How do you tell if an FPGA is capable of running an ip core?

Question

I'm looking at a cheap board to start on and I'm wondering if I'll be able to fit a Picoblaze, LEON, S1, or OpenRISC core on there. Is there any way to tell?

score 12 · Accepted Answer · answered Dec 18 '09 at 19:03

12

Yes, you can synthesize IP cores without actually needing the hardware. In your synthesis tool you get to pick which FPGA chip you are targeting, and when you synthesize it will tell you what % of the FPGA's resources it used to fit it on there, or if it could not fit it.

In fact, it's a good idea to use the synthesis tool and run everything in simulation before you plunk down money on a board. It's not like AVR where you can get a whole setup for $20, the range for decent starter FPGA boards is $100 - $200 depending on the number of features and helper chips you need.

answered Dec 18 '09 at 19:03

davr

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http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Atmel_AVR – Robert Harvey Feb 24 '10 at 05:00
Some dirt-cheap but meagre boards exist: $29 from Lattice (http://www.latticesemi.com/products/developmenthardware/developmentkits/xp2breviadevelopmentkit.cfm), $49 from Avnet (http://www.silica.com/index.php?id=1193), $49 to $64 from Gadget Factory (http://shop.gadgetfactory.net/index.php?main_page=index&cPath=1&zenid=4v1d54h7ftva0vaa6eeb0itkp1) – mrkj Jun 24 '10 at 15:55

score 4 · Answer 2 · answered Feb 12 '10 at 17:18

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Look in the documentation for the cores. See how many LUTs (Look Up Tables) or registers they have. See if the requirements are less than the cheap board provides.

The Picoblaze will fit on virtually anything.

answered Feb 12 '10 at 17:18

Brian Carlton

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How do you tell if an FPGA is capable of running an ip core?

2 Answers2