Cisco UCSX-GPUA100-80-D | NVIDIA A100 80GB HBM2e GPU, 300W, PCIe Gen4, MIG

Q: What servers is this GPU compatible with?
A: The UCSX-GPUA100-80-D is designed for Cisco UCS X-Series modular systems, specifically the UCS X440p PCIe Node with M7 servers. It installs in Riser 1A or Riser 2A (Gen4) slots and requires PCIe Gen4 x16 support. Each server can support up to two of these GPUs depending on configuration.

Q: What is Multi-Instance GPU (MIG) and how does it work?
A: MIG technology allows the A100 80GB to be partitioned into up to seven independent GPU instances, each with dedicated compute, memory (10GB per instance), and cache resources. This enables multiple users or workloads to share a single GPU simultaneously while maintaining hardware-level isolation, maximizing utilization in multi-tenant AI and inference environments.

Q: What cooling requirements does this GPU have?
A: This is a passive (fanless) GPU that relies entirely on system airflow for cooling. It requires deployment in a data center server chassis with adequate forced-air cooling to operate within its 300W TDP thermal envelope. It is not suitable for standard workstations or systems with insufficient airflow.

Q: Can I connect multiple A100 GPUs together?
A: Yes. Up to two A100 80GB PCIe GPUs can be connected using three NVIDIA NVLink Bridges (sold separately) to deliver 600 GB/s bi-directional bandwidth between GPUs—10x faster than PCIe Gen4 alone. This configuration is ideal for large-scale AI training and HPC workloads requiring multi-GPU parallelism.

Q: What workloads is the A100 80GB optimized for?
A: The A100 80GB excels at AI model training and inference, deep learning, natural language processing, recommendation systems, HPC simulations, computational fluid dynamics, molecular dynamics, and scientific computing. Its large 80GB memory capacity handles massive models and datasets, while Tensor Core acceleration dramatically speeds FP16, TF32, and mixed-precision workloads.