900-9X5AZ-0053-0T3 Nvidia ConnectX-5 EN 25GBE SFP28 PCIE Gen 3.0 Network Card

Nvidia 900-9X5AZ-0053-0T3 ConnectX-5 25GBE Network Card

The Nvidia 900-9X5AZ-0053-0T3 ConnectX-5 EN Network Interface Card is a high-performance dual-port adapter designed for enterprise-grade networking. With 25GbE SFP28 connectivity and PCIe Gen 3.0 x8 support, this NIC ensures reliable, fast, and secure data transmission for modern data centers.

General Details

• Model Number: 900-9X5AZ-0053-0T3
• Category: Network Adapter

Technical Specifications

Form Factor

• Plug-in Card with Tall Bracket

Interface Details

• Bus Type: PCI Express 3.0 x8
• PCIe Specification Revision: PCIe 3.0

Port Configuration

• Dual 25GbE SFP28 Ports

Networking Capabilities

Connectivity

• Technology: Wired
• Protocols Supported: GigE, 10 GigE, 25 Gigabit LAN
• Data Transfer Rate: Up to 25Gbps

Transport Protocols

• TCP/IP
• UDP/IP
• iSCSI

Expansion & Connectivity

Additional Port

• 1 x 25Gb Ethernet SFP28

High-Performance Ethernet Network Interface Card Overview

The NVIDIA ConnectX-5 EN 25GBE Dual-port SFP28 PCI Express Gen 3.0 x8 Network Interface Card category represents a critical segment of enterprise and data center networking infrastructure. This category is engineered to deliver high-throughput, low-latency Ethernet connectivity for modern servers that support demanding workloads such as cloud computing, virtualization, software-defined networking, high-performance computing, storage acceleration, and large-scale enterprise applications. Network interface cards in this class are designed to function as intelligent data movement engines, offloading networking tasks from the CPU while ensuring consistent, predictable performance under sustained load.

ConnectX-5 EN adapters are positioned within the advanced Ethernet NIC subcategory that focuses on 25 Gigabit Ethernet connectivity, which has become a preferred balance point between performance, cost efficiency, and power consumption in contemporary data centers. This category bridges the gap between legacy 10GbE solutions and higher-cost 40GbE or 100GbE deployments, offering scalable bandwidth that aligns with evolving server and application requirements.

25 Gigabit Ethernet in Enterprise Networking Evolution

The 25GbE networking category emerged as a natural evolution from 10GbE, providing 2.5 times the bandwidth while maintaining similar physical infrastructure requirements. Network interface cards such as the NVIDIA ConnectX-5 EN leverage SFP28 transceiver technology, allowing organizations to reuse existing fiber cabling while significantly increasing network throughput. This makes the category highly attractive for data centers seeking incremental upgrades without extensive rewiring or infrastructure overhauls.

25GbE NICs are particularly well suited for leaf-spine network architectures, where high port density and balanced bandwidth distribution are essential. By deploying dual-port 25GbE adapters, servers can achieve redundant connectivity, improved fault tolerance, and enhanced aggregate bandwidth, supporting east-west traffic patterns common in virtualized and cloud-native environments.

Dual-Port Architecture and Network Redundancy

The dual-port design featured in this category enables simultaneous connections to separate network switches or fabrics, enhancing availability and resilience. This architectural approach supports link aggregation, failover configurations, and load balancing, which are fundamental requirements in enterprise networking strategies. Dual-port 25GbE NICs provide flexibility in network design, allowing administrators to tailor connectivity models to specific performance, redundancy, or security objectives.

In environments where uptime is mission-critical, dual-port network interface cards reduce the risk of single points of failure. If one network path experiences degradation or outage, traffic can be seamlessly rerouted through the secondary port, maintaining service continuity and minimizing operational disruptions.

PCI Express Gen 3.0 Interface and System Integration

This category of network interface cards utilizes the PCI Express Gen 3.0 x8 host interface, delivering ample bandwidth to support full line-rate performance across both 25GbE ports. PCIe Gen 3.0 provides a balanced combination of throughput, compatibility, and power efficiency, making it a widely supported standard across enterprise server platforms. The x8 lane configuration ensures that the NIC can handle high packet rates and sustained data transfers without becoming a bottleneck.

Integration with modern server architectures is a defining characteristic of this category. PCIe Gen 3.0 NICs are compatible with a broad range of Intel Xeon and AMD EPYC platforms, ensuring seamless deployment across diverse hardware environments. This compatibility simplifies procurement and deployment processes for organizations managing heterogeneous server fleets.

Low-Latency Data Path and CPU Offloading

ConnectX-5 EN adapters within this category are designed to minimize latency by optimizing the data path between the network and system memory. Advanced features such as receive side scaling, interrupt moderation, and adaptive routing contribute to reduced packet processing overhead. By offloading networking tasks from the CPU, these NICs free up compute resources for application workloads, improving overall system efficiency.

Low-latency networking is especially critical for applications such as financial trading, real-time analytics, distributed databases, and microservices architectures. In these scenarios, even microsecond-level latency improvements can translate into measurable performance gains and competitive advantages.

Direct Memory Access and Throughput Optimization

High-performance network interface cards in this category leverage direct memory access mechanisms to move data efficiently between the NIC and system memory. This reduces CPU intervention and accelerates packet processing, enabling higher throughput with lower power consumption. The result is a networking solution that scales effectively as workloads increase in complexity and volume.

Throughput optimization features are complemented by intelligent buffering and flow control mechanisms that maintain performance consistency under variable traffic conditions. These capabilities are essential in multi-tenant environments where network traffic patterns can fluctuate rapidly.

Advanced Ethernet Features and Protocol

The NVIDIA ConnectX-5 EN 25GBE NIC category supports a comprehensive set of Ethernet features and protocols that enhance network performance, reliability, and manageability. These adapters are engineered to comply with industry standards while incorporating advanced capabilities that support modern networking paradigms such as software-defined networking and network function virtualization.

Support for virtualization-aware networking enables efficient traffic isolation and prioritization in environments running hypervisors and container platforms. By integrating seamlessly with virtualization stacks, these NICs help ensure predictable network performance for virtual machines and containers sharing the same physical host.

SR-IOV and Virtualization Acceleration

Single Root I/O Virtualization support is a cornerstone feature of this category, allowing a single physical NIC to present multiple virtual functions to the system. This enables direct assignment of network resources to virtual machines, reducing latency and overhead associated with software-based network switching. SR-IOV-capable NICs improve network performance consistency and scalability in virtualized environments.

In cloud and enterprise virtualization deployments, SR-IOV enhances tenant isolation and security while maintaining high throughput. This makes dual-port 25GbE NICs particularly valuable in private cloud, hybrid cloud, and service provider data centers.

RDMA over Converged Ethernet Capabilities

Many network interface cards in this category support RDMA over Converged Ethernet, enabling low-latency, high-throughput data transfers directly between application memory spaces across the network. RDMA capabilities are instrumental in accelerating storage, database replication, and high-performance computing workloads by bypassing traditional networking stacks.

By enabling RDMA, ConnectX-5 EN adapters reduce CPU utilization and improve application responsiveness. This is especially beneficial in clustered environments where nodes frequently exchange large volumes of data.

Mechanical Design and Form Factor Considerations

The physical design of network interface cards in this category adheres to standard add-in card dimensions, ensuring compatibility with a wide range of server chassis. The tall bracket form factor allows installation in full-height PCIe slots commonly found in enterprise servers, providing mechanical stability and optimal airflow.

Attention to mechanical design extends beyond form factor to include connector placement, heat dissipation, and component layout. These considerations contribute to reliable operation under sustained workloads and varying thermal conditions.

Thermal Management and Power Efficiency

25GbE NICs are designed to operate efficiently within the thermal envelopes of modern data centers. Advanced silicon manufacturing processes and power management features help reduce heat generation while maintaining high performance. Effective thermal management ensures that the NIC can sustain line-rate performance without throttling.

Power efficiency is a critical metric in large-scale deployments, where incremental savings per server can translate into substantial reductions in operational costs. Network interface cards in this category strike a balance between performance and power consumption, supporting energy-efficient data center designs.

Signal Integrity and SFP28 Connectivity

The use of SFP28 ports allows for flexible connectivity options, including short-range and long-range optical transceivers as well as direct attach copper cables. This flexibility enables organizations to tailor network connections to specific distance and performance requirements. High signal integrity ensures reliable data transmission at 25GbE speeds, even in dense networking environments.

SFP28 connectivity also supports hot-swappable transceivers, simplifying maintenance and enabling rapid reconfiguration of network links as infrastructure evolves.

Enterprise Use Cases and Deployment Scenarios

The category encompassing NVIDIA ConnectX-5 EN dual-port 25GbE network interface cards is widely adopted across diverse enterprise and data center use cases. In cloud computing environments, these NICs provide the bandwidth and reliability required to support multi-tenant workloads and dynamic resource allocation. High-speed Ethernet connectivity ensures that compute, storage, and networking resources operate in harmony.

In enterprise data centers, 25GbE NICs are often deployed to modernize network backbones, replacing older 10GbE solutions while maintaining compatibility with existing infrastructure. This approach enables incremental performance improvements without disruptive overhauls.

High-Performance Computing and Data Analytics

High-performance computing clusters rely on fast, low-latency interconnects to synchronize computations and exchange data between nodes. Network interface cards in this category support the bandwidth and latency requirements of parallel computing workloads, enabling efficient scaling of HPC applications.

Data analytics platforms processing large datasets benefit from improved network throughput, which reduces data movement bottlenecks and accelerates job completion times. Reliable 25GbE connectivity ensures consistent performance across distributed processing frameworks.

Storage Networking and Software-Defined Storage

Modern storage architectures increasingly rely on Ethernet-based networking to deliver scalable, high-performance storage services. Network interface cards in this category support storage protocols that benefit from high bandwidth and low latency, enabling faster data access and improved I/O performance.

In software-defined storage deployments, 25GbE NICs facilitate efficient communication between storage nodes, supporting data replication, erasure coding, and distributed caching mechanisms.