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Oliver_I_Sedlacek's avatar
Oliver_I_Sedlacek
Icon for Contributor rankContributor
3 years ago

What'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

  • FvM's avatar
    FvM
    Icon for Super Contributor rankSuper Contributor
    3 years ago
    Notice that Quartus Prime Pro has free license for Cyclone 10 GX. Cyclone 10 PCIe hard IP supports Gen2 x4 without additional license fee.
    • FvM's avatar
      FvM
      Icon for Super Contributor rankSuper Contributor
      3 years ago
      "but Quartus Prime Pro is expensive"
      ??? As stated, costs you $ 0 for Cyclone 10GX development.
  • Oliver_I_Sedlacek's avatar
    Oliver_I_Sedlacek
    Icon for Contributor rankContributor
    3 years ago

    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's avatar
      FvM
      Icon for Super Contributor rankSuper Contributor
      3 years ago
      "I really, really must be missing something."

      See download zone: "Intel® Cyclone® 10 GX device support (FREE, no license file required)"
    • Oliver_I_Sedlacek's avatar
      Oliver_I_Sedlacek
      Icon for Contributor rankContributor
      3 years ago

      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's avatar
    Wincent_Altera
    Icon for Regular Contributor rankRegular Contributor
    3 years ago

    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's avatar
      Oliver_I_Sedlacek
      Icon for Contributor rankContributor
      3 years ago

      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.

      • FvM's avatar
        FvM
        Icon for Super Contributor rankSuper Contributor
        3 years ago
        Still 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.
    • Oliver_I_Sedlacek's avatar
      Oliver_I_Sedlacek
      Icon for Contributor rankContributor
      3 years ago

      Is free mode any use to me? I'll give it a go when my PCIe development board turns up.

  • Wincent_Altera's avatar
    Wincent_Altera
    Icon for Regular Contributor rankRegular Contributor
    3 years ago

    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's avatar
    Wincent_Altera
    Icon for Regular Contributor rankRegular Contributor
    3 years ago

    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's avatar
      Oliver_I_Sedlacek
      Icon for Contributor rankContributor
      3 years ago

      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's avatar
    Oliver_I_Sedlacek
    Icon for Contributor rankContributor
    3 years ago

    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.