Fun or no fun with Cyclone V Integrated ARM processors?

I have used both the Cyclone V SOC kit we received several months ago through an Arrow SOC class (made by terASIC)

and the Zynq platform.

In General, I like them better than the standard, DSP/FPGA through EMIF or some similar bus structure. You have direct access to the AXI/APB bus, so you bus interface may be much faster. The speed of the bus becomes less of an issue if you use PCIe. but it has more overhead requirement then AXI/APB

That being said, what they lack is a good graphics solution, so if you have a a high resolution screen, (or multiple displays), you are using a lot of your FPGA fabric just for the video out.

If high quality video is a requirement, then I still prefer the external solution. We have many IT OMAP w/FPGA designs under our belt, and currently have a iMX6 + Cyclone V design nearing completion, and a Zynq-> ASIC design nearing completion. (I'm a consulting working with multiple companies).

The OMAP is nice, since you can have a dedicated DSP doing the real time number crunching and the ARM doing OS stuff. But TI is currently a little behind the times on performance..(At least for chips non Tier 1's can get) The IMX6 is a good part, especially for graphics and have 1-4 ARM A9 cores. so you can scale into the part that fits your requirements.

Pete