EP2AGX45DF29C5N

EP2AGX45DF29C5N Arria II GX FPGA IC 364 3517440 42959 

The EP2AGX45DF29C5N is a mid-range FPGA from Intel (formerly Altera) belonging to the Arria® II GX family, fabricated on a 40 nm process and housed in a 780-ball FineLine BGA (29 mm x 29 mm) package. This device is engineered to balance high-speed serial connectivity with cost-effective logic density, making it a versatile solution for applications requiring robust signal processing and protocol bridging. It features 42,959 logic elements (LEs) and 3.5 Mbits of embedded RAM, providing substantial resources for complex digital designs. With 8 integrated transceiver channels capable of operating at speeds up to 6.375 Gbps, it supports key industry standards like PCIe Gen1, Gigabit Ethernet, and CPRI out-of-the-box. The core voltage operates at 0.87 V to 0.93 V, with I/O banks supporting 1.5 V to 3.3 V for flexible interfacing, and is rated for commercial temperature ranges (0°C to +85°C).

EP2AGX45DF29C5N Arria II GX FPGA Selection Advantages

Choosing the EP2AGX45DF29C5N offers a distinct balance of serial bandwidth and logic economy. Its primary advantage lies in providing hardened transceiver IP at a mid-range price point, eliminating the need for external SERDES chips and reducing total system cost. The mature 40 nm technology ensures lower static power than competing FPGAs of its era, which is critical for thermally constrained embedded systems. Furthermore, its compatibility with Intel's Quartus II (and modern Quartus Prime with legacy support) software ecosystem provides access to a vast library of IP cores (PCIe, Ethernet, DDR3), drastically cutting development time for standard interfaces compared to building from scratch in a pure FPGA fabric.

Alternative FPGA Models

● EP2AGX65DF29C5N (Intel): A pin-compatible upgrade within the same family offering higher logic density (65K LEs) and more memory for designs that have outgrown the 45K capacity.

● EP2AGX45DF25C5N (Intel): A smaller-footprint variant in a 572-pin FineLine BGA (25x25 mm) for space-constrained applications requiring similar transceiver capability but with reduced I/O count.

● XC6SLX45 (Xilinx Spartan-6): A cost-optimized competitor lacking integrated 6G transceivers but offering similar logic density and low-power operation for applications needing only LVDS serial links.

● XC6VLX75T (Xilinx Virtex-6 LXT): A higher-performance alternative with similar 6G transceiver counts and significantly more DSP slices, targeting more demanding signal processing tasks.