Windows HPC Server 2008 Hardware Compatibility

Article
06/22/2010

Applies To: Windows HPC Server 2008

This topic provides information about the hardware devices and the device drivers and firmware that are compatible with Windows® HPC Server 2008.

In this topic:

General guidelines
Network adapters
GPU computing processors
Other devices
Additional references

To help you obtain certain devices, drivers, and firmware that may be used in a Windows HPC Server 2008 cluster, links are provided to the websites of selected hardware vendors.

DISCLAIMER:Reference to any non-Microsoft products is intended solely for informational purposes and does not constitute or imply any endorsement by Microsoft.

General guidelines

For information about the hardware requirements for Windows HPC Server 2008, see Windows HPC Server 2008 System Requirements (https://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=194836).

Hardware devices and device drivers that are compatible with the 64-bit version of Windows Server® 2008 Standard are compatible with Windows HPC Server 2008. For information about hardware that is compatible with Windows Server 2008, see the Windows Server Catalog (https://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=139145).

Important

When available, you should use devices and the latest signed drivers for those devices that have the Certified for Windows Server 2008 logo. The logo identifies hardware that meets Microsoft technical standards for compatibility and recommended practices with the Windows Server 2008 operating system. For information about the Certified for Windows Server 2008 logo program, see the Windows Logo Program Web Site (https://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=141304).

Important

You may be able to obtain the latest drivers for Windows Server 2008 by downloading them from the website of your hardware vendor or system builder, or by directly contacting your vendor and requesting them. Many drivers are also updated regularly through the Windows Update website. For information about updates that are available through Windows Update, see the Microsoft Update Catalog (https://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=8973).

Network adapters

This section provides information about hardware devices to support the network interconnects that may be used in a Windows HPC Server 2008 cluster. Information is provided about commonly used gigabit Ethernet network adapters as well as remote direct memory access (RDMA) host channel adapter (HCA) cards that are available from selected vendors.

Note

You should install the latest driver and firmware for each adapter. The firmware may be included in the driver package, or it may be provided separately. To use an InfiniBand HCA card, you should also install the latest PXE-enabled firmware.

To use an RDMA adapter, you must have a driver that supports the Microsoft NetworkDirect interface.

Your network switch and firmware must be compatible with the network adapters. Contact your vendor for information about compatible switches and firmware.

Commonly used gigabit Ethernet network adapters

Intel Ethernet Products (https://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=194838)

Intel PRO/1000 server adapters (https://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=194839)

Intel Download Center (https://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=194840)

Broadcom Enterprise Server Ethernet Controllers (https://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=194841)

Broadcom NetXtreme II controllers (https://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=194853)

Broadcom Ethernet NIC Downloads (https://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=194854)

Note
When available, you should use a monolithic driver that allows connectivity in Windows Preinstallation Environment (Windows PE).

RDMA over Ethernet (iWarp) 10 gigabit adapters

Vendor	Devices	Drivers and Firmware
Intel Ethernet iWarp (https://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=194855)	NetEffect Ethernet Server Cluster Adapters (https://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=194858)	NetEffect Ethernet Server Cluster Adapters Drivers (https://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=194860) NetEffect Ethernet Server Cluster Adapters Firmware (https://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=194862)
Chelsio High Performance Cluster Computing (https://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=194864)	Chelsio Communications 10G Ethernet Adapters (https://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=194865)	T3 iWarp RDMA driver and firmware (https://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=139692)

RDMA (InfiniBand) adapters

Vendor	Devices	Drivers and Firmware
Mellanox Technologies: Solutions for Microsoft Windows (https://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=194868)	Mellanox InfiniBand adapters (https://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=194869)	MLNX WinOF VPI driver and firmware (https://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=139691)
QLogic High Performance Computing (https://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=194870)	QLogic InfiniBand Adapters (https://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=194871)	QLogic driver downloads (https://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=194872)
Voltaire InfiniBand Products (https://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=194873)	Voltaire Host Channel Adapter InfiniBand Cards (https://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=194874)	Voltaire WinOF and OFED drivers (https://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkID=194875) Voltaire Firmware Download (https://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=194876)

Note

You can also download the latest device drivers that are published by the OpenFabrics Alliance (OFA), which work with most commercially available HCA cards. For more information and to download the latest device drivers that are published by the OFA, see The OpenFabrics Alliance (https://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkID=137347).

GPU computing processors

This section provides information about graphics processing unit (GPU) computing processors that may be used for general-purpose computation in a Windows HPC Server 2008 cluster.

NVIDIA High Performance Computing Products (https://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=194877)

Tesla 10-series GPUs
Tesla 20-series GPUs

NVIDIA Drivers (https://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=194878)

Important
When available separately, use a device driver such as the Tesla Compute Cluster (TCC) driver that is designed specifically for compute cluster nodes. The TCC driver is the default driver for several Tesla GPUs.

ATI FirePro 3D Workstation Graphics Accelerators (https://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=194879)
AMD ATI Stream Technology (https://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=194880)

FirePro V8800 computing processor
FireStream computing processors

AMD Graphics Drivers and Software (https://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=194881)

Other devices

This section provides information about other devices that may be commonly installed in the nodes of a Windows HPC Server 2008 cluster.

Vendor	Devices	Drivers
Silicon Image Storage Products (https://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=194882)	Serial ATA (SATA) controllers	Silicon Image Support (https://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=194883)