Stratix II vs. Virtex-5 Customer Design Performance Benchmarking Results

On 55 real customer designs, the latest benchmarking comparison of Stratix II and Virtex-5 FPGAs shows that Stratix II devices, because of their highly efficient 8-input fracturable LUT logic architecture, are 18% faster than the currently available Virtex-5 devices. All speed grades in the Stratix II family have been shipping since July 2004.

Table 1 lists the Stratix II and Virtex-5 FPGAs compared in this benchmark.

Figure 1 compares Stratix II (-3) to available Virtex-5 (-1) FPGAs, highlighting the Stratix II FPGA's significant performance advantage of 18%.

Figure 1. Stratix II (-3) vs. Virtex-5 (-1) Relative FPGA Core Performance (Note 1)

Note:

1. 10 out of 65 customer designs resulted in errors when optimized for performance in the latest version of ISE design software.

Figure 2 compares Stratix II (-3) to Virtex-5 (-2) FPGAs. Virtex-5 (-2) (i.e., medium speed grade) is currently not available, and benchmarking results show that Virtex-5 (-2) is at par with Stratix II FPGA (-3) performance.

Figure 2. Stratix II (-3) vs. Virtex-5 (-2) Relative FPGA Core Performance

Note:

1. 10 out of 65 customer designs resulted in errors when optimized for performance in the latest version of ISE design software.

Stratix II FPGA Advantages

• Stratix II FPGAs are 18% faster than available Virtex-5 devices (only the slow speed grade of virtex-5 is available)
• Readily available and shipping in volume since 2004
• Risk-free family based on a proven 90-nm process technology with patented redundancy technology
• Stratix II ALM holds on average 1.8x more logic than Virtex-5 basic 6-input LUT architecture
• Quartus^® II software exploits ALM fracturability for high efficiency, keeping area and power low