The Stratix® FPGA series enables you to deliver high-performance, state-of-the-art products to market faster with lower risk and higher productivity. By combining high density, high performance, and a rich feature set, Stratix series FPGAs allow you to integrate more functions and maximize system bandwidth. See Table 1.
| Table 1. Stratix Series Introduction | ||||||
| Device Family | Stratix | Stratix GX | Stratix II | Stratix II GX | Stratix III | Stratix IV |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Year of Introduction | 2002 | 2003 | 2004 | 2005 | 2006 | 2008 |
| Process Technology | 130 nm | 130 nm | 90 nm | 90 nm | 65 nm | 40 nm |
| Recommended for New Designs? | No | No | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
Both evolutionary and revolutionary features have been incorporated over the generations of Stratix FPGA families. Table 2 outlines the features that are common across two or more of the Stratix series FPGA families.
| Table 2. Stratix Series Common Features | ||||||
| Device Family | Stratix | Stratix GX | Stratix II | Stratix II GX | Stratix III | Stratix IV |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Stratix Family Advanced Architecture |  |
|
|
|
|
|
| Power | - | - | - | - | |
|
| DSP Blocks | |
|
|
|
|
|
| External Memory Interfaces | |
|
|
|
|
|
| TriMatrix Memory | |
|
|
|
|
|
| I/O Performance | |
|
|
|
|
|
| Design Security | - | - | |
|
|
|
| Single Event Upset | |
|
|
|
|
|
| Remote System Upgrades | |
|
|
|
|
|
Stratix FPGAs have HardCopy® ASIC equivalent devices. HardCopy ASICs provide a path to low-cost volume production with low risk through FPGA prototyping of your design. Stratix series FPGAs are also ideal for the prototyping and verification of standard-cell ASICs.
Stratix IV FPGAs provide the highest density, highest performance, and lowest power of any 40-nm FPGA. With enhanced (E) and enhanced with transceivers (GX and GT) variants, Stratix IV FPGAs address many markets and applications, such as wireless and wireline communications, military, and broadcast. This high-performance 40-nm FPGA family includes the best-in-class 11.3-Gbps transceivers.
Stratix III FPGAs are the industry’s lowest power high-performance 65-nm FPGAs. Logic rich (L) and enhanced for memory and digital signal processing (E) variants allow you to balance your resource requirements to your design without having to design in a device any bigger than is absolutely necessary—saving board real estate, compilation time, and money. Stratix III FPGAs target high-end core system processing designs in many applications.
Stratix II FPGAs and the Stratix II GX variants introduced the adaptive logic module (ALM) architecture, which uses a high-performance, 8-input fracturable look-up table (LUT) in place of a 4-input LUT. You'll find this innovative ALM logic structure is used in Altera's newest high-end FPGAs. Stratix II and Stratix II GX FPGAs are available in volume and are still highly recommended for new designs.
Stratix FPGAs and the Stratix GX variants are the original members of the Altera® Stratix FPGA series. This high-performance FPGA family introduced digital signal processing hard intellectual property (IP) blocks along with Altera's ubiquitous TriMatrix on-chip memory and flexible I/O structures.
Table 3 compares the features of the FPGAs in the Stratix series.
| Table 3. Comparison of FPGAs in the Stratix Series | |||||
| Feature | Stratix IV E | Stratix III L | Stratix III E | Stratix II | Stratix |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Equivalent Logic Elements | 228,000 to 813,050 | 47,500 to 338,000 | 47,500 to 254,400 | 15,600 to 179,400 | 10,570 to 79,040 |
| Adaptive Logic Modules | 91,200 to 325,220 | 19,000 to 135,200 | 19,000 to 101,760 | 6,240 to 71,760 | N/A |
| Total RAM (Kbits) | 14,283 to 23,130 | 1,836 to 16,272 | 5,328 to 14,688 | 410 to 9,163 | 899 to 7,253 |
| Max 18 x 18 Multipliers | 960 to 1288 | 216 to 576 | 384 to 896 | 48 to 384 | 24 to 88 |
| LVDS Data Rates (Mbps) | 150 to 1,600 | 124 to 1,600 | 125 to 1,600 | 125 to 1,000 | 840 |
| LVDS Channels (Rx/Tx) | 56/56 to 132/132 | 56/56 to 132/132 | 56/56 to 112/112 | 38/38 to 152/156 | 44/44 to 80/80 |
Table 4 compares the features of the FPGAs with transceivers in the Stratix series.
| Table 4. Comparison of FPGAs with Transceivers in the Stratix Series | ||||
| Feature | Stratix IV GT | Stratix IV GX | Stratix II GX | Stratix GX |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Equivalent Logic Elements | 228,000 to 531,200 | 72,600 to 531,200 | 15,600 to 179,400 | 10,570 to 79,040 |
| Adaptive Logic Modules | 91,200 to 212,480 | 29,040 to 212,480 | 6,240 to 71,760 | N/A |
| Total RAM (Kbits) | 13.9 to 20.3K | 6,462 to 20,736 | 410 to 9,163 | 899 to 7,253 |
| Max 18 x 18 Multipliers | 1,024 to 1,288 | 384 to 1,288 | 64 to 252 | 24 to 88 |
| Transceiver Data Rate Range (1) | 600 to 8,500 Mbps | 600 to 6,375 Mbps | 500 to 3,875 Mbps | |
| Transceiver Channels (1) | 12 to 24 | 8 to 32 | 4 to 20 | 4 to 20 |
| Transceiver Data Rate Range (2) | 2.5 to 6.5 Gbps | 600 to 3,200 (2) | N/A | N/A |
| Transceiver Channels (2) | Up to 24 | 0 to 16 | N/A | N/A |
| PCI Express Hard I/O Blocks | 1 | 1 to 4 | N/A | N/A |
- Transceivers with physical coding sublayer (PCS) and physical media attachment (PMA)
- Transceivers with PMA only (Stratix IV GX FPGAs only)
