<s>
Nvidia	B-Device
BlueField	I-Device
is	O
a	O
line	O
of	O
data	B-General_Concept
processing	I-General_Concept
units	I-General_Concept
(	O
DPUs	O
)	O
designed	O
and	O
produced	O
by	O
Nvidia	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Also	O
launched	O
at	O
GTC	O
2020	O
was	O
the	O
Nvidia	O
BlueField-2X	O
,	O
an	O
Nvidia	B-Device
BlueField	I-Device
card	O
with	O
an	O
Ampere	B-General_Concept
generation	O
Graphic	B-Architecture
Processing	I-Architecture
Unit	I-Architecture
integrated	O
onto	O
the	O
same	O
card	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Nvidia	B-Device
BlueField	I-Device
cards	O
are	O
targeted	O
for	O
use	O
in	O
datacenters	B-Operating_System
and	O
high	B-Architecture
performance	I-Architecture
computing	I-Architecture
,	O
where	O
latency	O
and	O
bandwidth	O
are	O
important	O
for	O
efficient	O
computation	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
BlueField	O
cards	O
differ	O
from	O
network	B-Protocol
interface	I-Protocol
controllers	I-Protocol
in	O
their	O
offloading	O
of	O
functions	O
that	O
would	O
normally	O
be	O
reserved	O
for	O
the	O
CPU	B-Device
,	O
and	O
the	O
presence	O
of	O
CPU	B-Architecture
cores	I-Architecture
(	O
typically	O
ARM	B-Architecture
or	O
MIPS	B-Device
based	O
)	O
and	O
memory	O
support	O
(	O
typically	O
DDR4	O
,	O
though	O
Bluefield-3	O
'	O
s	O
release	O
brought	O
support	O
for	O
more	O
exotic	O
memory	O
types	O
such	O
as	O
HBM	O
and	O
DDR5	O
)	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
BlueField	O
cards	O
also	O
run	O
an	O
operating	B-General_Concept
system	I-General_Concept
completely	O
independent	O
from	O
the	O
host	O
system	O
:	O
this	O
is	O
designed	O
to	O
reduce	O
software	O
overhead	O
,	O
as	O
each	O
DPU	O
can	O
function	O
independently	O
of	O
one	O
another	O
and	O
the	O
head	O
unit	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
This	O
also	O
means	O
that	O
Bluefield	O
cards	O
are	O
capable	O
of	O
allowing	O
remote	B-Protocol
management	I-Protocol
of	O
systems	O
that	O
may	O
not	O
typically	O
support	O
it	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Bluefield	O
cards	O
can	O
also	O
configure	O
their	O
PCIe	O
bus	O
to	O
function	O
as	O
a	O
host	O
,	O
rather	O
than	O
a	O
device	O
,	O
which	O
lets	O
Bluefield	O
cards	O
connect	O
over	O
a	O
PCIe	O
bridge	O
to	O
another	O
card	O
,	O
such	O
as	O
a	O
compute	O
accelerator	O
,	O
to	O
provide	O
completely	O
network-based	O
,	O
high	O
bandwidth	O
control	O
of	O
a	O
GPU	B-Architecture
.	O
</s>
<s>
The	O
Bluefield	O
X	O
cards	O
are	O
DPU-GPU	O
hybrid	O
cards	O
with	O
a	O
100	O
class	O
Nvidia	B-Device
datacenter	I-Device
GPU	I-Device
integrated	O
on	O
the	O
same	O
PCB	O
as	O
the	O
Bluefield	O
DPU	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
These	O
cards	O
are	O
intended	O
for	O
high	O
power	O
GPU	B-Architecture
clusters	O
to	O
allow	O
high	O
bandwidth	O
communication	O
without	O
needing	O
to	O
cross	O
the	O
PCIe	O
bus	O
and	O
create	O
an	O
unnecessary	O
load	O
on	O
the	O
CPU	B-Device
where	O
performance	O
may	O
be	O
better	O
allocated	O
to	O
other	O
types	O
of	O
processing	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
The	O
H100	O
CNX	O
and	O
the	O
A100	O
EGX	O
are	O
NIC/GPU	O
hybrid	O
cards	O
and	O
,	O
while	O
visually	O
similar	O
to	O
a	O
Bluefield-X	O
card	O
,	O
are	O
completely	O
distinct	O
,	O
and	O
do	O
not	O
have	O
the	O
Bluefield	O
SOC	B-Architecture
integration	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
The	O
cards	O
are	O
instead	O
equipped	O
with	O
a	O
generic	O
ConnectX	O
NIC	B-Protocol
.	O
</s>
