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The Real-PCI Story

• Real Compliance
• Real Flexibility
• Real Performance
• Real Availability

Supported EDA Tools
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PCI Databook 1999

The Real-PCI Story

PCI (Peripheral Component Interconnect) has become one of the most popular bus standards, not only for personal computers, but also for industrial computers, communication switches, routers, and instrumentation. It solves a wide range of compatibility problems and performance limitations that were encountered with the older ISA and VME standards.

However, PCI is also a significant design challenge; the stringent electrical, functional, and timing specifications are difficult to meet in any technology-and the standard keeps evolving to meet the dynamic needs of our industry. That's why you need a flexible PCI solution that will meet both your current and future requirements, while guaranteeing full PCI compliance with no limitations on performance or functionality.

Our first LogiCORE PCI product was released in January, 1996. Now, our PCI cores have been proven in over 1000 customer designs, clearly demonstrating that Real-PCI from Xilinx is the most flexible and cost-effective solution for your fully-compliant, high-performance PCI system. The facts on this story are described below.

Real Compliance

Our PCI cores are fully verified using our industry-proven testbench that simulates over six million unique PCI cycles. We also characterize our PCI cores together with our FPGAs to verify not only maximum timing, but also minimum and hold timing. Then, when we know that the timing constraints are met, we apply our unique Smart-IP technology to ensure that you achieve the same timing and functionality every time you implement the core. Thanks to our regular FPGA architecture with segmented routing using a modular core architecture, where the FIFOs, DMA channels, and the unique back-end logic de-coupled from the core, your design will not affect the PCI interface timing.

Real Flexibility

Our PCI cores are targeted to our standard off-the-shelf FPGAs which were designed to be PCI compliant. This gives you a range of device sizes and packages to choose from, allowing you to integrate a fully-compliant target/initiator PCI interface, scalable dual-port FIFOs, customizable DMA channels, and 7,000 to 2 million system gates of your own unique logic, all on a single device, for the lowest possible cost.

Because the FPGA is programmable, you can adapt to future needs and changes in the PCI standard by reconfiguring the FPGA device on your board. Moreover, by using our Silicon Xpresso technology, you can even program and verify design changes, at your customer's location, over the Web, significantly extending the lifetime of your design.

Real Performance

All Xilinx PCI cores operate at maximum throughput, with 0 wait-state bursts. For example, the Xilinx Real 64/66 PCI solution allows you to create 64-bit PCI systems that operate up to 66 MHz, delivering a sustained throughput of up to 528 Mbytes per second, the maximum performance you can get from PCI. Our PCI 32/33 cores supports up to 132 Mbytes per second.

Real Availability

Real-PCI is here today. It includes a complete family of LogiCORE designs that are fully characterized for our Virtex-E, Virtex, SpartanXL, Spartan, and XC4000XLA FPGAs. By using our standard, off-the-shelf FPGAs, you benefit from our large scale manufacturing, leading-edge silicon processes, excellent quality and testability, and lower manufacturing costs. Plus, Real-PCI is not just cores and devices, it's also a complete system of development tools, support services, and third-party Xilinx-authorized XPERTS to help you every step of the way.

Supported EDA Tools

	Synopys FPGA Compiler and FPGA Express
	Exemplar Leonardo Spectrum
	Synplicity Synplify
	Aldec Active VHDL
	Model Technology ModelSim

Ordering Information

PCI Databook 1999

Click here to download the 1999 PCI Databook.

More Information

PCI Special Interest Group

Bringing the PCI bus to Embedded Computing

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