How about Nexys4 K7 -- an affordable Kintex-7 based board

[wfjmueller]

Hi,

I really like the Nexys series boards, I've a Nexys2, a Nexys3 and a Nexys4 board.

Artix-7 FPFAs a fine, but Kintex-7 are about a factor two faster.
So I'd love to have an affordable Kintex-7 based board.

There are now several Nexys variants. but why not a

      Nexys4 K7

with a XC7K70T or even XC7K160T. When I look at the FPGA cost a see

   XC7A100T-1CSG324C   ~ $110
   XC7K70T-1FBG484C      ~ $120
   XC7K160T-1FBG484C   ~ $220

so a XC7K70T should be possible at a price tag still comparable to the current Nexys4 A7.

Maybe somebody from Digilent can comment on this.

Or users who'd like to buy such a board

 

             With best regards,     Walter

 

 

 

[zygot]

@wfjmueller

Oh there are a lot of possibilities.  A number of Kintex devices supported by Vivado without requiring a device license could make for a great board. I don't know if asking Digilent for something guarantees that they'll never do it is a rule but my experience suggests that it might be. Still, I'm with you. Unfortunately, Digilent seems to be on a ZYNQ or nothing phase lately or only interested in using a few low end devices rather than spending the time and effort to offer a good selection for customer's needs. Then again I suspect that Xilinx might have a big influence over what companies like Digilent can offer.

Anyway, I'm with you. I'd also like to see a non-ZYNQ board with interface connectors usable for something other than a student lab setting. 

But we're only a couple of guys deciding where to send money to; what do we know? We do have to understand that smaller companies have to be mindful of their mission and operate within that; well as at least companies not values at $10's of billions with no path to profitability on the horizon. 

Hope that by piling onto your post I haven't jinxed your hopes forever. In the meantime there are other vendors.

[JColvin]

Hi @wfjmueller,

I have passed your request on to our design engineers.

As an aside from a guy that answers forum questions and doesn't do any cost analysis or design or anything like that, one thing that I would offer to consider is that with a higher speed chip will come with higher speed/quality components and extra design work to make sure it works as intended. Couple that with margin and I imagine (again, just random forum person speculating) that the cost would not be quite as comparable to the Nexys A7 with the 100T chip as you might like. Certainly some components could be eliminated from the board, but it's hard to justify to the right people to make an essentially custom board that is notably different than all of the "Digilent style" products that have been made that maybe (if we're generous) 15 people on the forum are interested in, but there's no guarantee that what is created meets what the imagined product would be by those 15 people (and realistically they probably all want different things).

And on an extra side note, I'd also be okay with a non-Zynq board too.

Thanks,
JColvin

[wfjmueller]

Hi @JColvin,

true, there might be some additional cost, e.g. in a lower impedance power net and higher rated power converters. However,  the current Digilent portfolio has only quite expensive Kintex-7 boards like the Genesys 2 or the NetFPGA, both with a XC7K325T which is also beyond WebKit limits. What is imho missing is a mid-cost Kintex class board based on a XC7K70T in the $300 range, either in the Nexys4 or Arty line, or a XC7K160T in the $500 range as a follow-up of the Nexys Video as Atlys 3.

Thanks,   Walter