Forum Discussion
ContributorWhat's the cost of doing a PCIe design these days?
I've been tasked with migrating an existing PCIe design from a Cyclone IV GX to something we can actually buy these days, e.g. Cyclone 10 GX. Wheras previously device support was free in Quartus Lite, I now seem to need to buy a Pro license for $4000. Do I also have to pay for the PCIe IP? Adding a suitable development board at $1000+ means we're looking at $50 per unit when amortized over a couple of years of production. I can add quite a lot of silicon for $50!
21 Replies
FvMSuper Contributor
Notice that Quartus Prime Pro has free license for Cyclone 10 GX. Cyclone 10 PCIe hard IP supports Gen2 x4 without additional license fee.- Oliver_I_Sedlacek
Good to know the IP is included but Quartus Prime Pro is expensive
Wincent_AlteraRegular Contributor
Hi Oliver,
You may contact Intel Distributor for that.
Regards,
Wincent_Intel
- FvM"but Quartus Prime Pro is expensive"
??? As stated, costs you $ 0 for Cyclone 10GX development.
- Oliver_I_Sedlacek
I really, really must be missing something. A Pro license at nearly $4,000 is expensive. If there really is not cheaper way of doing PCIe these days then I can add a micro with Ethernet for $20.
- FvM"I really, really must be missing something."
See download zone: "Intel® Cyclone® 10 GX device support (FREE, no license file required)"
- Wincent_Altera
Hi Oliver,
As mention
You may contact Intel Distributor for that to discuss about the license package that Intel is offer.
Let me know if you have any further question
Regards,
Wincent_Intel
- Oliver_I_Sedlacek
Not having any joy on this at all. I'm trying to sign up with the FPGA Self-Service Licensing Center but by the time the activation codes arrive by email they've time expired. Alernatively if you're saying I need to buy a license off a distributor I'm back to it not being a cost effective way forward for the project.
Very frustrated.
- Wincent_Altera
Hi Oliver,
I understand your concern.
But the price is fixed and fair to all of our customers so that we can continue to develop and provide a good platform for all the designers/engineers who working at FPGA all around the world. It includes all of our fees such as debugging and new features development that full fill the fast acceleration of technology.
As a technical specialist, I do not have any access to product purchases/discounts.
Also, there might have a free trial license for Quartus Pro (if I am not mistaken)
If your needs are really strong, I would like to suggest you work with Intel's authorized distributor to get the best price and package that suit your current needs.
We are trying our best to help you and all of our customers. Let me know if you have any further concerns.
Regards,
Wincent_Intel
- Oliver_I_Sedlacek
Charging for support and IP makes complete sense, but I just don't get why Intel charges for Cyclone 10 GX support when you're in the business of selling chips. You've never charged for Cyclone IV GX or Cyclone V GX support, but we haven't been able to buy those for getting on for 4 years. As customers we're feeling really screwed over now. During the chip shortage we could make allowances but we need help digging out of the hole you've dropped us in.
- FvMStill don't understand what you are talking about. Quartus Prime Pro can be used for Cyclone 10 GX development without a license. You may additionally request a free license for Questa Intel Starter Edition simulator.
- Wincent_Altera
Hi Oliver,
Can you run the free mode ?
Regards,
Wincent_Intel
- Oliver_I_Sedlacek
Is free mode any use to me? I'll give it a go when my PCIe development board turns up.
- Wincent_Altera
Hi Oliver,
You can enter the free mode as it is supported Intel Cyclone 10 GX device. (what you are using)
Detail you may refer to link below
https://www.intel.com/content/www/us/en/docs/programmable/683472/21-4/evaluating-the-software.html
Regards,
Wei Chuan
- Wincent_Altera
Hi,
I wish to follow up with you about this case.
Do you have any further questions on this matter ?
Else I would like to have your permission to close this forum ticket
Regards,
Wincent_Intel
- Wincent_Altera
Hi
We have not hear from you and this Case is idling. It is not recommended to idle for too long.
Therefore following our support policy, I have to put this case in close status. My apologies if any inconvenience cause
Hence, This thread will be transitioned to community support.
If you have a new question, feel free to open a new thread to get support from Intel experts.
Otherwise, the community users will continue to help you on this thread. Thank you
If you feel your support experience was less than a 9 or 10,
please allow me to correct it before closing or let me know the cause so that I may improve your future support experience.
Regards,
Wincent_Intel
- Oliver_I_Sedlacek
It's taken me a couple of days to get through the login lottery. I've only just received my GX development board, so I'll be checking I can target the GX next week. I'm not idle, I'm very, very busy.
- Oliver_I_Sedlacek
So I looked for an example for my Cyclone 10 GX development board and I ended up at https://www.intel.com/content/www/us/en/design-example/714560/cyclone-10-gx-cvp-initialization-design-example.html
Not encouraging, Windows doesn't know quartus_sh, analysis fails because it found a QIP and a QSYS file with the same name and when I removed the QIP from the project and tried compiling Quartus crashed. Haven't found documentation to tell me what the example does so feeling very discouraged.
