Hi Jonathan, A couple of follow up questions (sorry for getting into nitty gritty you wanted to avoid!):
1) Are you actually using the HBM? You can get much cheaper FPGAs with similar DSP/BRAM resources without HBM (if you are using HBM, are you doing this via CASPER?!) 2) I've been using the VCU128 a bit - I'm working on a couple of projects with your ADC board now. I've not found any issues (yet!) with loading of code on power up, or with the 1Gb coming up - though I note that the 1Gb CASPER core for the VCU128 doesn't work properly (an init issue, it's on my list to fix that in the next couple of weeks). - Which set of libraries are you using, or are you working outside CASPER? 3) On the CASPER conference/busy week front: With the 100Gb, is that also a CASPER core? We currently have at least two in the CASPER libraries, and part of the busy week I want to try to either integrate or find a use case where one might use one or the other to reduce confusion for users - if you have a third (and it's open source) it would be good to merge that in as well! In terms of eval boards in general: I've fielded a few VCU128s and they're fine, but we're not running them in an extreme environment - just in labs / server rooms. I've previously had issues with other eval boards when trying to use them to maximum capacity - as Dan said, they're not really designed for it. In terms of other boards - which should be merged into the main branch after the busy week: We've put the HiTech Global HTG940 and HTG9200 boards into the CASPER library if either of those was useful. I would definitely recommend looking at Alpha Data as well - I've had good experiences with them so far, and I've recently put the ADA-SDEV-3 into CASPER [it has an FMC+ connector, but the FPGA might be too small for all 4 ADCs depending on what you want to do with the input/channel resolution required]. Cheers, Jonathon On Mon, 9 May 2022 at 10:41, Jack Hickish <jackhick...@gmail.com> wrote: > Hi Jonathan, > > On Mon, 9 May 2022 at 17:26, 'Jonathan Weintroub' via > casper@lists.berkeley.edu <casper@lists.berkeley.edu> wrote: > >> Hi CASPERites, >> >> At SAO we’ve been developing high performance instruments based on the >> Xilinx VCU128 evaluation board >> <https://www.xilinx.com/products/boards-and-kits/vcu128.html> and the >> Adsantec >> ASNT7123A <https://www.adsantec.com/product/asnt7122-kma-2-2/> 16 GS/s >> 4-bit direct flash ADC. Currently VCU128 is currently priced at >> $10,794/each (it’s gone up a bit like everything but this is still good or >> even incredible value) and the lead time per the prior page is 2-weeks, >> essentially ex-stock. Some time ago I had discussions with Xilinx and >> various distributors, and there was no obstruction to buying multiple piece >> quantities of the eval board. Though its not the last word on acquisition >> I’ll note that the XCVU37P-L2FSVH2892E, a very large and high performance >> DSP oriented Ultrascale+ FPGA with 8GB of HBM and 9,024 DSP slices, is >> listed at $90,786 and no lead time quoted (though I hear 12 months is not >> uncommon for FPGAs these days) at Digikey >> <https://www.digikey.com/en/products/detail/xilinx-inc/XCVU37P-L2FSVH2892E/10445689?utm_adgroup=Integrated%20Circuits&utm_source=google&utm_medium=cpc&utm_campaign=Dynamic%20Search_EN_Product&utm_term=&utm_content=Integrated%20Circuits&gclid=CjwKCAjw9-KTBhBcEiwAr19ig1z2w2nm58KUOcpYNY7njQ4XD2Ey-swFM0q8XFGSD_3hEU9LJdEwyxoCDEkQAvD_BwE> >> and >> other distributors. >> >> While our development with VCU128 has been very successful in terms of >> validating ADC performance, developing 100 Gbps Ethernet and various >> application firmware codes, we are hitting a variety of reliability and >> related issues with the VCU128. There is a bit of a laundry list of these, >> following are examples: The 1 Gbps Ethernet control port doesn’t always >> come up reliably and loading of FPGA codes can be intermittent on >> power-up. Looking more at electromechanical, we have concerns that the >> FMC+ high speed connector (which we use to connect a “mezzanine” ADC board >> to the FPGA) is not mechanically robust, and has no built in positive >> locking or similar mechanism. Also the eval board has quite of lot of >> circuitry we don’t need, notably the PCIe bus and connector, not in of >> itself a showstopper, however does interact with concerns we have about >> thermal design of the PCB and the impact on the overall system. >> >> With all of the above as background, and noting that at one time the >> VCU128 (and its predecessor the VCU118) has been suggested as a possibly >> viable CASPER-supported solution (I vaguely recall there was at one time a >> working group focused no eval boards generally), we are wondering what the >> broader experience of the collaboration has been? Has any group been >> successful at fielding a viable production instrument based on VCU128 or >> other eval board? Do the experiences reported in the second paragraph >> sound familiar to anyone? >> >> We are going down the path of custom hardware, but the addition of supply >> chain delays, and the impressive pricing noted above causes us to pause to >> poll for broader CASPER experiences. Also relevant here would be to hear >> if there are any hardware developments (SKARAB2?) available to us and >> potentially helpful? >> > > The VCU128 is certainly well-priced, but I would note that I have been > using the same vu37p FPGA in PCIe form-factor via the Alpha Data > ADM-PCIe-9H7 board, which was (when I ordered 18 months ago) cheaper than > the VCU128. I'm also quite enthusiastic about system-on-modules, which can > deliver very good low-quantity prices without too much NRE to implement > custom packaging. I've been playing with the iWave ZU11 SoM board with > success so far. > > Without knowing your requirements regarding NRE, lead-time, etc, my first > suggestion is to get in touch with a Xilinx-partnered vendor and start a > conversation with them. Maybe someone has what you need already, or maybe > they would consider it a small job to adapt one of their existing boards to > your needs. But what is almost certainly true is that the costs you will be > quoted will be nothing like the digikey chip prices. > > My personal opinion is that dev boards should be avoided in deployments > (particularly in harsh environments) since Xilinx will no-doubt turn their > back on you in the event you have issues. With a commercial vendor, you can > at least lay out expectations for performance and tech support going into > the project. I also find it hard to believe that it makes economic sense to > design anything completely in-house and pay retail FPGA prices, unless you > are big enough to have your own deal with Xilinx. > > Just my subjective and biased $0.02 though :) > > Jack > > >> >> I am working with various colleagues on this, notably Ranjani Srinivasan >> and Rick Raffanti, and they may weigh in here to fill in details, or >> correct anything I got wrong. But I hope the intent here is clear, not to >> get into the nitty gritty right away, but rather to discuss the bigger >> picture of viability of use of eval boards. >> >> Thanks for reading and thinking about this, and best wishes, >> >> Jonathan Weintroub >> >> >> >> >> >> >> >> >> >> >> >> >> >> -- >> You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups >> "casper@lists.berkeley.edu" group. >> To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an >> email to casper+unsubscr...@lists.berkeley.edu. >> To view this discussion on the web visit >> https://groups.google.com/a/lists.berkeley.edu/d/msgid/casper/F206962E-E777-473C-85B6-A502CBDBCF28%40cfa.harvard.edu >> <https://groups.google.com/a/lists.berkeley.edu/d/msgid/casper/F206962E-E777-473C-85B6-A502CBDBCF28%40cfa.harvard.edu?utm_medium=email&utm_source=footer> >> . >> > -- > You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups " > casper@lists.berkeley.edu" group. > To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an > email to casper+unsubscr...@lists.berkeley.edu. > To view this discussion on the web visit > https://groups.google.com/a/lists.berkeley.edu/d/msgid/casper/CAG1GKS%3DWgMcjU8U_5WSjV__dRMydhCGP0C2HHT1jPOqKLFFEEw%40mail.gmail.com > <https://groups.google.com/a/lists.berkeley.edu/d/msgid/casper/CAG1GKS%3DWgMcjU8U_5WSjV__dRMydhCGP0C2HHT1jPOqKLFFEEw%40mail.gmail.com?utm_medium=email&utm_source=footer> > . > -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "casper@lists.berkeley.edu" group. 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