Is This a Good Beginner FPGA? - Page 1
Forum section: electronics / general

author: Sal Ammoniac
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: July 22, 2020, 12:27:54 am
content: Hi, I'm new to FPGAs. Would this be a good FPGA for a beginner?https://www.digikey.com/products/en?keywords=122-xcvu47p-3fsvh2892e-nd

author: Bassman59
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: July 22, 2020, 12:28:41 am
content: Quote from: Sal Ammoniac on July 22, 2020, 12:27:54 amIt's the best there is!

author: ogden
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: July 22, 2020, 12:43:32 am
content: Quote from: Sal Ammoniac on July 22, 2020, 12:27:54 amYou are trolling right? Answer is: definitely no. Beginner programmer do not need supercomputer to learn as you don't need superFPGA. Look for any low cost FPGA development board with switches, leds and extension connectors. Not cheapest, but popular indeed:https://store.digilentinc.com/fpga-development-boards-kits-from-digilent/

author: BrianHG
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: July 22, 2020, 12:49:18 am
content: (Post sent back in time from the year 2050) Why in the world would you want that old heap of junk? I mean, since ICs went to graphene, a cheap modern 1$ cpu can soft emulate that pitifully slow device more than 10 fold the speed with any lousy written code in interpreted Qbasic which was running on a software emulator of an obsolete Intel x86 architecture.

author: NiHaoMike
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: July 22, 2020, 04:42:17 am
content: Is a (full size) Boeing 787 a good plane for learning how to fly?

author: james_s
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: July 22, 2020, 04:43:20 am
content: I'd hate to be the guy who slips a probe and pops one of those.

author: woofy
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: July 22, 2020, 08:32:22 am
content: Absolutely, but do negotiate the price. You should at least get the 15 cents knocked off.

author: Fred27
author_rank: Unknown
timestamp: July 22, 2020, 08:47:38 am
content: It's not too bad, but I suggest you remove the Virtex-7 and solder it to your own breakout board. Or you could dead-bug it - 2892 little bits of magnet wire should do the trick.

author: brabus
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: July 22, 2020, 09:40:21 am
content: Would be perfect, only the 25$ shipping fee ruins the whole deal.

author: Sal Ammoniac
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: July 22, 2020, 04:09:56 pm
content: Hey guys! Thanks for the advice. I had to take out two mortgages on my house, but I was able to raise the dough to buy one of these parts!I've got it working on a prototype board, and man is this thing screaming fast! Soldering it up was a bitch, though...

author: ogden
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: July 22, 2020, 04:11:48 pm
content: Quote from: woofy on July 22, 2020, 08:32:22 amOne may get better discount buying this one:https://www.digikey.com/product-detail/en/xilinx-inc/XCVU47P-3FSVH2892E/122-XCVU47P-3FSVH2892E-ND/11588639

author: SiliconWizard
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: July 22, 2020, 04:32:01 pm
content: Ahaha, good one!!

author: matrixofdynamism
author_rank: Regular Contributor
timestamp: July 23, 2020, 12:52:00 am
content: Please decide if you want to choose Intel, Xilinx, Microsemi, Lattice Semiconductor e.t.c.From personal experience I would say choose either Xilinx or Intel and ignore the rest.A simple FPGA board with low end FPGA will do.I personally do not understand who would pay so much for such an FPGA. I think going for an ASIC is better instead.

author: Bassman59
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: July 23, 2020, 02:46:49 am
content: Quote from: matrixofdynamism on July 23, 2020, 12:52:00 amYou clearly didn't click the link in the top post.

author: 0db
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: July 23, 2020, 03:19:45 am
content: Quote from: Sal Ammoniac on July 22, 2020, 12:27:54 amVirtex UltraScale? LOL

author: rstofer
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: July 23, 2020, 09:00:31 pm
content: Quote from: Sal Ammoniac on July 22, 2020, 12:27:54 amYou should probably pick up a couple. Sometimes the reason a project doesn't run is that the component is toast and the easy way to test the problem is to toast a second component.At $115k each, I don't think we need to worry much about your purchasing power. It clearly exceeds mine!

author: FenTiger
author_rank: Regular Contributor
timestamp: July 23, 2020, 09:13:43 pm
content: You should contact this seller, who has a much better price:https://m.alibaba.com/amp/product/62581898519.htmlDon't be put off by people complaining about fakes. I bought some transistors from Aliexpress and most of them worked fine.

author: Unixon
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: July 23, 2020, 09:51:19 pm
content: Quote from: Sal Ammoniac on July 22, 2020, 12:27:54 amSure, buy at least two of these! If you finish your project with just the first one, you can send the other one to me as a gratitude for supporting your clever choice.p.s. Can anybody tell me what is the ratio of RND/production cost/investors' interest in these products?

author: NiHaoMike
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: July 23, 2020, 10:18:21 pm
content: Quote from: matrixofdynamism on July 23, 2020, 12:52:00 amEven several of those FPGAs is cheaper than ordering a few ASICs only to find out a design error made them useless. The biggest market for FPGAs of that level are emulating ASICs so that errors can be found, fixed, and retested on very short notice. Only once the FPGA emulation is running flawlessly do they go to the step of ordering some prototype ASICs to test.Interestingly, low to mid range FPGAs have been replacing ASICs in certain applications, one good example is motor control ASICs in electric and hybrid cars. Some factors include being able to make more substantial fixes after the product is out to market, the high cost of making ASICs on smaller process nodes (greatly cutting away at the cost advantage, especially for smaller chips), and having more flexibility in reusing designs for future products. We're also starting to see microcontrollers like PSoC and some PICs gain some FPGA-like programmable logic blocks.

author: BrianHG
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: July 24, 2020, 01:15:53 am
content: After you purchase one, I wonder how much the dev board devaluates.I'd say that it would drop to ~10% of it's original value.

author: NorthGuy
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: July 25, 2020, 02:50:55 pm
content: I wonder how they manage to run such large designs without overheating.

author: JohnG
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: July 25, 2020, 03:05:40 pm
content: Quote from: Sal Ammoniac on July 22, 2020, 04:09:56 pmThat photo is obscene! How dare you post such smut on the internet for all to see!!John

author: prophoss
author_rank: Contributor
timestamp: July 26, 2020, 03:22:44 am
content: Quote from: Sal Ammoniac on July 22, 2020, 04:09:56 pmHey, a couple of those wires looks like they came loose. Might want to tack them back down before you try a blinky.

author: _joost_
author_rank: Contributor
timestamp: August 08, 2020, 02:26:18 pm
content: Gawd, i needed his post and replies, i can face the day with a big grin on my face now.