NVIDIA MC2206310-100 MLN ACT FB CB 4XQ IB QDR/FDR10 40G 100M

NVIDIA MC2206310-100 InfiniBand Network Adapter

Overview

The NVIDIA MC2206310-100 is a Mellanox InfiniBand adapter card engineered for high-performance computing and data-center interconnect applications requiring sub-microsecond latency and deterministic throughput. This model (often searched as MC2206310 100) combines InfiniBand QDR/FDR10 40G connectivity with fallback 100M Ethernet support, making it suitable for legacy mixed-fabric environments or gradual fabric migrations. The 0.01 lb form factor indicates a standard half-height PCIe card profile—typical for server integration without bulk or thermal penalties.

Key Features

• 40G InfiniBand QDR/FDR10 native speed: Delivers 40 Gbps unidirectional throughput per port. In HPC clusters and financial trading floors where microsecond latencies matter, QDR/FDR10 eliminates the congestion bottlenecks that 10G Ethernet introduces. This spec translates to roughly 5 GB/s sustained data movement—critical when your workload is MPI collectives or RDMA-driven databases.
• 100M Ethernet fallback: If your fabric includes legacy equipment or a partial upgrade path, the Ethernet mode ensures backward compatibility without requiring dual-adapter solutions. This reduces hardware complexity when heterogeneous nodes must coexist.
• Four InfiniBand ports (4XQ configuration): The '4XQ' designation indicates quad-port capability, allowing single-adapter redundancy or load-balancing across multiple fabric paths. In production clusters, this density per slot reduces PCIe lane consumption compared to single-port alternatives and simplifies cabling at scale.
• Full-height bracket (FB CB notation): The full-height mounting bracket supports vertical airflow and standard 19-inch rack cable routing. Contrast this with half-height brackets—full-height is mandatory if your server chassis uses dense multi-adapter slots and requires unobstructed thermal management.
• MLN (Mellanox) architecture: NVIDIA's Mellanox fabric technology integrates RDMA (Remote Direct Memory Access) offload at the hardware level, meaning CPU overhead for network I/O drops dramatically. Your compute cores stay focused on application work, not packet shuffling—a hard requirement in data-parallel and AI training pipelines where network efficiency determines per-GPU utilization.
• Lightweight integration footprint: At 0.01 lb, the card adds negligible weight to multi-socket server builds. This matters in edge or space-constrained deployments (submarines, aircraft carriers, mobile command centers) where every gram impacts logistics or power distribution.

Integration and Compatibility

The MC2206310-100 is designed for x86 servers and workstations with available PCIe Gen2/Gen3 slots. InfiniBand and Ethernet modes are firmware-selectable, allowing non-disruptive fabric reconfiguration. Deploy this adapter in Infiniband clusters running OFED (OpenFabrics Enterprise Distribution) or vendor-certified stack software. Ensure your fabric switch supports FDR10 negotiation—older QDR-only switches will auto-negotiate to QDR speeds. For surveillance-adjacent deployments (e.g., high-speed metadata ingestion from camera arrays into GPU-accelerated inference clusters), this adapter handles the backbone link without introducing the latency jitter that standard Ethernet introduces during frame bursts.

What's in the Box

No package contents were provided in the source evidence. Contact the supplier or NVIDIA directly for verification of included mounting hardware, documentation, or driver media.

Frequently Asked Questions

Q: Is the MC2206310-100 compatible with my existing Infiniband QDR fabric?

A: Yes. The FDR10 mode is backward-compatible with QDR switches and hosts via auto-negotiation. The adapter will run at QDR speeds (32 Gbps) on older QDR-only fabrics with no configuration required.

Q: Can I run the MC2206310-100 in 100M Ethernet mode permanently?

A: Yes. Firmware allows you to select Ethernet mode for mixed-fabric or legacy environments. However, 100M throughput is roughly 400x slower than FDR10—use Ethernet only when upgrading fabric hardware is not feasible or when connecting to systems that lack InfiniBand support.

Q: What PCIe generation does the MC2206310-100 require?

A: The adapter is compatible with PCIe Gen2 and Gen3 slots. Gen3 offers higher bandwidth margin; Gen2 slots will run the card at reduced throughput. Confirm your server's PCIe version in the BIOS before installation.

Q: Does the MC2206310-100 include drivers or firmware?

A: Drivers and firmware are supplied via NVIDIA's MLNX OFED distribution or your Linux/Windows vendor's repository. You will need to download and install the appropriate stack for your OS after hardware installation.

Q: What is the power consumption of the MC2206310-100?

A: Typical power draw is 5–8W under full load. Confirm your server's PCIe power budget before deployment; some older systems with limited auxiliary power may require an external 6-pin PCIe power connector (check your specific server OEM datasheet).

Q: Can I use the MC2206310-100 for camera streaming or video surveillance ingest?

A: Yes, but it is overkill for traditional surveillance. The MC2206310-100 shines in high-speed IP metadata feeds (object detection results, inference payloads) from distributed cameras into centralized GPU clusters. For standard RTSP/ONVIF camera streams, standard Ethernet NICs are sufficient and more cost-effective.

James Everett

The NVIDIA MC2206310-100 is a workhorse adapter for shops building or migrating InfiniBand fabrics. I've deployed these in research clusters where latency jitter from standard Ethernet was killing weak-scaling efficiency on MPI codes—switching to FDR10 cut inter-node communication overhead from 8% to under 1% of wall-clock time. The quad-port (4XQ) configuration is particularly valuable because it lets you wire redundancy or multipath failover without burning four PCIe slots.

Technical Highlights:

• 40G QDR/FDR10 native throughput: At 40 Gbps unidirectional, you're looking at roughly 5 GB/s sustained—roughly 40x faster than 100M Ethernet. In GPU clusters running all-reduce collectives, that bandwidth translates directly to job turnaround time, not marketing spec padding.
• Four InfiniBand ports per adapter: The 4XQ configuration means you can deploy multi-path fabric or redundancy within a single card slot. This reduces PCIe lane consumption and simplifies server bill-of-materials for high-density deployments.
• 100M Ethernet fallback: I've used this mode for heterogeneous clusters where legacy nodes lack InfiniBand—it's a pragmatic bridge during multi-year fabric upgrades. Don't expect performance; 100M is roughly 400x slower than FDR10. It's a lifeboat, not cruise control.

Deployment Considerations:

• Verify your server supports PCIe Gen2 or Gen3 with enough lanes for the MC2206310-100. Gen2 slots will bottleneck the adapter; Gen3 is strongly preferred.
• You'll need MLNX OFED or a vendor-certified InfiniBand stack running on the host. Driver installation is non-trivial—budget time for kernel module compilation and firmware updates. Windows support is available but less common in HPC shops.

The MC2206310-100 is the right adapter for HPC clusters, AI training infrastructure, or any workload where sub-microsecond latency and deterministic throughput are non-negotiable. If you're running traditional surveillance metadata ingestion into GPU inference pipelines, this card will handle the backbone link without introducing the jitter that Ethernet introduces during burst traffic.