Systems and methods are described for providing per traffic class routing of data within a network. A network switch has the capability to classify traffic data based on High Performance Computing (HPC) related characteristics. Traffic classes are defined based on aspects of HPC, such as routing, ordering, redirection, quiesce, HPC protocol configuration, and telemetry. A switch can receive packets at an ingress port of a switch fabric, and determine traffic classifications for the packets. The traffic classification is selected from a group of defined traffic classes. Then, the switch can generate a fabric specific flag for the at least one packet that indicates the determined traffic classification, where the fabric specific flag is used for routing packets based on their assigned traffic classification. Examples of traffic classes include: low latency class; dedicated access class; bulk data class; best efforts class; and scavenger class.