649871-001 – HPE Ethernet 1Gb 4-Port 331T PCI Adapter

Overview on the HPE 331T Ethernet Adapter

The HPE Ethernet 1Gb 4-Port 331T Adapter (HPE Spare Part Number: 649871-001) is an enterprise-grade, high-density network expansion interface. It is specifically built to handle intense throughput requests across virtualized environments, network segmentations, and server consolidation matrices. Operating on a power-optimized single-chip architecture, this card scales physical I/O infrastructure seamlessly while keeping motherboard slot use perfectly compact. The adapter uses a PCI Express 2.0 x4 interface layout that mounts directly into standard low-profile or full-height expansion channels. Outfitted with four independent 10/100/1000BASE-T RJ-45 copper connectivity ports, it runs high-speed local data pathways using legacy twisted-pair Category 5 or better copper cables up to 100 meters. This design allows IT teams to rapidly scale system bandwidth without forcing premium fiber infrastructure changes.

This quad-port network interface card focuses heavily on maximizing aggregate data speeds while maintaining a small energy footprint. At its core, the card is powered by the highly reliable Broadcom BCM5719 network processor chipset. This dedicated processing module features an integrated 4 Mbit on-board data buffer that completely stabilizes multi-queue line requests. It manages full hardware-level stateless TCP/IP offloading, Large Send/Receive functions, and payload checksum operations directly on the card. By shifting these network verification processes off the host CPU, it saves valuable clock cycles for core system virtualization tasks. Each standalone port pushes a responsive 2 Gbps full-duplex speed, delivering a theoretical 8 Gbps bi-directional aggregate throughput. This high performance ensures fluid backup routines and eliminates bottlenecking during massive storage transfers.

Key Features & Performance

• Quad-Port 1GBASE-T Density: Features four standard copper RJ-45 interfaces supporting auto-negotiation across 10Mbps, 100Mbps, and 1Gbps speeds. This layout makes legacy network integration quick and easy.

• Broadcom BCM5719 Processor Core: Built with a reliable BCM5719 silicon engine. This chip balances dense physical data streams, mitigates lag, and maintains line-rate speeds across all ports simultaneously.

• Energy Efficient Ethernet (EEE): Fully compliant with IEEE 802.3az standards. This technology dynamically scales down the card’s power draw during low-traffic periods to significantly reduce data center energy costs.

• HPE Sea of Sensors 3D Tracking: Integrates with HPE’s multi-point internal thermal tracking grid of 32 autonomous sensors. The system tracks heat spikes instantly, letting server fans ramp up only where cooling is needed to save energy.

• Extended Jumbo Frame Acceleration: Supports large data packets up to a 9,000-byte Maximum Transmission Unit (MTU). This minimizes packet fragmentation and header overhead during database mirroring and high-volume tape backup processes.

Technical Specifications

• Brand: Hewlett Packard Enterprise (HPE) / HP

• Model Designation: HPE Ethernet 1Gb 4-port 331T Adapter

• HPE Option Part Number: 647594-B21

• HPE Spare Part Number: 649871-001

• Network Controller Processor: Broadcom BCM5719 Chipset

• On-Board Buffer Memory: 4 Mbit for PCA architecture

• Host Interface Form Factor: PCI Express 2.0 x4 (Fully compatible with x4, x8, and x16 physical slots)

• Connector Port Array: 4 x RJ-45 Copper Terminals

• Data Transmission Velocity: 1 Gbps per port (10/100/1000 Mbps auto-negotiation)

• Aggregate Bandwidth: 8 Gb/s bi-directional full-duplex theoretical throughput

• IEEE Standards Alignment: IEEE 802.3, 802.3u, 802.3ab, 802.3x, Dynamic 802.3ad (LACP), 802.1Q, 802.3az, 1588, 802.1as

• Virtualization Optimizations: VMware NetQueue and Microsoft VMQ ready

• Data Flow Controls: MSI-X, Receive Side Scaling (RSS), Large Send Offload (LSO)

• Card Profile Geometry: Low-profile stand-up card layout (Ships with standard full-height bracket pre-installed and includes a half-height bracket)

• Power Requirement: 4.3 Watts maximum under full 1000Base-T traffic workloads

• HPE Server Compatibility: Validated for ProLiant DL, ML, and SL lines across Gen8, Gen9, and Gen10 configurations

Virtualization & Resilient Software Architectures

The HPE 331T adapter is highly optimized to protect multi-tenant cloud platforms and server hypervisors from downtime:

• Hardware-Assisted VM Queuing: Supports VMware NetQueue and Microsoft VMQ architectures. This routes virtual network traffic queues directly to assigned virtual machines, bypassing hypervisor software bottlenecks and significantly lowering latency.

• IEEE 1588 Hardware Time Stamping: Implements high-precision IEEE 1588 and 802.1as time synchronization protocols. This guarantees sub-microsecond clock coordination across server clusters, which is vital for database logging, transaction tracking, and financial auditing.

• Flexible NIC Teaming Configurations: Supports link aggregation and automated failover routines via an operating system utility suite. This lets the four ports function together as a single virtual adapter to optimize bandwidth and provide a backup link if a cable fails.

• Remote PXE Boot Deployment: Built-in Preboot Execution Environment (PXE) support allows system administrators to deploy, configure, or patch bare-metal operating systems remotely over the network.

Conclusion

The HPE Ethernet 1Gb 4-Port 331T Adapter remains a highly dependable, value-focused quad-port expansion choice for enterprise networks. By providing four independent copper Gigabit connections over standard twisted-pair cabling, it simplifies server consolidation and network segmentation without forcing expensive changes to your physical wiring. Powered by the robust Broadcom BCM5719 core engine, it features hardware-driven offloads, Jumbo Frame capabilities, and advanced NIC teaming provisions to keep network operations running smoothly under heavy stress. Additionally, its low-power single-chip architecture, compliance with Energy Efficient Ethernet, and integration with HPE Sea of Sensors 3D technology make it highly efficient to run. It provides a balanced, secure, and cost-effective way to manage your system virtualization and networking workloads.