Hi everyone, I am newbie in FPGA; recently I decide to buy a FPGA board to study. I am considering two boards:
- Virtex-4 MB (DS-KIT-4VLX60MB) with XC4VLX60 formatting link
- Virtex-4 ML405 Embedded Platform (HW-V4-ML405-US) with XC4VFX20 formatting link
My main target is to demonstrate some base-band demodulation systems (or part of it) such as Wireless LAN, and DSP. Easy-to-use and popular interface to PC and other board are also important.
Several things that I am really confused here:
-Price: Board 1 is cheaper. Correct me if I wrong, board 1 use standard RS-232 interface to console, while the kits from Xilinx using PC platform cable (adding ~140USD).
-Performance: the different between LX and FX. Number of gates and slices in board 1 is larger than that in board 2. However, board 2 equips the embedded micro-processor, which may be interesting for studying and demonstrate.
My feeling is that board 2 is just "a kit" and would be nice for studying and demo, while board 1 is more like "a development board".
Please point out other things I should consider. I really need your opinions. I really appreciate that. Thanks in advance.