A question about the block memory

It sounds like you are not using the M9Ks effeciently.

Each memory is either 9k bits (355 of them) or 144K (16 of them) Any bits or memory space that cannot be mapped will then be wasted.

Please read up on the memory architecture. M9Ks only has these configurations

1 bit x 8K addresses

2 x 4k

4 x 2k

8 or 9 x 1k

16 or 18 x 512

32 or 36 x 256

Any other configurations have to map to one of these, so an 8 bit dword would lose you 1k memory bits (as memories have a 9 bit input word).