Thread: cheapest FPGA?
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Old 05-13-2009, 12:23 PM
Mike Harrison
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Default cheapest FPGA?

I'm looking at a possible application and trying to figure the relative costs of FPGA/CPLD versus
MCU.
I can do it with a microcontroller, but the only MCUs with the hardware I need (TFT LCD controller)
tend to come with lots of other stuff (ethernet, large flash, USB etc.) which I don't need.

As it can be hard to get 'real' prices of FPGAs without talking to all the distis etc. I wonder if
anyone can suggest parts to look at .

Rough reqiurement is :

Cheapest in 100x qtys for total solution inc. config and power supply ( from 3.3v supply), below
about GBP5(US$7.5)
Not BGA
Readly available : ex-stock or sensible leadtimes (2 weeks)
A couple of RAM blocks, around 1K byte each
about 60 IOs, all 3.3v
30MHz clock
Logic equivalent to around 100 CPLD macrocells
Free or low cost (<$500) design software

The Xilinx S3A/AN-50 is the cheapest I've found so far, but is a a bit over-specced.
CPLDs seem to get expensive above 72 cells and don't tend to have RAM


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