NVIDIA Quantum CS8500
The NVIDIA Quantum CS8500 is a modular Director chassis switch delivering up to 800 ports of 200 Gb/s HDR InfiniBand QSFP56 (or 1,600 ports of 100 Gb/s HDR100). Providing up to 320 Tbps of full-duplex non-blocking throughput with SHARPv2 acceleration, the CS8500 anchors tier-1 national supercomputing systems and hyperscale AI training clusters, providing massive single-chassis fabric consolidation and carrier-grade hardware modularity.
Specifications
| Brand | NVIDIA |
|---|---|
| Family | Quantum |
| Form factor | modular chassis |
| Released | Jun 2019 |
| Ports | Up to 800x 200 Gb/s HDR InfiniBand QSFP56 ports (or 1,600x HDR100 ports) |
| Switching capacity | Up to 320 Tbps aggregate non-blocking switching throughput |
| Form factor | 29U modular Director chassis with high-volume cooling architecture |
| Features | NVIDIA SHARPv2 collective communication acceleration and adaptive routing |
| Redundancy | N+N power supply redundancy, hot-swappable fabric modules, and dual redundant controllers |
Generations
- Previous generation: NVIDIA Quantum CS7500
Compatible parts
Cables
MCP1600-E003E30 NVIDIA 100GbE QSFP28 Direct Attach Copper Cable 3m
MCP1650-H003E30 NVIDIA HDR 200Gb/s QSFP56 Direct Attach Copper Cable 3m
MFS1S00-H003E NVIDIA Mellanox 200Gb/s HDR QSFP56 Active Optical Cable 3m
Transceivers
MMA1T00-HS NVIDIA HDR 200Gb/s QSFP56 MPO Optical Transceiver
Works together
How the NVIDIA Quantum CS8500 connects to servers, storage and the network: 1 way, with the parts and products on each path.
GPU cluster fabric
InfiniBand adapters and switches must match the generation: HDR is 200Gb, NDR is 400Gb. VPI adapters such as ConnectX-6 and ConnectX-7 can run either InfiniBand or Ethernet.
Servers
NVIDIA DGX H100 8U rackmount
HPE Apollo 6500 Gen10 Plus 4U rack
Lenovo ThinkSystem SD650-N V2 dense node
Supermicro GPU SuperServer 8U HGX AI SuperServer 8U rack
Dell PowerEdge XE2420 2U rack
Dell PowerEdge XE7100 4U rack
GPUs
NVIDIA Data Center GPU A100 SXM4 80GB SXM4 module
NVIDIA Data Center GPU A40 PCIe 4.0 dual-slot full-height full-length
NVIDIA Data Center GPU T4 PCIe low-profile half-height half-length
NVIDIA Data Center GPU Tesla V100 SXM2 32GB SXM2 module
Adapters for the server
MCX556A-ECAT NVIDIA ConnectX-5 VPI Dual-Port 100Gb/s EDR InfiniBand and 100GbE QSFP28 PCIe 3.0 x16 Adapter
MCX75310AAS-NEAT NVIDIA ConnectX-7 Single-Port 400Gb/s NDR InfiniBand and 400GbE OSFP PCIe 5.0 x16 Adapter
MCX755106AS-HEAT NVIDIA ConnectX-7 Dual-Port 200Gb/s NDR200 InfiniBand and 200GbE QSFP112 PCIe 5.0 x16 Adapter
540-BCVE Dell NVIDIA Mellanox ConnectX-6 VPI Single Port 200Gb/s HDR InfiniBand / 200GbE PCIe Adapter
Plan and size it
- Draw this setup in the topology planner mrplanb.com
- Tokens per kWh calculator for GPU racks rack-density.com
- Add up rack power and space rack-density.com
- Power, cooling and racks for dense GPU servers mrplanb.com
- Network monitoring tools compared mrplanb.com
Check compatibility with NVIDIA
Before you buy, confirm the exact configuration against the vendor's own lists: firmware levels, operating systems, adapters and optics that NVIDIA has tested with the NVIDIA Quantum CS8500.
- Compatibility NVIDIA Qualified System Catalog (certified GPU servers)
- Specifications NVIDIA Networking documentation (adapters, switches, cables)
- Support NVIDIA Enterprise Support
FAQ
What is the maximum port count in a single CS8500 chassis?
It supports up to 800 wire-speed 200 Gb/s HDR ports or 1,600 HDR100 ports using splitters.
How does the CS8500 simplify large cluster cabling?
Consolidating 800 ports in one chassis eliminates external spine-layer switches and hundreds of inter-switch optical cables.
Buying or selling CS8500?
New, refurbished or used. Tell us the quantity and condition and we connect you with a vetted reseller in your region, usually within one working day.
Sources
- NVIDIA CS8500 Product Overview, checked 2026-10-27
- NVIDIA CS8500 Datasheet, checked 2026-10-27