spartan 3 vs virtex 2

Did you have a look at the datasheets?

Hi,

I have seen that the spartan-3 has no power pc core and only upto 5M Gates and less onchip RAM.

Are these the main differences?

What is the disadvantage of a software implemented processor in comparison to the virtex-2 power pc?

What are the main advanteges of the virtex-II compared to the Spartan-3?

regards, Benjamin

The Virtex Family can also run on a higher clock rate.

I want to play a little bit around with digital communication applications, like spread spectrum. Should I start with a virtex or a spartan-3?

regards, Benjamin

Mostly

Speed, power and LUT usage

You have listed them above.

The main disadvantages are:

- higher price

- No TQFP package abailable

Bye

Look at the available evaluation boards, their prices and their capabilities and compare with the capabilities you expect and the price you are willing to pay.

Bye

Let me explain from a Xilinx perspective: Virtex wants to bring you the highest performnce, most features, up tothe largest size, at a reasonable price. Spartan wants to bring you the lowest possible price, with reasonable performanc and feature set and size. Or to put it another way: Virtex is faster, has more features and extends to larger chips, but is more expensive. Spartan is cheaper, but lacks some speed, features, and does not extend that far.

That said, there are lots of simularities, especially between Virtex-II and Spartan3. Peter Alfke, Xilinx Applications.

So does it mean that if my design size is less than 5M (xilinx gates ;-)) and i am not using the specific features of virtex-II then will I get the same performance in both spartenIII and virtex2???

Hi,

I think the virtex-2 still has a faster clock, besides that I think you are right. Maybe some special DSP implementations need more gates on the Spartan, because it doesnt have as much special DSP functionality...

regards, Ben

But I guess Spartan III has "more bang for the buck" :-)

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