Early Power Estimators (EPE) and Power Analyzer

Q: Known Issue 2 - “Excel has stopped working. A problem caused the program to stop working correctly. Windows will close the program and notify you if a solution is available”

This is due to the Excel 2013 application stability issue.To solve the problem, please install the Microsoft Office 2013 Service Pack 1. You can find more information about this update at the Microsoft Support page: https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/kb/2817430The previous steps convert the original ".xls" EPE file into a ".xlsm" file. The newly created file should not exhibit the original issue.Microsoft's description for this issue can be found at: https://support.microsoft.com/kb/2726958

Introduction Download the Power and Thermal Calculator or Power and Thermal Analyzer Download Early Power Estimators Known issues for Early Power Estimator (EPE) tools Related Links

Introduction

Estimate power consumption from early design concept through design implementation. Designers should use Early Power Estimators (EPE), Power and Thermal Calculator (PTC) or Power and Thermal Analyzer (PTA) in the initial design stages.

Power analysis features from that include Early Power Estimators, Power and Thermal Calculator (PTC), Power and Thermal Analyzer (PTA), and the Quartus® Power Analyzer give you the ability to estimate power consumption, as shown in Figure 1. As you provide more details about your design characteristics, estimation accuracy is improved from early design concept through design implementation.

Figure 1. Power analysis from design concept through design implementation.

Agilex® and Stratix® 10 FPGA Devices

The Agilex® and Stratix® 10 FPGA Power and Thermal Calculator (PTC) and Power and Thermal Analyzer (PTA) are integrated with the Quartus® Prime Design Software. You can access the PTC and PTA from the Tools menu in the Quartus Prime Design Software, or by running the quartus_ptc command in your command shell. For the convenience of designers who may be working only on power estimation and not running design compilations with the Quartus Prime Software, a stand-alone version of the PTC and PTA are also available. The stand-alone version offers all the same features as the version integrated within the Quartus Prime Software.

You can calculate field-programmable gate power consumption for Agilex and Stratix 10 devices using the PTC or PTA, and for more accurate power estimation, use the Power Analyzer in the Quartus Prime Software. Altera recommends that you switch from the PTC or PTA to the Power Analyzer once your design is available. The Power Analyzer produces more accurate results because it has more detailed information about your design, including routing and configuration information about each of the resources in your design. You should treat the PTC and PTA results as an estimate of power, not as a specification. You must verify the actual power consumption during device operation because the information is sensitive to the actual device and design input signals.

Download the Power and Thermal Calculator or Power and Thermal Analyzer

Download Stand-Alone PTC Tools

The older Power and Thermal Calculator tool is downloadable from the Quartus® Prime Design Software Download pages from 25.1.1 or earlier.

You can download the stand-alone PTC tool from the Download Center
Select 25.1.1 version or earlier of Quartus Prime Pro Software
Select your “Operating System”
In the page, click on the “Individual Files” tab
Scroll down to “Power Thermal Calculator” in the “Add-On and Stand-Alone Software” section
Click on download

Review the PTC User Guide

Download Stand-Alone PTA Tools

The Power and Thermal Analyzer (PTA) is the current tool. Review the PTA features and documentation

Access the stand-alone download for the Windows or Linux version from this page also. Review the PTA User Guide

Download Early Power Estimators

Altera® FPGA families with links to respective Early Power Estimator (EPE) worksheets. If you already have design files or a project set up in the Quartus Prime Software, you can have the software generate data to automatically populate the worksheets. During implementation, you can refine your power estimates using the Power Analyzer tool in the Quartus Prime Software.

Download Tool³	User Guide	Known Issues
Stratix® FPGA 10 Devices Power Estimator Tools for Dual-Core 1SG10M^{1, 2}	FPGA Power and Thermal Calculator User Guide	Known issues for Early Power Estimator (EPE) tools
Stratix® 10 FPGA Device Early Power Estimator^1,2	Early Power Estimator for Stratix® FPGAs User Guide
Arria® 10 FPGA Device Early Power Estimator	Early Power Estimator for Arria® 10 FPGAs User Guide
Cyclone® 10 GX FPGA Device Early Power Estimator	Early Power Estimator for Cyclone® 10 GX FPGAs User Guide
Cyclone® 10 LP FPGA Device Early Power Estimator	Early Power Estimator for Cyclone® 10 LP FPGAs User Guide
Cyclone® 10 LP FPGA Device Early Power Estimator Office 365	Early Power Estimator for Cyclone® 10 LP FPGAs User Guide
MAX® 10 FPGA Early Power Estimator	Early Power Estimator for MAX® 10 FPGAs User Guide
Arria® V FPGA Device Early Power Estimator	Early Power Estimator for Arria® V FPGAs User Guide
Cyclone® IV FPGA and Cyclone® V FPGA Device Early Power Estimator	Early Power Estimator for Cyclone® IV FPGAs and Cyclone® V FPGAs User Guide
MAX® V CPLD Device Early Power Estimator	Early Power Estimator for MAX® V CPLD Devices User Guide
Stratix® IV FPGA and Stratix® V FPGA Device Early Power Estimator	Early Power Estimator for Stratix® IV FPGAs and Stratix® V FPGAs User Guide
Stratix® III FPGA Device Early Power Estimator MS 2010 64-bit	Early Power Estimator for Stratix® III FPGAs User Guide
Stratix® III FPGA Device Early Power Estimator MS 2010 32-bit	Early Power Estimator for Stratix® III FPGAs User Guide
Arria® II FPGA Device Early Power Estimator	Early Power Estimator for Arria® II FPGAs User Guide
Cyclone® III FPGA Device Early Power Estimator MS 2010 64-bit	Early Power Estimator for Cyclone® III FPGAs User Guide
Cyclone® III FPGA Device Early Power Estimator MS 2010 32-bit	Early Power Estimator for Cyclone® III FPGAs User Guide
Cyclone® II FPGA Device Early Power Estimator	Power Calculator for Cyclone® II FPGAs User Guide
MAX® II CPLD Device Early Power Estimator	Early Power Estimator for MAX® II CPLD Devices User Guide
Notes: The version of EPE worksheet that you use must correspond to the version of the Quartus Prime Software or earlier versions of Quartus Development Software. For example, if you use the Quartus Development Software v13.1 to generate the EPE file, you must use the EPE worksheet version 13.1. The 19.4 version of the Stratix 10 Device Early Power Estimator is the final release of this tool. Starting 20.1 release, it is replaced by the new FPGA Power and Thermal Calculator, which supports both Stratix 10 and Agilex devices. The FPGA Power and Thermal Calculator is available either integrated within the Quartus Prime Software or as a stand-alone version. The stand-alone version is available for download from the Download Center for FPGA page under the Add-On and Stand-Alone Software in the Individual Files tab. For Stratix 10 devices, recommends using the FPGA Power and Thermal Calculator as it uses the latest power models. The download link for 19.4 Stratix 10 FPGA Early Power Estimator (EPE) will be removed at a future date. For Legacy Device Families – please visit the respective Legacy Device Support Collections.

Known issues for Early Power Estimator (EPE) tools

Expand All

Collapse All

Known Issue 1 - buttons do not work, or a run-time error “Object doesn’t support this property or method”

Microsoft has released an update to fix this issue, please go to the corresponding Microsoft Support Page based on your Excel version:

· Excel 2013*: https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/kb/2920754

If the above update doesn't fix the issue, or if you do not have access to these updates, try the following workaround steps:

1. Reboot the computer if you've installed the above update.

2. Close all Microsoft Office applications including the Excel* and Word* applications.

3. Open a Windows* Explorer, and enter "%temp%" (without quotes) into the address bar.

4. Press "Ctrl" + "F" and enter ".exd" (without quotes) into the search box.

5. If any files with extension ".exd" are found, select and delete ALL the files that are found.

6. Next, enter "%appdata%" (without quotes) into the address bar. Again, press "Ctrl" + "F" and search for ".exd", and delete ALL the files that are found.

7. Reopen the EPE.

If the issues remain, follow these steps:

1. Launch the EPE tool, go to File -> Info-> Compatibility Mode, and click Convert.

2. If a pop-up appears, click OK to proceed with conversion, and then click Yes to reopen the workbook.

The previous steps convert the original ".xls" EPE file into a ".xlsm" file. The newly created file should not exhibit the original issue.

Microsoft's description for this issue can be found at:

https://support.microsoft.com/kb/2726958

Known Issue 2 - “Excel has stopped working. A problem caused the program to stop working correctly. Windows will close the program and notify you if a solution is available”

This is due to the Excel 2013 application stability issue.

To solve the problem, please install the Microsoft Office 2013 Service Pack 1. You can find more information about this update at the Microsoft Support page: https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/kb/2817430

The previous steps convert the original ".xls" EPE file into a ".xlsm" file. The newly created file should not exhibit the original issue.

Microsoft's description for this issue can be found at: https://support.microsoft.com/kb/2726958