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Altera_Forum
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18 years ago

Problem with fitting design in EP3C25 - Why do I use so many M9K blocks

Hi

I am trying to make a design with the new Cyclone III device (EP3C25F324C8), but I keep getting an error when I run the fitter. The fitter complains about that I use too many M9K blocks. I only use 211,304 memory bits which is 1/3 of the capacity so it seems like I only use a small portion of the bits in each block.

I only use blocks from SOPC builder in my design so I expect that the RAM is probably made in the design files. I use the following blocks which consumes much RAM

- NIOS CPU

- DDR SDRAM High performance controller

- 2 x Triple Ethernet Controller

- 4 x Scatter - Gather DMA controller

- 2 x on-chip memory (Descriptor memory)

- jtag UART

I have used the Triple speed ethernet design (TSE_SGDMA) for the EP2C35 development kit which is available in version 7.1 as a reference design.

From the text in the error it seems like each bit in some of the registers occupies a whole M9K block. I have tried to change the settings in Quartus II, but I cannot make the fitter work.

I have pasted a small portion of the text in the error below (I get around 1000 of the lines when i expand the error)

I have been told that it might be because Quartus II 7.1 is a preliminary version, but I do not know.

Does anybody know what I have to change?

Thanks

Tom

Error: Selected device has 66 RAM location(s) of type M9K. However, the current design needs more than 66 to successfully fit

Info: List of RAM cells constrained to M9K locations

Info: Node "MCE4025_cpu:inst|sgdma_tx1:the_sgdma_tx1|sgdma_tx1_m_readfifo:the_sgdma_tx1_m_readfifo|sgdma_tx1_m_readfifo_m_readfifo:the_sgdma_tx1_m_readfifo_m_readfifo|scfifo:sgdma_tx1_m_readfifo_m_readfifo_m_readfifo|scfifo_of01:auto_generated|a_dpfifo_vl01:dpfifo|altsyncram_otd1:FIFOram|q_b[24]"

Info: Node "MCE4025_cpu:inst|sgdma_tx1:the_sgdma_tx1|sgdma_tx1_m_readfifo:the_sgdma_tx1_m_readfifo|sgdma_tx1_m_readfifo_m_readfifo:the_sgdma_tx1_m_readfifo_m_readfifo|scfifo:sgdma_tx1_m_readfifo_m_readfifo_m_readfifo|scfifo_of01:auto_generated|a_dpfifo_vl01:dpfifo|altsyncram_otd1:FIFOram|q_b[25]"

Info: Node "MCE4025_cpu:inst|sgdma_tx1:the_sgdma_tx1|sgdma_tx1_m_readfifo:the_sgdma_tx1_m_readfifo|sgdma_tx1_m_readfifo_m_readfifo:the_sgdma_tx1_m_readfifo_m_readfifo|scfifo:sgdma_tx1_m_readfifo_m_readfifo_m_readfifo|scfifo_of01:auto_generated|a_dpfifo_vl01:dpfifo|altsyncram_otd1:FIFOram|q_b[26]"

Info: Node "MCE4025_cpu:inst|sgdma_tx1:the_sgdma_tx1|sgdma_tx1_m_readfifo:the_sgdma_tx1_m_readfifo|sgdma_tx1_m_readfifo_m_readfifo:the_sgdma_tx1_m_readfifo_m_readfifo|scfifo:sgdma_tx1_m_readfifo_m_readfifo_m_readfifo|scfifo_of01:auto_generated|a_dpfifo_vl01:dpfifo|altsyncram_otd1:FIFOram|q_b[27]"

Info: Node "MCE4025_cpu:inst|sgdma_tx1:the_sgdma_tx1|sgdma_tx1_m_readfifo:the_sgdma_tx1_m_readfifo|sgdma_tx1_m_readfifo_m_readfifo:the_sgdma_tx1_m_readfifo_m_readfifo|scfifo:sgdma_tx1_m_readfifo_m_readfifo_m_readfifo|scfifo_of01:auto_generated|a_dpfifo_vl01:dpfifo|altsyncram_otd1:FIFOram|q_b[28]"

Info: Node

12 Replies

  • Altera_Forum's avatar
    Altera_Forum
    Icon for Honored Contributor rankHonored Contributor

    Make sure the SR files something to have this fixed(rather than just fixing your problem and moving on). Naturally, this behavior doesn't look correct.

  • Altera_Forum's avatar
    Altera_Forum
    Icon for Honored Contributor rankHonored Contributor

    Sorry to bring up this topics again as I encountered the same issue with

    cyclone III starter kits.

    I am trying to build me project by modifying the example of "mandelbrot_c2h",

    however it fails as the design requires ~800 M9Ks. My modification should

    not that dramatic.

    Here is something I do not understand from Fitter report:

    jtag_uart: memory bits: 1024; M9K: 16

    altcyncram_3|31:fifo_ram: memory bits: 792; M9K: 99

    why the fitter used so many M9Ks for so little memory bits?

    Is there anything I am doing wrong in the configuration?

    Thanks a lot,