Overview

This chapter contains the following topics:

Server Overview

The Cisco UCS C880A M8 Rack Server is a dense GPU server designed to deliver scalable accelerated compute capabilities to address the most demanding AI workloads, including deep learning/Large Language Model (LLM) training, model fine-tuning, large model inferencing, and Retrieval-Augmented Generation (RAG).

The Cisco UCS C880A M8 Rack Server offers 8 NVIDIA HGX B300 Tensor Core GPUs to deliver massive, accelerated compute performance in a single server, as well as one NVIDIA ConnectX-8 SuperNIC per GPU to scale AI model training across a cluster of dense-GPU servers.

The server is offered in fixed configurations with resources optimized for intensive AI and HPC workloads.

External Features

This topic shows the external features of the different configurations of the server.

The server contains modular groups of components that are arranged into the following trays.

  • Fan and Storage Locations

  • Redundant PSU Locations

Fan and Storage Locations

The server contains the following:

  • 20 fans for proper cooling.

  • 8 X E1.S NVMe SSDs for storage.

Figure 1. Fan and Storage Locations

Redundant PSU Locations

The system includes twelve power supply units (PSU) configured for 54V 6+6 redundancy 80 PLUS Titanium Efficiency.

Figure 2. Redundant PSU Locations

Server Components

The server has the following main components.

Figure 3. Server Components
Table 1. Server Components

Item

Description

1

CPU Tray Module

2

Bezel

3

GPU Tray Module

4

Power Supply Units

5

Main Chassis

6

AC in Module

7

System Fans (20)

Server Front Panel

The server has the following hardware features on the front panel.

Figure 4. Server Front Panel
Table 2. Server Front Panel Details

Item

Description

1

Power Supply Units

2

GPU Tray

3

CPU Tray

Server Rear Panel

The server has the following hardware features on the rear panel.

Figure 5. System Rear Panel
Table 3. Server Front Panel Details

Item

Description

1

AC inlet power supply units (AC PSUs), 12

2

System Fans, 16

DC-SCM Module

The server DC-SCM Module has the following features:

Figure 6. DC-SCM Module
Table 4. DC-SCM Module Details

Item

Description

1

Power Button

2

ID Button

3

Reset Button

4

Micro-USB Debug Port

5

1GbE RJ-45 Host baseboard management controller (BMC)

6

USB 3.2 Gen1x1 Type A Port

7

Mini Display Port

8

1GbE onboard NIC with RJ-45

MB Board Components

The MB board has the following components:

  • CPU1 socket

  • CPU0 socket

  • DDR5 DIMM slots

Switch Board Components

The switch board has the following components:

  • DC-SCM connectors

  • OCP connectors

  • M.2 connectors

  • E1.S BP connectors

  • BF3 connector

E1.S Board Components

The E1.S board has the following components:

  • Switch board connector

  • E1.S connector

  • Power cable connector from switch

M.2 Board Components

The M.2 board has the following components:

  • M.2 connectors

  • GF connect from switch

DC-SCM board Components

The DC-SCM board has the following components:

  • Micro USB debug port

  • USB 3.2 Gen1x1 Type A port

  • RJ-45 for management ethernet port

  • RJ-45 port

  • Mini display port

PSU Signal Board Components

The PSU signal board has the following components:

  • PSU sideband connectors

  • GF connect to PDB

Backplane Lower Board Components

The backplane lower board has the following components:

  • MB connectors

  • GB connectors

  • BP-Upper connectors

  • FAN board connectors

  • Guide pin connect from PDB

Backplane Upper Board Components

The backplane upper board has the following components:

  • Leak cable connector from GPU SLED

  • Leak cable connector to HIB board

Summary of Server Features

Specification Cisco UCS C880A M8 Model Rack Server
GPU

NV GPU: DGX B300 2.3TB SXM7 with GPU BB

GPU-GPU Interconnect: NVIDIA® NVLink™ with NVSwitch™

CPU-GPU Interconnect: 8x PCIe Gen5x16
CPU 2-sockets, Granite Rapids 2.4G 350W Processor, 64 Cores/CPU, PCIeG5
Storage

Up to 8x hot-swap E1.S

Up to 2x M.2
Power (TDP) 350W per processor
L3 Cache 336 MB
System Memory

32x DDR5 DIMM slots (8 channels/CPU, 2x Slot/Channel)

  • Up to 6400MT/s

  • Up to 32 x DDR5 128GB for DIMM Air cooling
Expansion Slots 2x PCIe Gen5 x16 BF3 150W CEM board (CPU)
LAN 2x GbE Management LAN
Management DC-SCM with AST2600
System Cooling 20x 8080 Dual-Rotor
System BIOS AMI® BIOS
System Software Ubuntu (operating system)
I/O Ports

  • 1x USB3.0 Micro USB

  • 1x USB3.0 type A

  • 1x USB2.0 Micro USB for Debug

  • 1x mini-DP

  • 2x 1Gbs RJ45

  • 1x PWR Button

  • 1x UID Button

  • 1x Reset Button
System Form Factor

  • 10U Rackmount

  • H:17 H:17.39" (441.75mm) x W:17.6" (447mm) x D:31.49" (800mm)