Intel® Quartus® Prime Standard Edition User Guide: Power Analysis and Optimization

ID 683506
Date 9/24/2018
Public
Document Table of Contents

1.2. Power Estimations and Design Requirements

Power estimation and analysis helps you satisfy two important planning requirements:

  • Thermal—Thermal power is the power that dissipates as heat from the FPGA. Devices use a heatsink or fan to act as a cooling solution. This cooling solution must be sufficient to dissipate the heat that the device generates. Additionally, the computed junction temperature must fall within normal device specifications.
  • Power supply—Power supply is the power that the device needs to operate. Power supplies must provide adequate current to support device operation.
    Note: For power supply planning, use the EPE at early stages of the design cycle. When the design is complete, you can use the Power Analyzer reports for an estimate of design power requirement.

Thermal and supply power requirements are similar, but not identical, because there are elements outside the device that also contribute to power dissipation, such as terminator resistors.