NVIDIA BlueField-3 DPU
The NVIDIA BlueField-3 DPU (Data Processing Unit) is an advanced data-center processor that combines programmable Arm CPU cores, high-speed networking, PCIe Gen 5 connectivity, memory, storage, security acceleration, and hardware offload engines into a single platform.
BlueField-3 DPUs provide networking speeds of up to 400Gb/s, support 400GbE and NVIDIA NDR InfiniBand, and integrate an RDMA-capable network adapter with programmable processing resources. Depending on the model, BlueField-3 includes 16 Arm cores, 16GB or 32GB onboard DDR5 ECC memory, onboard eMMC and SSD storage, an integrated BMC, and hardware-accelerated security capabilities.
Designed for modern accelerated data centers, BlueField-3 can offload networking, storage, security, virtualization, and infrastructure services from host CPUs, making it particularly well suited for AI infrastructure, cloud computing, HPC, zero-trust data centers, software-defined networking, and disaggregated storage.
Description
The NVIDIA BlueField-3 DPU is designed to transform the traditional server network adapter into a programmable infrastructure processor.
Unlike a conventional NIC, BlueField-3 combines a high-speed NVIDIA networking engine with dedicated Arm processing cores and hardware accelerators. This allows infrastructure workloads to execute directly on the DPU rather than consuming valuable CPU resources on the host server.
High-Speed Networking
BlueField-3 supports networking configurations up to 400Gb/s.
Current NVIDIA models include:
- 400GbE / NDR 400Gb/s
- 200GbE / NDR200
- 100GbE / HDR100
- Lower-speed Ethernet and InfiniBand modes depending on the specific model
The high-end B3240 configuration provides two QSFP112 ports, with up to 400GbE Ethernet or NDR 400Gb/s InfiniBand.
Integrated Arm Processing
BlueField-3 incorporates Armv8.2+ A78 Hercules 64-bit CPU cores. Current DPU configurations include 16 Arm cores, with different BlueField-3 silicon series optimized for different performance and power requirements.
These processing resources allow the DPU to run its own operating environment and infrastructure services while keeping the host CPU focused on application workloads.
PCIe Gen 5 Architecture
BlueField-3 provides a PCI Express Gen 5 x16 host interface, operating at up to 32 GT/s per lane and maintaining backward compatibility with earlier PCIe generations on supported implementations.
Selected BlueField-3 platforms can also provide an additional PCIe x16 connection through an auxiliary PCIe card, enabling advanced infrastructure and multi-device configurations.
RDMA and RoCE
The integrated networking architecture supports RDMA and RoCE, providing low-latency, high-throughput communication for AI, HPC, storage, and distributed applications.
BlueField-3 incorporates hardware mechanisms for data-center bridging and congestion control to improve performance in demanding Ethernet environments.
Infrastructure Offload
BlueField-3 is capable of offloading major infrastructure functions from the host CPU, including:
- Networking
- Virtual switching
- Storage services
- Security processing
- Network virtualization
- Encryption
- Overlay networking
- Infrastructure management
This architecture enables a more isolated and efficient infrastructure layer for modern cloud and data-center systems.
Storage Acceleration
BlueField-3 provides hardware acceleration for storage-related workloads and supports technologies such as:
- NVMe over Fabrics
- RDMA-based storage
- VirtIO acceleration
- Storage virtualization
- Distributed storage infrastructure
- Data-path acceleration
The DPU can therefore act as an infrastructure processor between the host compute environment, network, and storage resources.
Security and Zero-Trust Infrastructure
Security is a major part of the BlueField-3 architecture.
Crypto-enabled variants provide dedicated security acceleration, while the DPU architecture can isolate infrastructure services from the host application environment.
This enables use cases such as:
- Zero-trust data centers
- Secure cloud infrastructure
- Network security
- Storage security
- Infrastructure isolation
- Hardware-accelerated encryption
NVIDIA offers BlueField-3 variants with either crypto enabled or crypto disabled, depending on the OPN.
Onboard Memory and Storage
BlueField-3 DPU configurations include onboard DDR5 ECC memory. Current models use 16GB or 32GB DDR5, depending on the platform.
High-end B3240 models provide 32GB DDR5 ECC at 5600MT/s, while other BlueField-3 variants use 32GB or 16GB configurations at different memory speeds.
Selected DPU configurations also include:
- 40GB pSLC eMMC
- 128GB onboard SSD
These resources allow the DPU to maintain its own firmware, operating environment, logs, applications, and infrastructure services.
3. Complete Technical Specification
| Specification | Details |
|---|---|
| Product Family | NVIDIA BlueField-3 DPU |
| Product Type | Data Processing Unit / DPU |
| Architecture | NVIDIA BlueField-3 |
| CPU Architecture | 64-bit Armv8.2+ |
| CPU Core Type | Arm A78 Hercules |
| Typical CPU Core Count | 16 Arm cores |
| Maximum Networking Speed | Up to 400Gb/s |
| Ethernet | Up to 400GbE |
| InfiniBand | Up to NDR 400Gb/s |
| NDR200 | Supported on applicable models |
| HDR/HDR100 | Supported on applicable models |
| RDMA | Supported |
| RoCE | Supported |
| Host Interface | PCI Express Gen 5 |
| PCIe Interface | Up to x16 |
| PCIe Speed | 32 GT/s per lane |
| PCIe Backward Compatibility | Gen 4 / Gen 3 / Gen 2 / Gen 1 on supported configurations |
| Networking Connector | QSFP112 on current high-speed models |
| High-End Port Configuration | 2 × QSFP112 |
| Onboard Memory | 16GB or 32GB DDR5 ECC, depending on model |
| B3240 Memory | 32GB DDR5 ECC @ 5600MT/s |
| Memory Interface | Up to 128-bit + ECC |
| Onboard eMMC | Up to 40GB pSLC on applicable models |
| Onboard SSD | Up to 128GB on applicable models |
| Integrated BMC | Available on applicable DPU configurations |
| Crypto Acceleration | Available on crypto-enabled variants |
| Virtualization | Hardware-assisted virtualization |
| Overlay Offload | VXLAN / NVGRE and related acceleration |
| Networking Offload | Hardware-accelerated networking and packet processing |
| Storage Acceleration | Supported |
| NVMe-oF | Supported |
| RDMA Storage | Supported |
| Quality of Service | Supported |
| Data Center Bridging | Supported |
| Form Factors | FHHL and other platform-specific configurations |
| High-End Form Factor | Dual-slot FHHL for B3240 |
| B3240 Dimensions | Approx. 111.15 × 167.65 mm |
| Operating Temperature | Typically 0°C to 55°C |
| Non-Operating Temperature | -40°C to 70°C |
| RoHS | Compliant |
| Typical Deployment | AI servers, cloud servers, HPC, storage and data-center infrastructure |
Variant note: BlueField-3 is not one fixed card specification. For example, NVIDIA currently lists the B3240 at 400Gb/s with 2 × QSFP112 and 32GB DDR5, the B3220 at 200Gb/s, and B3210E configurations at 100Gb/s. Exact power, crypto, BMC, memory, connector, and form-factor specifications depend on the full NVIDIA OPN.
4. Applications
AI & GPU Infrastructure
- AI training clusters
- AI inference infrastructure
- GPU servers
- Distributed AI systems
- GPU-to-GPU networking
- High-speed AI data pipelines
Data Center & Cloud
- Cloud infrastructure
- Hyperscale data centers
- Infrastructure offload
- Software-defined data centers
- Virtualized networking
- Zero-trust cloud environments
High-Performance Computing
- HPC clusters
- Scientific computing
- Engineering simulation
- Financial computing
- Distributed applications
Storage
- NVMe over Fabrics
- Disaggregated storage
- Software-defined storage
- Storage virtualization
- RDMA-based storage
- High-performance storage networks
Network Security
- Zero-trust infrastructure
- Encryption acceleration
- Secure network services
- Infrastructure isolation
- Security-sensitive cloud deployments
5. Compatibility
BlueField-3 DPUs are designed for modern servers equipped with compatible PCIe Gen 5 infrastructure.
Depending on the exact model, compatibility can include:
- AI/GPU servers
- Enterprise rack servers
- HPC systems
- Cloud servers
- Storage servers
- NVIDIA accelerated computing platforms
- Ethernet switching infrastructure
- InfiniBand networking environments
- QSFP112 optical transceivers
- QSFP112 direct-attach cables
- RoCE-based Ethernet networks
- NVIDIA networking software and firmware
The high-end B3240 uses PCIe Gen 5 x16 and two QSFP112 network ports, while other BlueField-3 models have different network speeds and physical configurations.
Important: The complete BlueField-3 OPN should always be checked before installation. BlueField-3 variants can differ substantially in networking speed, port configuration, crypto capability, onboard memory, power requirements, cooling, and physical form factor.
6. Key Benefits
- Up to 400Gb/s networking
- Integrated 16-core Arm processing
- PCIe Gen 5 x16 host connectivity
- High-performance RDMA and RoCE
- Dedicated networking and infrastructure acceleration
- Hardware-assisted virtualization
- Overlay network offload
- Storage acceleration
- NVMe-oF support
- Onboard DDR5 ECC memory
- Integrated storage on applicable configurations
- Optional integrated BMC
- Hardware security and cryptographic acceleration on supported variants
- Infrastructure isolation from host applications
- Designed for AI and GPU-accelerated data centers
- Suitable for cloud, HPC, storage and enterprise environments
- Supports Ethernet and InfiniBand configurations
- Reduces host CPU overhead by moving infrastructure processing onto the DPU
7. SEO Title
NVIDIA BlueField-3 DPU 400Gb/s Data Processing Unit – Arm CPU, PCIe Gen5, RDMA & SmartNIC
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