AN 738: Intel® Arria® 10 Device Design Guidelines

ID 683555
Date 6/30/2017
Public
Document Table of Contents

1.2.5. Speed Grade

The device speed grade affects the device timing performance and timing closure, as well as power utilization. Arria® 10 GX and SX devices are available in four transceiver speed grades: 1 (fastest), 2, 3, and 4. There are also three core fabric speed grades: 1 (fastest), 2, and 3. Arria® 10 GT devices have three transceiver speed grades: 2 (fastest), 3, and 4. There are also three fabric speeds: 1 (fastest), 2, and 3. One way to determine which speed grade your design requires is to consider the supported clock rates for specific I/O interfaces.

You can use the fastest speed grade during prototyping to reduce compilation time (because less time is spent optimizing the design to meet timing requirements), and then move to a slower speed grade for production to reduce cost if the design meets its timing requirements.