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Altera_Forum's avatar
Altera_Forum
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16 years ago

Best QuartusII version for Stratix I

Hi,

I am in charge for developing firmware for an old custom board that has a Stratix I on it.

My question is: "What version of QuartusII is best matched for targeting a Stratix I?".

Three years ago, I started with QuartusII 5.0, then upgraded to 7.1 to cut the compile time from 1 hour to 30 minutes. Now, I use 9.0, because I also develop firmware for newer devices.

The reason for my question is that I have been told by many people that certain versions of Quartus II are optimized for certain chips. For example, I have heard 9.0 is for Stratix IV devices, etc.

Am I worrying about nothing? Performance does matter, because my design utilizes a large portion of the chip (~70%) and I am on the edge of meeting timing, etc.

Thanks,

ninjaben

3 Replies

  • Altera_Forum's avatar
    Altera_Forum
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    16 years ago

    I would use the latest. What they probably mean is most of the testing is done for the newer chips, and new algorithms are probably not put in or tested for older devices. At the end of the day, I've never heard of any large disadvantage going to a newer version, but have seen many disadvantages sticking with an old version.

    One thing that does occur, is that each release has a lot of changes. Ideally they make the fitter better, but they might fix a bug or something like that. Altera will run a suite of designs for each version, and hopefully the average result gets better, and at worst stays the same. If things get worse they try to investigate why and weigh the pros/cons of whether to go with whatever hurts, assuming it can't be fixed. Anyway, the point is that it's always an average, and that means many designs get faster and those people never complain and assume that's just natural progress, while some designs get slower. There's always a slew of complaints like this. It would be nice if every design got faster with every release, but probably just not possible. So you might hear people say a new version is doing a worse job, but quite often that's because it's a single data point.
  • Altera_Forum's avatar
    Altera_Forum
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    16 years ago

    So far I've always come out ahead by moving my designs to the latest tools. Typically you get an fmax increase, or logic reduction and of course any bug fixes and feature enhancements.

    Jake
  • Altera_Forum's avatar
    Altera_Forum
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    16 years ago

    this thread should be a sticky, some good advice from some very knowledgeable guys. :D

    i recommend using the newest versions of the software for the reasons mentioned. its also important to provide feedback if you do find bugs in the software.