Genuine IBM System x High-Performance Dual-Port 10Gb Ethernet Server Card
IBM Option P/N: 81Y9993 | IBM Fru P/N: 81Y9994 | Model: ConnectX-2 EN
The IBM Mellanox ConnectX-2 10GbE Adapter (81Y9993 / 81Y9994) is a highly reliable, dual-port 10 Gigabit Ethernet network interface card (NIC) engineered for enterprise-tier servers and high-bandwidth homelab environments. Operating over a stable PCIe 2.0 x8 hardware interface, this adapter features two SFP+ ports designed for low-latency network connections via direct attach copper (DAC) cables or SFP+ optical transceivers. Equipped with advanced hardware offloading engines, it significantly reduces host CPU overhead, making it an excellent choice for virtualization, high-speed network attached storage (NAS), and cluster computing frameworks.
📊 Technical Specifications
Port Configuration: 📈 Dual-Port SFP+ (Small Form-Factor Pluggable Plus)
Interface (Bus) Type: ⚡ PCI Express 2.0 x8 (Compatible with PCIe x8 and x16 physical slots)
Data Rate: 🏎️ 10 Gbps per port (10 Gigabit Ethernet line rate)
Cabling Support: 🔌 SFP+ Direct Attach Copper (DAC) twinaxial cables or SFP+ fiber optic transceivers
Hardware Offloads: 🧠 TCP/UDP/IP checksum offloads, Large Send Offload (LSO), Receive Side Scaling (RSS)
Protocol Support: RoCE (RDMA over Converged Ethernet), IEEE 802.3ae 10GBASE-SR/LR, Advanced QoS
✅ Product Overview
IBM Certified Infrastructure Pull: Sourced directly from original production lines for IBM System x servers. It carries authentic IBM tracking identifiers, guaranteeing seamless out-of-the-box driver handshake initialization and clean cross-platform server stability.
Efficient Hardware Offloading: Features Mellanox's specialized stateless offloading architecture. By handling transport-layer processing protocols directly on the NIC, it prevents network traffic bottlenecks and keeps the main system CPU free for critical computing apps.
Homelab & Open-Source Favorite: Highly sought after by tech enthusiasts and IT lab builders due to its wide native driver support across open-source operating systems like TrueNAS Core/Scale, unRAID, Proxmox VE, VMware ESXi, and various Linux/Windows server distributions.
Dual-Port SFP+ Flexibility: The dual-bay configuration allows for link aggregation (teaming) to achieve up to 20Gbps of theoretical combined bandwidth, or setting up dedicated independent lines for data replication and isolated management paths.
📦 Compatibility & Use Case
Target Infrastructures:
Ideal Workloads:
🛠️ Installation & Seller Listing Note
⚠️ Bracket Profile Reflection: This card can be mounted with either a standard Full-Height (FH) bracket or a Low-Profile (LP) short bracket. Be sure to explicitly verify and mention in your listing description which metal bracket is physically attached to your unit, as it determines physical compatibility with different server chassis styles.
💡 Strategic SEO Tagging: The hardware tag prominently references both the primary IBM Option P/N: 81Y9993 and the field technician replacement IBM FRU P/N: 81Y9994. Including both serial strings within your listing specifics captures the attention of both enterprise buyers and IT repair agents seeking exact-match replacement network hardware.
The IBM Mellanox ConnectX-2 Dual-Port 10GbE Card provides a reliable, high-speed networking interface and excellent processor offloading to anchor enterprise and custom home server environments.
