Hardware / NICs and DPUs / BlueField-3

NVIDIA BlueField-3 DPU and SuperNIC

A NIC with its own Arm cores. As a DPU it runs storage, security and tenant isolation off the host CPU; as a SuperNIC it is the host side of a Spectrum-X Ethernet fabric.

Max speed
400 Gb/s
Protocols
Ethernet or InfiniBand
Host interface
PCIe Gen 5 x16
Processor
16 Arm Cortex-A78 cores (DPU)
Ports
1 × 400G or 2 × 200G, by model

Where it fits in the cluster

Host CPUThis DPUOpticFront-end or storage switch

Compatible with

SWITCHSpectrum-4 SN5600ALTERNATIVEConnectX-7 (no Arm cores)

Common pitfalls

  • DPU and SuperNIC are different SKUs. Order the one that matches the role: front-end and storage, or GPU compute fabric.
  • The DPU runs its own OS and firmware, so plan who patches it.

Building with BlueField-3?

Send us the cluster spec. We source the full bill of materials, and can finance it.

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Specs from vendor datasheets. Confirm configuration with your supplier before ordering.