Step 3: Delivering Stratix II with High Performance
This page is the third of three pages that describe the high-performance Stratix® II FPGA development process:
The exhaustive defining and designing efforts of the Stratix® II FPGA's adaptive logic module (ALM) based on real customers' requirements produced the highest-performance FPGA architecture in the industry. Recent benchmarks and analysis prove that when designing with industry-leading Quartus® II design software, the Stratix II FPGA family is the performance leader. (See Figure 1 and Table 1 for details.)
Figure 1. Relative FPGA Core Performance Comparison
| Table 1. Stratix II Performance Score Card |
| Availability |
Xilinx Devices |
Altera Devices |
| Today |
Virtex-5 FPGAs (Slow)
Virtex-4 FPGAs (Fast)
|
Stratix II FPGAs
- At least one speed grade faster in performance than Virtex-5
- All speed grades shipping in volume today (since 2004)
- Risk-free family based on a proven 90-nm process technology with patented redundancy technology
- Quartus II software exploits ALM fracturability for high efficiency, keeping area and power low
|
| Future |
Virtex-5 FPGAs (Medium)
- Performance at par with Altera's available Stratix II FPGAs
Virtex-5 FPGAs (Fast)
- Historically, fast speed grades are not available until up to two years after product introduction
|
Stratix III FPGAs (65-nm)
- Unparalleled performance
- Historically, Altera has delivered all speed grades in volume and on schedule - Operational Excellence
|
Benefits of Stratix II FPGA's High Performance
- Faster timing closure easily meeting your design’s performance requirements
- Reduction in cost by using a slower speed-grade device while still meeting performance goals
- Risk free design implementation due to process maturity and extra system level margins
- Implementation of new high-performance features in your system that are unachievable using competitive devices
Benchmarking Methodology
Altera has a third-party, industry-expert-endorsed performance benchmarking methodology, which is used to compare FPGA performance between both families from a single FPGA vendor and between competitive solutions. Altera ensures a consistent benchmarking environment when testing both Altera and competitor devices.
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Literature
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