PCI Express development board

Hi,

I'm looking for an FPGA-based PCI Express development board which is
capable of transmitting data at about 1.4 GByte/sec to the host
computer (PCIe Gen1 x8 or Gen2 x4/x8).

Further considerations:
1. included IDE license
2. included PCIe IP core license, which is also valid for other
designs based on the same FPGA
3. minimal HW complexity (i.e., the smaller the FPGA, the better)
4. price

My current candidate is the Altera Arria II GX FPGA Development Kit
(although I'm not sure if the IP core license which comes with it is
not only for evaluation).
http://www.altera.com/products/devkits/altera/kit-aiigx-pcie.html

I would appreciate some information about your development experience
with this board or other boards which satisfy the above requirements.
Thank you for your time!

Regards,
Zsolt

I'm not sure if our product Broaddown3 would worth looking at as you
didn't specify other features that are needed. Broaddown3 is aimed at
FPGA acceleration / HPC markets so is limited in features like I/O.

We announced this product some time ago but it has something of a
concept makeover so the new version is now just going into production.
This board comes in a Webpack capable version using Xilinx Virtex-6
XC6VLX75T parts and this can be a single FPGA with just the PCIe and
Ethernet interfaces or the full blown version with 5 Virtex-6 FPGAs.

More information on this board and the other 2 new major products,
Merrick3 and Lamachan2, that also launch this week, will appear on our
website in the next few days. We are also hoping to be able to show
all of these on our stand at SC11 in 10 days time for anyone attending
that show.

John Adair
Enterpoint Ltd.

On Nov 4, 11:15=A0am, "zsolt.garamvolgyi" <zsolt.garamvol...@gmail.com>
wrote:
> Hi,
>
> I'm looking for an FPGA-based PCI Express development board which is
> capable of transmitting data at about 1.4 GByte/sec to the host
> computer (PCIe Gen1 x8 or Gen2 x4/x8).
>
> Further considerations:
> 1. included IDE license
> 2. included PCIe IP core license, which is also valid for other
> designs based on the same FPGA
> 3. minimal HW complexity (i.e., the smaller the FPGA, the better)
> 4. price
>
> My current candidate is the Altera Arria II GX FPGA Development Kit
> (although I'm not sure if the IP core license which comes with it is
> not only for evaluation).http://www.altera.com/products/devkits/altera/ki=
t-aiigx-pcie.html
>
> I would appreciate some information about your development experience
> with this board or other boards which satisfy the above requirements.
> Thank you for your time!
>
> Regards,
> Zsolt

On 04/11/2011 11:15, zsolt.garamvolgyi wrote:
> Hi,
>
> I'm looking for an FPGA-based PCI Express development board which is
> capable of transmitting data at about 1.4 GByte/sec to the host
> computer (PCIe Gen1 x8 or Gen2 x4/x8).
>
> Further considerations:
> 1. included IDE license
> 2. included PCIe IP core license, which is also valid for other
> designs based on the same FPGA
> 3. minimal HW complexity (i.e., the smaller the FPGA, the better)
> 4. price
>
> My current candidate is the Altera Arria II GX FPGA Development Kit
> (although I'm not sure if the IP core license which comes with it is
> not only for evaluation).
> http://www.altera.com/products/devkits/altera/kit-aiigx-pcie.html
>
> I would appreciate some information about your development experience
> with this board or other boards which satisfy the above requirements.
> Thank you for your time!
>
> Regards,
> Zsolt


Look at Lattice "ECP3 VERSA DEVELOPMENT KIT"

http://www.latticesemi.com/products/developmenthardware/developmentkits/ecp3versadevelopmentkit/index.cfm

$262 on their webshop.

I don't know the license cost for production - you would need to check 
with Lattice.
They say that their chips are cheaper than Alter - but you had better 
check that too.

Michael Kellett

On nov. 4, 22:20, John Adair <g...@enterpoint.co.uk> wrote:
> I'm not sure if our product Broaddown3 would worth looking at as you
> didn't specify other features that are needed. Broaddown3 is aimed at
> FPGA acceleration / HPC markets so is limited in features like I/O.
>
> We announced this product some time ago but it has something of a
> concept makeover so the new version is now just going into production.
> This board comes in a Webpack capable version using Xilinx Virtex-6
> XC6VLX75T parts and this can be a single FPGA with just the PCIe and
> Ethernet interfaces or the full blown version with 5 Virtex-6 FPGAs.
>
> More information on this board and the other 2 new major products,
> Merrick3 and Lamachan2, that also launch this week, will appear on our
> website in the next few days. We are also hoping to be able to show
> all of these on our stand at SC11 in 10 days time for anyone attending
> that show.
>
> John Adair
> Enterpoint Ltd.
>
> On Nov 4, 11:15=A0am, "zsolt.garamvolgyi" <zsolt.garamvol...@gmail.com>
> wrote:
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
> > Hi,
>
> > I'm looking for an FPGA-based PCI Express development board which is
> > capable of transmitting data at about 1.4 GByte/sec to the host
> > computer (PCIe Gen1 x8 or Gen2 x4/x8).
>
> > Further considerations:
> > 1. included IDE license
> > 2. included PCIe IP core license, which is also valid for other
> > designs based on the same FPGA
> > 3. minimal HW complexity (i.e., the smaller the FPGA, the better)
> > 4. price
>
> > My current candidate is the Altera Arria II GX FPGA Development Kit
> > (although I'm not sure if the IP core license which comes with it is
> > not only for evaluation).http://www.altera.com/products/devkits/altera/=
kit-aiigx-pcie.html
>
> > I would appreciate some information about your development experience
> > with this board or other boards which satisfy the above requirements.
> > Thank you for your time!
>
> > Regards,
> > Zsolt

Thank you for your reply. I'll check out these boards on your website
as soon as they're available.

Regards,
Zsolt

On nov. 5, 09:36, MK <m...@nospam.co.uk> wrote:
> On 04/11/2011 11:15, zsolt.garamvolgyi wrote:
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
> > Hi,
>
> > I'm looking for an FPGA-based PCI Express development board which is
> > capable of transmitting data at about 1.4 GByte/sec to the host
> > computer (PCIe Gen1 x8 or Gen2 x4/x8).
>
> > Further considerations:
> > 1. included IDE license
> > 2. included PCIe IP core license, which is also valid for other
> > designs based on the same FPGA
> > 3. minimal HW complexity (i.e., the smaller the FPGA, the better)
> > 4. price
>
> > My current candidate is the Altera Arria II GX FPGA Development Kit
> > (although I'm not sure if the IP core license which comes with it is
> > not only for evaluation).
> >http://www.altera.com/products/devkits/altera/kit-aiigx-pcie.html
>
> > I would appreciate some information about your development experience
> > with this board or other boards which satisfy the above requirements.
> > Thank you for your time!
>
> > Regards,
> > Zsolt
>
> Look at Lattice "ECP3 VERSA DEVELOPMENT KIT"
>
> http://www.latticesemi.com/products/developmenthardware/developmentki...
>
> $262 on their webshop.
>
> I don't know the license cost for production - you would need to check
> with Lattice.
> They say that their chips are cheaper than Alter - but you had better
> check that too.
>
> Michael Kellett

Unfortunately, this kit won't fit the throughput requirements of my
design (only PCIe x1). Thank you, anyway.

Regards,
Zsolt

On 5 Nov., 09:36, MK <m...@nospam.co.uk> wrote:
> On 04/11/2011 11:15, zsolt.garamvolgyi wrote:
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
> > Hi,
>
> > I'm looking for an FPGA-based PCI Express development board which is
> > capable of transmitting data at about 1.4 GByte/sec to the host
> > computer (PCIe Gen1 x8 or Gen2 x4/x8).
>
> > Further considerations:
> > 1. included IDE license
> > 2. included PCIe IP core license, which is also valid for other
> > designs based on the same FPGA
> > 3. minimal HW complexity (i.e., the smaller the FPGA, the better)
> > 4. price
>
> > My current candidate is the Altera Arria II GX FPGA Development Kit
> > (although I'm not sure if the IP core license which comes with it is
> > not only for evaluation).
> >http://www.altera.com/products/devkits/altera/kit-aiigx-pcie.html
>
> > I would appreciate some information about your development experience
> > with this board or other boards which satisfy the above requirements.
> > Thank you for your time!
>
> > Regards,
> > Zsolt
>
> Look at Lattice "ECP3 VERSA DEVELOPMENT KIT"
>
> http://www.latticesemi.com/products/developmenthardware/developmentki...
>
> $262 on their webshop.

That is only 1 PCIe, the OP needs 8 lanes.

We have a 8x board with available soon with 4 channel 125Msps 14 Bit
ADC.
There is no documentation ready yet, so please contact me to discuss
your detailed requirements:
http://www.cronologic.de/contact/

Regards,

Kolja

On 11/4/2011 4:15 AM, zsolt.garamvolgyi wrote:
> Hi,
>
> I'm looking for an FPGA-based PCI Express development board which is
> capable of transmitting data at about 1.4 GByte/sec to the host
> computer (PCIe Gen1 x8 or Gen2 x4/x8).
>
> Further considerations:
> 1. included IDE license
> 2. included PCIe IP core license, which is also valid for other
> designs based on the same FPGA
> 3. minimal HW complexity (i.e., the smaller the FPGA, the better)
> 4. price
>
> My current candidate is the Altera Arria II GX FPGA Development Kit
> (although I'm not sure if the IP core license which comes with it is
> not only for evaluation).
> http://www.altera.com/products/devkits/altera/kit-aiigx-pcie.html
>
> I would appreciate some information about your development experience
> with this board or other boards which satisfy the above requirements.
> Thank you for your time!

I did a project with this eval board a couple of years ago. The IP 
license for the PCIe core is for evaluation only, you have to keep the 
programmer cable connected for the core to operate. It will run for 
about 20 minutes (I think) after you disconnect the cable.

Also, when we bought the eval kit, Altera had released a later version 
of the Quartus tool chain. Unfortunately, all of the example projects 
that were available were for the previous version of Quartus and would 
not build in the new version. We were on an aggressive schedule and the 
only option was to use the example project as a starting point and 
modify it for our project. It took a substantial amount of work from the 
Altera FAE to get their example project to build at all with the new 
tools. We got the project running and delivered. For a very expensive 
eval board ($2600 US) that was sold as a PCIe development system, I was 
very unimpressed with Altera's handling of this.

BobH

On nov. 5, 15:49, BobH <wanderingmetalhead.nospam.ple...@yahoo.com>
wrote:
> On 11/4/2011 4:15 AM, zsolt.garamvolgyi wrote:
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
> > Hi,
>
> > I'm looking for an FPGA-based PCI Express development board which is
> > capable of transmitting data at about 1.4 GByte/sec to the host
> > computer (PCIe Gen1 x8 or Gen2 x4/x8).
>
> > Further considerations:
> > 1. included IDE license
> > 2. included PCIe IP core license, which is also valid for other
> > designs based on the same FPGA
> > 3. minimal HW complexity (i.e., the smaller the FPGA, the better)
> > 4. price
>
> > My current candidate is the Altera Arria II GX FPGA Development Kit
> > (although I'm not sure if the IP core license which comes with it is
> > not only for evaluation).
> >http://www.altera.com/products/devkits/altera/kit-aiigx-pcie.html
>
> > I would appreciate some information about your development experience
> > with this board or other boards which satisfy the above requirements.
> > Thank you for your time!
>
> I did a project with this eval board a couple of years ago. The IP
> license for the PCIe core is for evaluation only, you have to keep the
> programmer cable connected for the core to operate. It will run for
> about 20 minutes (I think) after you disconnect the cable.
>
> Also, when we bought the eval kit, Altera had released a later version
> of the Quartus tool chain. Unfortunately, all of the example projects
> that were available were for the previous version of Quartus and would
> not build in the new version. We were on an aggressive schedule and the
> only option was to use the example project as a starting point and
> modify it for our project. It took a substantial amount of work from the
> Altera FAE to get their example project to build at all with the new
> tools. We got the project running and delivered. For a very expensive
> eval board ($2600 US) that was sold as a PCIe development system, I was
> very unimpressed with Altera's handling of this.
>
> BobH

Thank you for sharing your observations!

Are you sure you've been working with the very same (Arria II GX)
eval. board? The Arria II GX has a hard PCIe IP core and the
documentation for the PCI Express Compiler says:

"OpenCore Plus hardware evaluation is not applicable to the hard IP
implementation
of the IP Compiler for PCI Express. You can use the hard IP
implementation of this IP
core without a separate license."

Can you tell me which Quartus version did you use for your project?
I've been working on another PCI Express project with an Altera
Stratix II GX eval. board using Quartus II 9.0 and setting up the
example design was relatively painless. Unfortunately, that kit is no
longer available.

Regards,
Zsolt

On 11/5/2011 9:18 AM, zsolt.garamvolgyi wrote:
> On nov. 5, 15:49, BobH<wanderingmetalhead.nospam.ple...@yahoo.com>
> wrote:
>> On 11/4/2011 4:15 AM, zsolt.garamvolgyi wrote:
>>> Hi,
>>
>>> I'm looking for an FPGA-based PCI Express development board which is
>>> capable of transmitting data at about 1.4 GByte/sec to the host
>>> computer (PCIe Gen1 x8 or Gen2 x4/x8).
>>
>>> Further considerations:
>>> 1. included IDE license
>>> 2. included PCIe IP core license, which is also valid for other
>>> designs based on the same FPGA
>>> 3. minimal HW complexity (i.e., the smaller the FPGA, the better)
>>> 4. price
>>
>>> My current candidate is the Altera Arria II GX FPGA Development Kit
>>> (although I'm not sure if the IP core license which comes with it is
>>> not only for evaluation).
>>> http://www.altera.com/products/devkits/altera/kit-aiigx-pcie.html
>>
>>> I would appreciate some information about your development experience
>>> with this board or other boards which satisfy the above requirements.
>>> Thank you for your time!
>>
>> I did a project with this eval board a couple of years ago. The IP
>> license for the PCIe core is for evaluation only, you have to keep the
>> programmer cable connected for the core to operate. It will run for
>> about 20 minutes (I think) after you disconnect the cable.
>>
>> Also, when we bought the eval kit, Altera had released a later version
>> of the Quartus tool chain. Unfortunately, all of the example projects
>> that were available were for the previous version of Quartus and would
>> not build in the new version. We were on an aggressive schedule and the
>> only option was to use the example project as a starting point and
>> modify it for our project. It took a substantial amount of work from the
>> Altera FAE to get their example project to build at all with the new
>> tools. We got the project running and delivered. For a very expensive
>> eval board ($2600 US) that was sold as a PCIe development system, I was
>> very unimpressed with Altera's handling of this.
>>
>> BobH
>
> Thank you for sharing your observations!
>
> Are you sure you've been working with the very same (Arria II GX)
> eval. board? The Arria II GX has a hard PCIe IP core and the
> documentation for the PCI Express Compiler says:
>
> "OpenCore Plus hardware evaluation is not applicable to the hard IP
> implementation
> of the IP Compiler for PCI Express. You can use the hard IP
> implementation of this IP
> core without a separate license."
>
> Can you tell me which Quartus version did you use for your project?
> I've been working on another PCI Express project with an Altera
> Stratix II GX eval. board using Quartus II 9.0 and setting up the
> example design was relatively painless. Unfortunately, that kit is no
> longer available.

You are correct, it was the Stratix II GX with the PCIe soft core. This 
project was done in the spring of 2009 and my memory is not great. I 
have changed jobs and have been working with Xilinx mostly in my new role.

I think, and I am not sure on this, but I think that the Quartus 
transition was 8.x to 9.0. Once the correct IP was obtained, the project 
went OK, but the demo project for the 8.x would not function with the 
9.0 Quartus without significant thrashing. The demo stuff that shipped 
with the kit was definitely for the older version.

Sorry for the confusion,

BobH

On Nov 4, 1:15=A0pm, "zsolt.garamvolgyi" <zsolt.garamvol...@gmail.com>
wrote:
> Hi,
>
> I'm looking for an FPGA-based PCI Express development board which is
> capable of transmitting data at about 1.4 GByte/sec to the host
> computer (PCIe Gen1 x8 or Gen2 x4/x8).
>
> Further considerations:
> 1. included IDE license
> 2. included PCIe IP core license, which is also valid for other
> designs based on the same FPGA
> 3. minimal HW complexity (i.e., the smaller the FPGA, the better)
> 4. price
>
> My current candidate is the Altera Arria II GX FPGA Development Kit
> (although I'm not sure if the IP core license which comes with it is
> not only for evaluation).http://www.altera.com/products/devkits/altera/ki=
t-aiigx-pcie.html
>
> I would appreciate some information about your development experience
> with this board or other boards which satisfy the above requirements.
> Thank you for your time!
>
> Regards,
> Zsolt

In our experience Altera's hard IP PCIe core present in StratixIV GX
and in ArriaII GX is broken rather badly.
That is, you can find certain hosts where it appears to work most of
the time, but that's exception rather than rule.
Soft IP core in these devices works relatively better, but still badly
violates power up timing specifications defined in the PCIe standard,
so we generally prefer to plug it into slots that support hot plug,
since such slots are typically more tolerant to this sort of timing
violations. Unfortunately for you, you want x8 slot. x8 slots with
support for hot plug are significantly rarer than x4/x1 slots.

Overall, if you decided to go with Altera, the most robust combination
is old StatixII GX + soft PCIe core + Quartus 9.1 Sp1 or Sp2.

BTW, even on x8 Gen1, hitting 1.4 GB/s  in the read direction will be
very very hard  (but it sounds like you don't need it). Hitting 1.4 GB/
s in  in write direction is significantly easier, but still non-
trivial, esp. if you want to work with default 256B packets size.