev. 2.0 (2.5 GT/s only). The circuit-board edge connector of the NIC will fit mechanically in x8 or x16 physical slots in host computers. The NIC auto-negotiates operation in the widest available mode (x8, x4, x2, or x1) supported by the slot it is plugged into.

Optional PCI Express capabilities supported: Advanced Error Reporting, Function-Level Reset, Device Serial Number, up to 16 outstanding read requests, up to 4KB MaxPayloadSize for all packet types, MSI and MSI/X, SMBus access.

Optional PCI Express capabilities to be supported in upcoming firmware releases: Address Translation Services, Single Root I/O Virtualization and Sharing, Alternative Routing-ID Interpretation.

These NICs have been tested and qualified in many commercially available motherboards and with all of the common PCI Express chip sets. See this tabulation for the test results with different "Gen1" (2.5 GT/s) PCI Express chip sets. These NICs have also been tested in "Gen2" PCI Express slots, in which the NIC auto-negotiates operation at "Gen1" PCI Express data rates.

NIC processor and memory: The NIC is based on a Myricom custom-VLSI chip, the Lanai Z8ES, which includes a programmable RISC, a set of packet engines, and 2MB of fast SRAM. The RISC, packet engines, and SRAM inside the Lanai-Z8ES chip operate at a clock rate of 364.6MHz. Byte parity is generated and checked on all on-chip memories.

EEPROM: 1MB, which includes the firmware required for PCI device initialization and an Etherboot (UEFI- and PXE-compatible) driver. The driver loads the matching firmware as required by the mode in which the NIC is operating. The EEPROM can be re-programmed in-place by the Lanai Z8ES.

LEDs (2): The yellow LED on the PCI faceplate is controlled by the Lanai firmware; its interpretation is different for different firmware. There is also a green LED for the port: off indicates that the link is down, on indicates that the link is up, and blinking indicates traffic.

Physical characteristics: The circuit board is a low-profile add-in card as defined in the PCI Express Card Electromechanical Specification Rev. 2.0: height 68.9mm (exclusive of the PCI faceplate), length 124.5mm (exclusive of the PCI faceplate), total thickness 22mm, weight 58g (0.128 pound) including the standard PCI faceplate. The NIC can be supplied with either a standard PCI faceplate (10G-PCIE-8B-QP) or a low-profile PCI faceplate (10G-PCIE-8BL-QP).

Power: Under conditions of maximal bidirectional traffic between the network port and host, the NIC consumes 3.3W typical, 3.5W maximum, plus any power supplied at the QSFP socket. Myricom 10G-QC-xM copper cables do not consume power from the QSFP socket. Myricom 10G-QP-xM EOE cables consume 1W typical for each cable end.

Power details: The NIC is powered from 3.3V from the PCI Express port. The 3.3V current with maximal bidirectional traffic is 1.0A (3.3W) typical, 1.06A (3.5W) maximum, plus the power used in the QP port by a QSFP transceiver or EOE cable end. The maximum power available at the QSFP socket is 3.5W.

Environmental: Operating: Temperature 0C to 55C up to 10,000 foot altitude with 100LFM minimum airflow. Relative humidity 15% to 80% @ 50C, non-condensing. Storage: Temperature -40C to 70C. Relative humidity 90% @ 65C.

Regulatory Approvals: Fully compliant with EN55024 (1998 w/A1: 2001 & A2: 2003), EN55022 (1998) Class A, AS/NZS 3548 (1005 W/A1 & A2: 97) Class A, CISPR 22 (1997) Class A, FCC Part 15 Subpart B Section 15.109 Class A, VCCI (April 2000) Class A, & ICES-003 Class A (ANSI C63.4 1992). See the Index of Myri-10G Regulatory Reports.

Reduction of Hazardous Substances: These NICs are RoHS-compliant under the server exemption.

Myricom-supported software: These NICs may use the included (bundled) Myri10GE software for 10-Gigabit Ethernet operation, or optional software distributions including MX-10G, Video Pump, Sniffer10G, or DBL. This software is distributed from the Myricom Software & Customer Support page.