A brief survey of FPGAs

What follows is a quick and dirty survey of the Field Programmable Gate Array market at the end of April of 1999. Only the chip families "most interesting" for the implementation of Merlin 6 are shown, which usually means the most high end families from each manufacturer. The prices represent the single quantity price in US dollars as listed for distribution in North America by such online vendors as Arrow, Nu Horizons, Insight and so on. Since prices vary a lot depending on temperature range, speed grade and specially packaging the lowest and highest prices for each model are shown (for a given supplier; no comparison shopping was done, here). Note that a lot of important information, like the number of user I/Os, is missing from this comparison.

Xilinx:

Virtex - system speeds of 200 MHz, many I/O options

Chip	Blocks	Gates	Memory	Price
XCV50	1,728 16x24=384	57,906	32,768 24,576	68.80 155.00
XCV100	2,700 20x30=600	108,904	40,960 38,400	129.00 291.00
XCV150	3,888 24x36=864	164,674	49,152 55,296	182.00 393.00
XCV200	5,292 28x42=1,176	236,666	57,344 75,264	224.00 482.00
XCV300	6,912 32x48=1,536	322,970	65,536 98,304	349.00 783.00
XCV400	10,800 40x60=2,400	468,252	81,920 153,600	519.00 1551.00
XCV600	15,552 48x72=3,456	661,111	98,304 221,184	1161.00 2617.00
XCV800	21,168 56x84=4,704	888,439	114,688 301,056	1720.00 3877.00
XCV1000	27,648 64x96=6,144	1,124,022	131,072 393,216	4094.00 5731.00

XC4000XV - low power, over 200MHz chip to chip and 300MHz internal

Chip Blocks Gates Memory Price

XC40110XV 10,982
64x64=4,096
75-200K 131,072 753.00
1371.00

XC40150XV 12,312
72x72=5,184
100-300K 165,888

XC40200XV 16,758
84x84=7,056
130-400K 225,792

XC40250XV 20,102
92x92=8,464
180-500K 270,848 2236.00
4383.00

XC4000XLA - lower power and faster than the XL

Chip Blocks Gates Memory Price

XC4013XLA 1,368
24x24=576
10-30K 18,432 51.60
111.00

XC4020XLA 1,862
28x28=784
13-40K 25,088 65.35
135.00

XC4028XLA 2,432
32x32=1,024
18-50K 32,768 112.00
241.00

XC4036XLA 3,078
36x36=1,296
22-65K 41,472 129.00
278.00

XC4044XLA 3,800
40x40=1,600
27-80K 51,200 162.00
364.00

XC4052XLA 4,598
44x44=1,936
33-100K 61,952 198.00
296.00

XC4062XLA 5,472
48x48=2,304
40-130K 73,728 220.00
539.00

XC4085XLA 7,448
56x56=3,136
75-200K 100,352 342.00
839.00

XC4000XL

Chip Blocks Gates Memory Price

XC4002XL 152 1.5-4K 2,048 14.20
28.85

XC4005XL 466 3-10K 6,272

XC4010XL 950 7-20K 12,800

XC4013XL 1,368 10-30K 18,432 63.65
252.00

XC4020XL 1,862 13-40K 25,088 115.00
326.00

XC4028XL 2,432 18-50K 32,768

XC4036XL 3,078 22-65K 41,472

XC4044XL 3,800 27-80K 51,200

XC4052XL 4,598 33-100K 61,952

XC4062XL 5,472 40-130K 73,728

XC4085XL 7,448 55-180K 100,352 867.00
2769.00

Spartan - 80MHz designs

Chip Blocks Gates Memory Price

XCS05/XL 238 2K-5K 3,200 9.10
15.40

XCS10/XL 466 3K-10K 6,272 16.40
32.25

XCS20/XL 950 7K-20K 12,800 18.60
54.55

XCS30/XL 1,368 10K-30K 18,432 35.05
78.07

XCS40/XL 1,862 13K-40K 25,088 50.05
103.00

What follows is the size of some predefined cores available for Xilinx products. Their size is given in CLBs so you have to multiply by a little more than 2 to see how many "blocks" would be taken up by these designs. Like the rest of the survey, this data should be taken as a very crude estimate of how much it is possible to fit into these chips (note that most of the IOBs listed aren't really needed if the system that uses this function can be placed in the same chip, also note that eacg Virtex CLB has two slices):

Function CLBs Clock IOBs IOBs Frequency

2901 Bit Slice on a 4000XL 68 1 44 36 MHz

2901 Bit Slice on a Spartan 73 1 44 31 MHz

2901 Bit Slice on a Virtex 125 slices 1 44 39 MHz

Full Speed USB 720 - 29 48 MHz

Firewire Logical Link 886 - 53 50 MHz

Fast Ethernet Transmit on 4000EX 649 1 99 25 MHz

Fast Ethernet Receive on 4000EX 283 1 261 25 MHz

Fast Ethernet Transmit on Virtex 440 slices 1 99 50 MHz

Fast Ethernet Receive on Virtex 332 slices 1 261 50 MHz

Atmel:

AT40K - core with 2 ns typical delays, RAM with 8 ns cycles

Chip	Blocks	Gates	Memory	Price
AT40K05	16x16=256	5K - 10K	2,048
AT40K10	24x24=576	10K - 20K	4,608	47.85 65.26
AT40K20	32x32=1,024	20K - 30K	8,192	79.06 91.30
AT40K40	48x48=2,304	40K - 50K	18,432

Lucent:

Orca3 - 76MHz (-2) to 161 MHz (-7) 16 bit counters, RAM is faster

Chip	Blocks	Gates	Memory	Price
OR3T20	1152 12x12=144	36K	18K	58.00
OR3T30	1568 14x14=196	48K	25K
OR3C/3T55	2592 18x18=324	80K	42K	101.00 262.00
OR3C/3T80	3872 22x22=484	116K	62K	155.20 355.10
OR3T125	6272 28x28=784	186K	100K	272.60 525.80

Actel:

No RAM, largest models are too small, Models: 54SX (8K to 32K gates), 42MX (9K to 36K gates), 40MX (2K to 4K gates), ACT 3 (3K to 20K gates) , 1200XL (6K to 16K gates), ACT 1 (2K to 4K gates)

3200DX

Chip Blocks Gates Memory Price

A3265DX 510 12,000 43.19
256.66

A3265DXV 510 12,000 67.94
81.07

A32100DX 700 20,000 2,048 88.21
2405.05

A32100DXV 700 20,000 2,048 137.88
164.46

A32140DX 954 24,000 125.59
744.25

A32140DXV 954 24,000 177.75
217.62

A32200DX 1,230 36,000 2,560 304.01
4385.80

A32200DXV 1,230 36,000 2,560 476.79
546.56

A32300DX 1,888 52,000 3,072 578.12
2945.46

A32300DXV 1,888 52,000 3,072 908.72
996.77

QuickLogic:

QuickRAM - 275 MHz data paths, 5ns RAM access

Chip	Blocks	Gates	Memory	Price
QL4016	320	16,000	11,520	35.71 132.78
QL4036	672	36,000	16,128	65.30 322.55
QL4058	1,008	58,000	20,736
QL4090	1,584	90,000	25,344	181.84 765.12

Altera:

Apex 20K - fast, up to 1 million gates, flexible RAM (can implement CAMs)

Chip	Blocks	Gates	Memory	Price
EP20K100 EP20K100E	4,160	263,000	53,248
EP20K160E	6,400	404,000	81,920
EP20K200 EP20K200E	8,320	526,000	106,496
EP20K300E	11,520	728,000	147,456
EP20K400 EP20K400E	16,640	1,052,000	212,992	1255.04 2423.51
EP20K600E	24,320	1,537,000	311,296
EP20K1000E	42,240	2,670,000	540,672

Flex 10K - 100MHz and above system performance

Chip Blocks Gates Memory Price

EPF10K10
EPF10K10A
576 10,000 6,144 22.60
72.26

EPF10K20 1,152 20,000 12,288

EPF10K30
EPF10K30A
EPF10K30E
1,728 30,000 12,288
24,576
53.59
187.87

EPF10K40 2,304 40,000 16,384

EPF10K50
EPF10K50V
EPF10K50E
2,880 50,000 20,480
40,960

EPF10K70 3,744 70,000 18,432

EPF10K100
EPF10K100A
EPF10K100B
EPF10K100E
4,992 100,000 24,576
49,152
175.00
969.41

EPF10K130V
EPF10K130E
6,656 130,000 32,768
65,536

EPF10K200E 9,984 200,000 98,304

EPF10K250A 12,160 250,000 40,960 1366.46
4362.35

Philips:

Too CPLD-like and too small

Function	CLBs	Clock IOBs	IOBs	Frequency
2901 Bit Slice on a 4000XL	68	1	44	36 MHz
2901 Bit Slice on a Spartan	73	1	44	31 MHz
2901 Bit Slice on a Virtex	125 slices	1	44	39 MHz
Full Speed USB	720	-	29	48 MHz
Firewire Logical Link	886	-	53	50 MHz
Fast Ethernet Transmit on 4000EX	649	1	99	25 MHz
Fast Ethernet Receive on 4000EX	283	1	261	25 MHz
Fast Ethernet Transmit on Virtex	440 slices	1	99	50 MHz
Fast Ethernet Receive on Virtex	332 slices	1	261	50 MHz