Monday, October 21, 2013

Cyclone V needs Windows 64-bit

Seeing Cyclone V architecture is almost like a dream comes true, at least for me.  If you told me that this will be the Cyclone V architecture ten years ago, I would laugh at you right away, “Are you sure you are not talking about Stratix?”

By the way, your fear is true, Quartus II compilation for Cyclone V FPGA device requires Windows 64-bit OS.  I had tried to compile a few designs targeting Cyclone V FPGA using a 32-bit Windows 7 Professional laptop with 4Gbytes memory, it all ended with failure due to out of memory.  In fact, one of the designs was a relatively small design with around 1800 logic elements using the smallest Cyclone V GX device 5CGXFC3BF7F23C8.

Anyway, this is not a nightmare.  You just need to plan ahead by preparing yourself a PC with Windows 64-bit OS if you are serious in using any Cyclone V device in your new design. 

Well, compiling a simple 32-bit counter won’t crash, though.