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Altera_Forum's avatar
Altera_Forum
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15 years ago

how to make use of banks

I'm still new to CPLD's. I'm using a MAX II and I was wondering how to best make use of the two banks the device offers.

Apparently you can have different banks operate at different I/O voltage levels. Is this true?

If I only use one bank, can I still utilize all of the LE's in the device, or if I just use bank 1 for all of my pin I/O, will I be only able to use half of the devices' LEs?

Jason

2 Replies

  • Altera_Forum's avatar
    Altera_Forum
    Icon for Honored Contributor rankHonored Contributor
    15 years ago

    Welcome Jason,

    Your design can utilize the entire internal capabilities of the part regardless of the voltage levels on any of the banks.

    Think of the IO Banks as a sort of Voltage levle translator between the outside world and the internal logic of the FPGA.

    Good luck with you design efforts.

    Regards,

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  • Altera_Forum's avatar
    Altera_Forum
    Icon for Honored Contributor rankHonored Contributor
    15 years ago

    jason,

    Yes, the device's I/Os are grouped into serveral banks and each bank can have it's own I/O voltage (VCCIO).

    You can use all of the LEs (and other "core" resources), no matter how many I/O banks you use or what VCCIO you use.