What is the difference between Xlinx and Altera FPGA?

what is the difference between xlinix and altera fpga?

Re: doubt regarding fpga?

What is the difference between AVR and PIC?
What id the difference between vodka and whiskey?

There is no clear answer to what you ask, they are competitor companies producing similar products that use different compiler tools (unless you use tools from other vendors that work for both like Synopsys ).
I don't think that any of them in necessarily better from the other in a general sense, maybe some models are better or cheaper from similar products of the other company but at the end of the day it is usually about which company tools (and chip resources) are you familiar and more comfortable with.

Alex

Re: doubt regarding fpga?

A few years ago I asked the opposite question - "what's similar" ?

1. Both are fabless FPGA companies
2. Both are located in San Jose CA
3. Both use SRAM technology
4. Both target the same markets
5. Both make their own IDE tools

Re: doubt regarding fpga?

alexan_e said:

What is the difference between AVR and PIC?
What id the difference between vodka and whiskey?

There is no clear answer to what you ask, they are competitor companies producing similar products that use different compiler tools (unless you use tools from other vendors that work for both like Synopsys ).
I don't think that any of them in necessarily better from the other in a general sense, maybe some models are better or cheaper from similar products of the other company but at the end of the day it is usually about which company tools (and chip resources) are you familiar and more comfortable with.

Alex

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As Alex mentioned, this is a difficult question to answer. Perhaps the biggest and most valuable difference to you would be their different product lines. One company might have a particular FPGA that is more suited to your needs than the other. But this is, of course, only one of a handful of considerations that should be made when choosing an FPGA for your project.

-Willis

Re: doubt regarding fpga?

Alex,
I do know that they are competitor companies with similar products. When you are asked to buy a shirt,what you buy depends on your specifications. Similarly, when i have to buy an FPGA, there are certain specifications for each of these companies products which makes one product different from another. So, when i asked about the difference between Xilinx and Altera FPGA's, i was asking for the technical differences that make one product different from another. Certainly there must be some technical differences, which makes one architecture superior over another. In short, what would you explain if some one asked you to differentiate Virtex 4 fpga and Cyclone 2 fpga ( These are the names i heard the most).

IF YOU FIND TIME Google on HOW TO UNDERSTAND A QUESTION AND ANSWER IT

Re: doubt regarding fpga?

walkman said:

IF YOU FIND TIME Google on HOW TO UNDERSTAND A QUESTION AND ANSWER IT

Click to expand...

Thank you for calling me stupid, I guess this will help you get the answers you seek and I suppose that other members who replied to your post are stupid too so no one understood what you meant with your short form question.

May I suggest in return that you should consider reading How To Ask Questions The Smart Way, maybe then you'll get the answers you seek.

Alex

Re: doubt regarding fpga?

ROFL!!! Oh the irony. Dear Mr walkman sir, if you could please spend as many keystrokes on formulating your next question as you did just now ticking off alex, that would be great!

Just so you know, your typical questions are not as clear as your mind may be reporting to you. Put another way, try to word your questions with the audience in mind, and not the "barely enough characters so I understand my own question" style you tend to use. Also, specific questions help as opposed to general questions.

And maybe read this.

The final piece of irony ofcourse being you telling other people to google things. XD

Re: doubt regarding fpga?

thanks for your suggestions alex and mrflibble?

ok actually my doubt is in xilinx fpga architecture they are using distributed memory and in altera fpga they are using small block memory?

which is better architecture means i read that because of distributed memory xilinx is more flexible but less area efficient. but in the case of altera it is less flexible and area efficient architecture..could please explain reason why it so?

Re: doubt regarding fpga?

walkman said:

thanks for your suggestions alex and mrflibble?

Click to expand...

you are welcome?

ok actually my doubt is in xilinx fpga architecture they are using distributed memory and in altera fpga they are using small block memory?

Click to expand...

I am less familiar with modern Altera fpga's than with Xilinx fpga's. In xilinx you have the fabric flip-flops (distributed memory), and you also have BRAM (block ram). The fabric FFs are spread out over the various slices, the BRAMs are more localized. The fabric FFs go at ludicrous speed, on the order of a MAX 1 GHz toggle rate on a spartan-6 for example. The BRAMs have a much lower max clock, on the order of 300 MHz. I say on the order of because I am too lazy right now to check the exact numbers. If you need those you can always check the datasheet.

But I vaguely recall Altera also having something similar ... distributed FFs in all the slices (or logic elements or whatever the Altera name is). And also block ram thingies. But as said I'm not that familiar with Altera, so hopefully someone will point out the details...

which is better architecture means i read that because of distributed memory xilinx is more flexible but less area efficient. but in the case of altera it is less flexible and area efficient architecture..could please explain reason why it so?

Click to expand...

Which is "better" really is a relative matter I'd say. Depends on what your exact design requirements are.

Re: doubt regarding fpga?

I think the big question is do you prefer pink ladies or braeburns? both are types of apple, and both will give you one of your 5 a day. But some people prefer pink ladies while others prefer braeburns, and you'll never get a uninimous decision.

On a more serious note: I dont think either is superious to the other. The architecture for both manufacturers are rather similar, and both will allow you infer things from generic code. I think historically Xilinx has had crappier VHDL support (and their coding examples still use non-standard VHDL - Will you ever stop using std_logic_unsigned/arith Xilinx?) but I think both are fairly even now.

So Walkman, your question serves little purpose. The main question is what do you really want to do with your Altera or Xilinx Chip?

Re: doubt regarding fpga?

tricky dicky ..my project is reconfiguarable fpga architecture...that is the main reson to study architecture of different fpgas