7 Series FPGAs

[kiruthi]

I am doing ECE final year. Am doing my project in NAL. my project is to design and develop floswitch using low power fpga. we ve chosen virtex 7 xc7v690t device. but we didnt get the package file(pin files). where can i get it?

[mcgett]

The Virtex-7 family is targetted at high peformance designs which can be at odds with "low power".  Why have you decided that a Virtex-7 device is the right one and more specifically the XC7VX690T device?

Additionaly, using the very latest family is usually not a good approach for educational projects.  Have you considered using a Virtex-6 device instead?

[kiruthi]

sir can u suggest any versions of FPGA that gives low power than virtex 5 xc5v110t.

[eteam00]

sir can u suggest any versions of FPGA that gives low power than virtex 5 xc5v110t.

Spartan-6.  See document DS160.

You can also discuss your needs and requirements with your local Xilinx applications engineer.

-- Bob Elkind

[samcossais]

Wow. Looking for low power and you chose Virtex-7 ???? Well it's 28nm so it still should have a good performance/power ratio, but you should have spent a little bit more time choosing your device !

First Virtex-7 may not even be available yet, and as others say, a newly available device is generaly not a good choice because support for the device won't be mature at all (you'll almost be a kind of beta tester for it, so if you don't have good experience, it may be tough to deal).

Moreover Virtex-7 is not intended to be low power at all. Unless you have to design something with extreme performance and connectivity, you'd better stay with the Spartan-6 for a while, or maybe Kintex-7 if you really need more performance and don't mind using an immature device (some of Kintex-7 devices are actually already available, and it should be mature a bit earlier than Virtex-7 so it may be used from now, though it's a bit too early imo).

Also I hope you're given a lot of ressources for your educational (research) project because a Virtex-7 690T, when available should be around the price of a Virtex-6 550T and 760T, that is not far from $10000/piece if you buy it in small quantities...

You were talking of a Virtex-5 110T, and power seems to be important for you, then I would suggest you something like a Spartan-6 LX100T or 150T. If power is not that important and you need an upgrade from a Virtex class FPGA, then a Virtex-6 LX130Tshould be good, but it really depends on whether you need some 5Gbps compliant transceivers (with PCIe hard IP for example) / 600MHz DSP etc... or not, as in term of LUT / FFs a big Spartan-6 should be big enough (if V5 110T was).

[samcossais]

Concerning where to find an FPGA, ask your teachers maybe... If you need some prices and availability for small quantities, have a look at digi-key website.

[samcossais]

"Virtex-7 is not intended to be low power at all"

When I say that I don't mean no care has been put on power, I'm sure it was a very important point.

I mean of course that in terms of placement compared to other 7 seriers FPGAs : low power = Artix-7, mid range power = Kintex-7, higher range power = Virtex-7