Maximum frequency
From JopWiki
Different FPGA technologies have a great impact on the maximum achievable system frequency. The following list gives a feeling what can be achieved with different FPGA families. All results are from a minimum configuration of JOP and the fastest speed grade of the FPGA family.
[edit] Altera
| Family | Type | Frequency |
|---|---|---|
| Cyclone | EP1C6-6 | 94 MHz |
| Cyclone II | EP2C8-6 | 105 MHz |
| Cyclone III | EP3C25-6 | 108 MHz |
| Stratix II | EP2S15C-3 | 165 MHz |
| Stratix III | EP3SE50-2 | 191 MHz |
The newer Cyclone devices are not that much faster than the original Cyclone. This is expected as the optimization, according to Altera, was on price and power.
The high-priced Stratix devices perform almost at the double frequency than the low-cost Cyclone devices.
[edit] Xilinx
The Xilinx results are obtained without instantiating a PLL and are less optimized than the Altera results (I know the Altera tools better).
| Family | Type | Frequency |
|---|---|---|
| Spartan-3 | XS3-5 | 66 MHz |
| Virtex-II Pro | XC2VP2-7 | 129 MHz |
| Virtex-4 | XC4VLX15-2 | 149 MHz |
| Virtex-5 | XC5VLX30-3 | 200 MHz |
A similar relation between low-cost and high-performance devices is found on Xilinx devices.
