Terasic FPGA Dev Board - Altera DE2-115 vs SoCKit

[Madsaaby]

Hey Guys

Just started Uni for the EE education. And I'm starting to learn VHDL in my spare time, so I think I should get an FPGA Dev. board (I will need it later on anyway ).

The truth is that I know too little (NOTHING) about FGPA's to feel confident that I have chosen the correct board
But I had a look around, and I think Altera's software and FPGA's are very nice.

More specific, I'm thinking of getting the "Altera DE2-115" by Terasic.
http://www.terasic.com.tw/cgi-bin/page/archive.pl?Language=English&CategoryNo=139&No=502

But I did also look at the "SoCKit" also by Terasic.
http://www.terasic.com.tw/cgi-bin/page/archive.pl?Language=English&CategoryNo=167&No=816

My question is:
Can the "Cyclone V SX SoC" on the SoCkit be used as a regular FPGA, similar to the one on the DE2..
So that I could just forget about the "ARM Cortex-A9" inside of it, until I learn how to use it ? It seems like a powerful feature I think, without knowing a thing about it Or, is the FPGA dependent on the ARM ?

The answer might be obvious, but I couldn't really seem to find it anywhere

The price is $ 300 for either, but the DE-2 is double the price without the student-discount (there is none on the SoCkit)
So I thought maybe the DE-2 is the better one  

Anyways, that was just my thoughts ......   

What do you guys think is the better choice ? I'm open to other suggestions as well of course, But < $300 if possible


Best regards
-Mads

[tanstaafl]

Look at the picture under specification for the cyclone V one... it's a normal fpga + a arm based hard processor...

As for which one to get? I would get the cyclone V one but depends on what you need, from my quick look it looks like some of the peripherals are connected to the arm cpu and not the fpga?

cyclone V is also a much more modern 28 nm family vs the cyclone II  90 nm

[marshallh]

Get the DE2

It has peripherals you will actually be able to use. There is tons of sample code floating around the net for that board.


Stay away from the Sockit until you are better acquainted with FPGAs. The complexity of the device is staggering. The ARM is nice but it's completely useless to you. I'm no newbie with them and even the CycloneV on there is pretty intimidating. (I have one, btw)

Until you actually know what you want/need, I would actually get a DE0 to play around with. Cheaper and less to deal with.

[Madsaaby]

Look at the picture under specification for the cyclone V one... it's a normal fpga + a arm based hard processor...

As for which one to get? I would get the cyclone V one but depends on what you need, from my quick look it looks like some of the peripherals are connected to the arm cpu and not the fpga?

cyclone V is also a much more modern 28 nm family vs the cyclone II  90 nm

Thanks

Yeah, I saw that, but I wasn't sure how it all fitted together

I think it is like spilt in half, but it seems like the DE-2 got some more "stuff" (it's a Cyclone IV on the DE-2 btw)

[Madsaaby]

Get the DE2

It has peripherals you will actually be able to use. There is tons of sample code floating around the net for that board.


Stay away from the Sockit until you are better acquainted with FPGAs. The complexity of the device is staggering. The ARM is nice but it's completely useless to you. I'm no newbie with them and even the CycloneV on there is pretty intimidating. (I have one, btw)

Until you actually know what you want/need, I would actually get a DE0 to play around with. Cheaper and less to deal with.

Thank you, I was also afraid the ARM would do more harm than good Hehe

Well, the shipping cost is pretty scary, and I got the money now, so that's why I was looking at those 2. I probably don't when I start at the FPGA course.. HAHA

But I understand your point of getting the DE0

-MAds

[Madsaaby]

Thanks for your suggestions

I ordered the DE2-115 today... Soooo, I hope I can figure out how to use it

Cheers !
-Mads