Hello,
I am going to buy about five Spartan3 XC3S100Es along with config ROMs in the next few days. I may be ordering several hundred more parts in the coming months, but then again I may not be ordering any more. It all depends how successful the prototypes are.
I've never dealt with distributors before so the whole concept seems kind of foreign to me. I am not looking for someone to hold my hand in choosing parts or someone to help me build a working design or anything like that, I just want someone to ship me the parts I need. If only Amazon or Newegg sold FPGAs :D
Anyway I've checked the Nuhorizons, Digikey and Avnet online inventories. Only Nuhorizons has the XC3S100Es in stock, priced at 9.88 each. Since the price of these parts in big qty. is something like $2, I can't help but feel that the $9.88 price is kind of high.
Are there any alternatives to getting the parts I need without paying
400% markup? I'm not so concerned about the extra cost of the prototype parts, but more about the cost of the parts I may buy later.Is it pretty much a reality of the business that the small volume guy gets crapped on?