PCIe to PCI bridge

I don’t think that the standard hard IPs support switching port functionality, so you have to go to a 3rd party for a soft IP solution. We are currently evaluating northwest logic (http://nwlogic.com) Expresso 3.0 core, and I’d suggest you ask them for switch/bridge port options for both PCIe and PCI.

– Matthias

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I am looking for some IPs that support Bridging between PCIe to PCI bus. But from the Altera IP list, I could not find any.

Anyone has any recommendation on 3rd party IP? Or the PCIe Compiler in mega wizard is able to do that?

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If you can afford the PCB real-estate, I would recommend using an external bridge IC. They are inexpensive, have more functions than your typical IP cores, and are 'instant on', so there is no issue meeting the PCI 100ms reset requirement. PLX, Pericom, and TI all have parts. Eg.,

http://www.plxtech.com/products/expresslane/bridges

If you are interfacing to PCIe, then I believe the PEX 8311 is a PCIe-to-PCI bridge plus a PLX9056 PCI-to-local bus bridge. The local bus is pretty simple to interface to, and hides all the transaction details on the PCI buses from you.

There are also PowerPC PowerQUICC III processors with PCIe and PCI interfaces. These devices are inexpensive relative to a high-end FPGA, so again, if you have the PCB real-estate, they might be a good solution.

Cheers,

Dave