You will see this error message if another pin with 3.0V or 3.3V I/O standards is assigned next to the DCLK pin location in Cyclone® III and Cyclone® IV E devices in the QFP package and Cyclone® IV GX devices in the QFN package.
This restricts the proximity of selected I/O standard inputs and outputs to the DCLK pin on QFP (Cyclone® III and Cyclone® IV E) and QFN (Cyclone® IV GX) packages. For example, if an I/O uses 3.0V or 3.3V I/O standards, one pad of separation between the I/O and the DCLK for QFP and QFN packages must be separated. So you should be careful not to assign any pin with 3.0V or 3.3V I/O standards to the DCLK pin location. 2.5V I/O standards are allowed to be adjacent to the DCLK pin.
This I/O placement restriction minimizes noise coupling from neighboring I/Os to the DCLK pin. Therefore the Quartus® II software checks for this restriction.
If the problem pin has a very low toggle rate (e.g., reset pin), you can apply an I/O MAX TOGGLE RATE assignment of 0MHz on that single-ended pin to bypass this error message.
It is not advisable to apply an I/O MAX TOGGLE RATE setting of 0MHz to any actively switching pin. The pin placement rules in the Quartus® II software are enforced to ensure that noisy signals do not corrupt neighboring signals. If you use the I/O MAX TOGGLE RATE setting on switching pins to bypass these placement rules, your design may not function as intended.