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Spartan3 prices again...

Sorry that I warm up this discussion again, but there was a thread a while ago on FPGA pricing. Someone complained that he could not get near the prices listet in the Xilinx press release. It was concluded that the time factor ("end of 2004") was overlooked and caused the confusion.

I just stumbled about this press release:

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It says: "Xilinx is new offering Spartan-3 FPGAs with 1 million system gates for under $12.00*,[...]" and again a few paragraphs later "The XC3S50, XC3S200, and XC3S400 Spartan-3 devices with 50,000,

200,000, and 400,000 system gates respectively are available for less than $6.50*."

well, the footnote axplains that these prices are valid at the end of

2004, but the text says these devices "ARE AVAlLABLE FOR $6.50" and Xilinx "IS OFFERING NOW FOR UNDER $12" Does anyone besides me have the feeling that this is not the right grammar to discribe a situation that is set one year in the future? Maybe the confusion was intended by the author?

Kolja Sulimma

Reply to
Kolja Sulimma
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At best, a press release will give you a (very) rough idea of what you'll actually end up paying for a part. Relying on this kind of information is one step above reading the entrails of chickens. And on occasion, I've had *better* results with the chickens.

If you think there's even a chance that you're going to be designing in a certain component, get a formal price quote from the salesman, rep, or distributor. And if you can't get a quote, maybe you can't get the part, either.

Bob Perlman Cambrian Design Works

Reply to
Bob Perlman

The issue was, that the formal quotes for pieces in 5k quantities where a factor of 20 above the prices quoted by Xilinx for 250k quantities. And nobody in this group really believed that you get a 95% volume discount.

It's not as bad in my case. I only have to pay a factor of 7 more for

1k quantities.

Kolja Sulimma

Reply to
Kolja Sulimma

If a formal quote for 5k pieces comes in at 20X a formal quote for

250k pieces, that's interesting information. But if a formal quote for 5k pieces is 20X the 250k price stated in a press release, that's hardly surprising.

Which is it? Any price you see in a press release should have a "j" after it.

Bob Perlman Cambrian Design Works

Reply to
Bob Perlman

"J" for joke?

A friend told me that the 50,000 piece price on the slowest XC3S400 in the FG456 package would be around $20. The press releases are talking about the "smallest" package and 250,000 quantities giving a price around $5. I don't know what the "smallest" package is, but I would like to meet the guy who is getting the $5 price. Seems to me the whole point of the Spartan 3 chips is low price. They are not faster, or lower power or anything else other than cheap. If they don't come in below the competition, what good are they? Heck, with three power supplies and very touchy IO voltage specs, they seem to me like a PITA to design in!

Reply to
Ralph Malph

"J" as in "imaginary number." EEs employ "j" instead of "i" because we use the latter for current.

Bob Perlman Cambrian Design Works

Reply to
Bob Perlman

And from my last insight quote for the xc3s200 the smallest package is three Euro more expensive than the FT256 (VQ100 is smaller both in dimension and in pincount than FT256)

Kolja Sulimma

Reply to
Kolja Sulimma

Maybe the mean "smallest" in price?

Reply to
Ralph Malph

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