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From: General Schvantzkoph on 7 Jan 2010 16:45 On Thu, 07 Jan 2010 13:33:43 -0800, emeb wrote: > On Jan 7, 1:01 pm, General Schvantzkoph <schvantzk...(a)yahoo.com> wrote: > >> One reason to get an iCore7 is that it can hold 12G of RAM at >> reasonable prices. The large members of the V5 family need more than >> 8G, the LX300 uses 10G for example. If you are only using smaller FPGAs >> then 8G is fine. I wouldn't consider anything less than 8G these days. >> >> You also need a 64bit OS. If you must use Windows then get a 64 bit >> version. > > Interesting - what version of ISE are you basing this on? I'm using > 10.1.3 to build against a V5 SX95T in only 4G on a Linux X86_64 system > and not running into any memory issues. > > Eric The SX95 is substantially smaller then the LX330 so it's entirely possible that it will run in 4G. My memory usage number is using ISE 11.1 on Fedora 12. I seem to remember that it was even higher with 10.1. In any event it makes no sense having less than 8G these days, RAM is cheap. Most people don't use the biggest FPGAs, I have an LX330 board that I use for ASIC prototyping which is why I've run into the memory limits.
From: HT-Lab on 8 Jan 2010 04:10 "whygee" <yg(a)yg.yg> wrote in message news:hi5896$h18$1(a)speranza.aioe.org... > hi, > > Tom Kotwal wrote: >> - Core 2 Duo vs i7? > depends if you can find a laptop with it. > It seems to be quite worth it but the i7 is much > more expensive... It may have changed since the > last time I've looked, This month edition of PCPro (UK edition but I believe they use the same articles worldwide) tested 12 of the latest laptops and the winner is the Dell Studio 15 which comes with a 1.6GHz Core I7-720QM. According to the article the �653 (ex. VAT) Dell Studio beats many �2000 high-end Core2 laptops in performance. Unfortunately the battery life is not that great but then again I don't think you will be running a P&R session at the airport :-) Hans. www.ht-lab.com Intel has just announced > i7 derivatives (i5 and i3 from memory, look /.) > for desktops and laptops. > >> - How important is cache size? > very. So choose the laptop with the largest L2 & L3, > over raw speed : being memory access dependent, > many P&R algos will stall the CPU... > Also those algos are difficult to parallelize > so don't waste money on a quad-core, > one core will be busy with P&R while the other > will remain for the OS GUI. > > Oh, I think that some Toshiba have 2 (two !) > disk drive slots. Might be interesting in RAID :-) > >> - How much memory should I get? Is 4GB enough? > should be, add some swap too. > Check that your OS supports as much (well, the recent > kernels support at least 64GB but MS's marketing department has > crippled actual /use/ of detected RAM, see a past /. article). > But FAST memory and several channels are recommended. > Bandwidth and access time are to be preferred. > > With small designs on Actel, I have seen that I don't > consume as much memory as I thought. Like 500M peak or so... > Vista consumes about as much :-D > Now I have not succeeded in running it under Linux > but I expect much more comfort. > > ... > > I'm currently going the other route with a /small/ ACER ONE netbook > (Atom dual-thread CPU, XP and single DDR2 slot upgraded to 2GB) > so I can S&P&R in travel. I wonder what the results will be, > compared to the somewhat bulkier Toshiba with a Core2 > at the same CPU speed. Price and size have been halved, however :-) > > But given that most of the time is lost clicking the same dialogs > all the time, and that those damn antiviruses/toolbars/indexers/GUI widgets > waste RAM&cycles, I don't expect a big difference... > The much smaller size and the lower price make it more like > a commodity, something replaceable and that can be carried along... > >> Thanks! > happy hacking, > >> -Tom > yg > > -- > http://ygdes.com / http://yasep.org
From: whygee on 8 Jan 2010 07:12 HT-Lab wrote: > "whygee" <yg(a)yg.yg> wrote in message news:hi5896$h18$1(a)speranza.aioe.org... >> hi, >> >> Tom Kotwal wrote: >>> - Core 2 Duo vs i7? >> depends if you can find a laptop with it. >> It seems to be quite worth it but the i7 is much >> more expensive... It may have changed since the >> last time I've looked, > > This month edition of PCPro (UK edition but I believe they use the same articles > worldwide) tested 12 of the latest laptops and the winner is the Dell Studio 15 > which comes with a 1.6GHz Core I7-720QM. According to the article the £653 (ex. > VAT) Dell Studio beats many £2000 high-end Core2 laptops in performance. > Unfortunately the battery life is not that great but then again I don't think > you will be running a P&R session at the airport :-) OK so there are i7 laptops that don't cost an arm and a leg, great :-) But then, the battery life is more important for me when i'm "away" (like, a couple of weeks, once a year or so...) because electricity can become very scarce. I spend maybe several minutes in P&R but I spend much more time ckicking my way through those damned dialogs... http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2490/3840160076_f178850077_b.jpg yes it's me under the tree, next to the tent, with 2 laptops... I also use them in the coach/bus (24h trip) so capacity is critical ;-) I'll try to hack a big LiIon pack for the laptops and I even plan to bring several solar panels next year :-) Whatever/However it looks, that's my most productive period in the year. I assume that the lack of Internet access is somewhat related to this increase... :-) wow, things have evolved so much in 10 or 15 years... > Hans. > www.ht-lab.com yg -- http://ygdes.com / http://yasep.org
From: Maik H. on 8 Jan 2010 07:48 On Thu, 07 Jan 2010 13:33:43 -0800, emeb wrote: > On Jan 7, 1:01 pm, General Schvantzkoph <schvantzk...(a)yahoo.com> wrote: > >> One reason to get an iCore7 is that it can hold 12G of RAM at >> reasonable prices. The large members of the V5 family need more than >> 8G, the LX300 uses 10G for example. If you are only using smaller FPGAs >> then 8G is fine. I wouldn't consider anything less than 8G these days. >> >> You also need a 64bit OS. If you must use Windows then get a 64 bit >> version. > > Interesting - what version of ISE are you basing this on? I'm using > 10.1.3 to build against a V5 SX95T in only 4G on a Linux X86_64 system > and not running into any memory issues. > > Eric Xilinx also has a memory recommendation page. It's quite useful if you plan to dimension a pc for a specific device. http://www.xilinx.com/ise/products/memory.htm -- Regards, Maik H. <insert_my_first_name_here>@elektronensturm.de
From: Tom Kotwal on 8 Jan 2010 09:39
Thanks everyone for all the good advice. Its been a big help. A Dell Studio 15 had been at the top of my list already, and you've helped me to confirm that it will do the job nicely. The only remaining question I have is how Xilinx tools are on Windows 7. ISE doesn't officially support it, but I would imagine that it would still work. Does anyone have any personal experience with this? Thanks again. -Tom |