The process of building a computer begins with selecting a motherboard, and it is a critical stage. It is the motherboard that controls the distribution of electricity from your power supply and specifies the types of storage devices, memory modules, and graphics cards (among other expansion devices) that may be attached to your computer when everything is linked to the CPU.

There are a few expansion slots on most current Intel motherboards, which may house performance-critical components like graphics processing units (GPUs) and storage devices, as well as a direct link between the CPU and the RAM. The CPU houses the memory controller, but the chipset is responsible for connecting a host of peripherals to it, including expansion slots, SATA connections, USB ports, sound, and the network.

Stratix 10 DX FPGAs may be designed with ease using the Intel Stratix 10 DX FPGA Development Kit. It may be purchased as a stand-alone item. PCI Express (PCIe) chassis hardware and software are included in this category. You may construct and test your PCIe designs in a safe and controlled environment using the board’s Intel Stratix 10 DX FPGAs, which include new transceiver technology for compatibility with PCIe Gen4. User discretion dictates whether or not the PCI-SIG-compliant development board may be used to construct and test PCIe 4.0 designs.

Hardware stipulations

• This development board can run a wide range of FPGA applications thanks to the onboard Intel Stratix 10 DX FPGA and DDR4 SDRAM (8GB)
• This design uses two 8GB DDR4 DIMMs and two QSFP56 cages for memory expansion.
• Enhanced virtualization and PCIe Gen4 features
• A single PCIe Gen4x16 endpoint is linked to a network through the Edge Connector
• One PCIe EP/RP Gen4x16 card linked to a daughtercard via a cable (not supplied). In addition, there are two UPI connections available for users’ convenience (for cable over to select CPU boards)
• USB and AC adaptor cables provide power.

Software specifications

• Symbolic representations of the design process
• The design of the Board Update Portal and the Board Test System (BTS) Documentation
• User Manual for the Stratix 10 DX FPGA Development Kit Getting Started Quick Guide The design files for the Intel Stratix 10 DX FPGA Development Kit Board are CAD files.

It’s possible to get Intel Quartus Prime Pro Edition software (required)

Expected to help create a cohesive workload environment in 2021, Intel has said that the first CXL devices will be available in 2021 as an additional benefit. The Sapphire Rapids platform, according to a leaked roadmap earlier this year, includes this. “Start today with UPI, and then seamlessly move to CXL in the future generation” is Intel’s plan here. According to Intel’s website, it is a “future select Xeon Scalable Processor,” although the firm is unsure exactly where UPI will be enabled. These events will take place next year, hence this should be a reference to the Cooper Lake-SP and/or Ice Lake-SP

Third, the Stratix 10 DX platform has incorporated non-coherent PCIe 4.0 x16 capabilities as a new feature. First time Intel has introduced a device with this degree of support.. In contrast to Xilinx’s Versal series, which Intel explains in a few words, the interface is fully approved (PCI-SIG compliant).

Intel claims that UPI reduces latency by 37 percent when compared to a PCIe round trip in a read transaction. To put it another way, PCIe 4.0 has double the bandwidth of its predecessor, PCIe 3.0. An interface with 20 lanes of 11.2Gbps bandwidth may theoretically transmit 28 GB/s using the UPI protocol. Stratix 10 DX has 2.6 times the total bandwidth of Stratix 10 when UPI is taken into account.

Clare Louise