spartan 3 vs virtex 2

Hi,

what are the main differences between these two fpga's. I havent found a 
clear statement about that on the xilinx website.

regards,
Benjamin 

"Benjamin Menk?c" <benjamin@menkuec.de> wrote:
> Hi,

> what are the main differences between these two fpga's. I havent found a 
> clear statement about that on the xilinx website.

Did you have a look at the datasheets?

-- 
Uwe Bonnes                bon@elektron.ikp.physik.tu-darmstadt.de

Institut fuer Kernphysik  Schlossgartenstrasse 9  64289 Darmstadt
--------- Tel. 06151 162516 -------- Fax. 06151 164321 ----------

Hi,

I have seen that the spartan-3 has no power pc core and only upto 5M Gates 
and less onchip RAM.

Are these the main differences?

What is the disadvantage of a software implemented processor in comparison 
to the virtex-2 power pc?

What are the main advanteges of the virtex-II compared to the Spartan-3?

regards,
Benjamin 

The Virtex Family can also run on a higher clock rate.

I want to play a little bit around with digital communication applications, 
like spread spectrum. Should I start with a virtex or a spartan-3?

regards,
Benjamin 

"Benjamin Menk?c" <benjamin@menkuec.de> wrote:
> Hi,

> I have seen that the spartan-3 has no power pc core and only upto 5M Gates 
> and less onchip RAM.

> Are these the main differences?

Mostly

> What is the disadvantage of a software implemented processor in comparison 
> to the virtex-2 power pc?

Speed, power and LUT usage

> What are the main advanteges of the virtex-II compared to the Spartan-3?

You have listed them above.

The main disadvantages are:
- higher price
- No TQFP package abailable

Bye
-- 
Uwe Bonnes                bon@elektron.ikp.physik.tu-darmstadt.de

Institut fuer Kernphysik  Schlossgartenstrasse 9  64289 Darmstadt
--------- Tel. 06151 162516 -------- Fax. 06151 164321 ----------

"Benjamin Menk?c" <benjamin@menkuec.de> wrote:
> The Virtex Family can also run on a higher clock rate.

> I want to play a little bit around with digital communication applications, 
> like spread spectrum. Should I start with a virtex or a spartan-3?

Look at the available evaluation boards, their prices and their capabilities
and compare with the capabilities you expect and the price you are willing
to pay.

Bye
-- 
Uwe Bonnes                bon@elektron.ikp.physik.tu-darmstadt.de

Institut fuer Kernphysik  Schlossgartenstrasse 9  64289 Darmstadt
--------- Tel. 06151 162516 -------- Fax. 06151 164321 ----------

Let me explain from a Xilinx perspective:
Virtex wants to bring you the highest performnce, most features, up
tothe  largest size, at a reasonable price.
Spartan wants to bring you the lowest possible price, with reasonable
performanc and feature set and size.
Or to put it another way:
Virtex is faster, has more features and extends to larger chips, but is
more expensive.
Spartan is cheaper, but lacks some speed, features, and does not extend
that far.

That said, there are lots of simularities, especially between Virtex-II
and Spartan3.
Peter Alfke, Xilinx Applications.

So does it mean that if my design size is less than 5M (xilinx gates
;-)) and i am not using the specific features of virtex-II then  will I
get the same performance in both spartenIII and virtex2???

Hi,

I think the virtex-2 still has a faster clock, besides that I think you are 
right. Maybe some special DSP implementations need more gates on the 
Spartan, because it doesnt have as much special DSP functionality...

regards,
Ben 

Read my lips:
I saird: "Virtex-II is faster".
Peter Alfke

digari@dacafe.com wrote:
> So does it mean that if my design size is less than 5M (xilinx gates
> ;-)) and i am not using the specific features of virtex-II then  will
I
> get the same performance in both spartenIII and virtex2???