Generation by Generation
Each BlueField generation brought significant improvements in processing power, network speed, and isolation capabilities.
BlueField-2
The foundation. First production DPU with integrated ARM cores and hardware isolation capabilities.
BlueField-3
2x network speed, new ARM cores, and DOCA SDK for programmable infrastructure.
BlueField-3 SuperNIC
Optimized for AI workloads. Enhanced RDMA, GPU-direct support, and SHARP in-network computing.
BlueField-4
Next generation: 800G networking, enhanced isolation, and advanced AI acceleration.
Detailed Comparison
Side-by-side technical specifications across all BlueField generations.
📋 Generation Comparison
| Specification | BF-2 | BF-3 | BF-3S | BF-4 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Network Speed | 200 Gbps | 400 Gbps | 400 Gbps | 800 Gbps |
| CPU Cores | 8× A72 | 16× A78 | 8× A78 | 24× A78AE |
| Memory | 16GB DDR4 | 32GB DDR5 | 16GB DDR5 | 64GB HBM3 |
| PCIe | Gen 4 | Gen 5 | Gen 5 | Gen 6 |
| Flow Entries | 500K | 1M | 1M | 4M |
| Crypto Throughput | 100 Gbps | 200 Gbps | 200 Gbps | 400 Gbps |
| TDP | 75W | 150W | 100W | 200W |
Performance Scaling
How key metrics have improved across generations.
📈 Performance Over Generations
Key Advancements
The most significant improvements introduced with each generation.
DOCA SDK
Unified programming framework for all DPU accelerators and data path functions.
SHARP
In-network computing for collective operations—reduces all-reduce latency by 10x.
NVMe-oF
Hardware-accelerated storage virtualization for composable infrastructure.
SR-IOV
Hardware virtualization with 512 virtual functions per port for dense multi-tenancy.
Inline Crypto
Line-rate encryption/decryption with zero CPU overhead.
Deep Telemetry
Per-flow counters, latency histograms, and real-time congestion detection.