xilinx spartan 3E vs 3A starter kit

[bestvlsi]

Hi All,

I am new to FPGA design and want to practise digital design . Can anyone give me pointers to which of the following two starter boards (spartan 3E vs 3A) should I go for since I wont be able to clearly tell whats the specifications mean related to digital design.

Moreover are there additionals expenses related to cables etc. as I have read we have to buy cables separately(as the originals are expensive)..and what will be there cost?

Regards

 

[bigdogguru]

Are you already considering two development boards one with Spartan 3E and the other Spartan3A?

Or are you selecting the FPGA first?

BigDog

 

[Bustigo]

i wanna buy one also for practise
i have 200 dollars ^_^ can i get one ?

 

[bigdogguru]

i wanna buy one also for practise
i have 200 dollars ^_^ can i get one ?

If you have settled on Xilinx FPGAs, my personal preference would be a Digilent FPGA Board.

**broken link removed**

Their quality, documentation and customer support is excellent, with the pricing quite reasonable and large student discounts available.

Another feature of the Digilent Dev Boards in general I find very advantageous is their PMODs, which are a wide range of add on peripheral modules, all sharing a common interface.

**broken link removed**

As far as specific FPGA boards, I personally own seven different versions, however I'll recommend the following for in the $200 range:





I own several of the above two boards, I've bought about half of them on eBay at deep discounts.



If you qualify for an academic discount consider the following:



You really can't go wrong with any of the Digilent Boards, their PMODs come in handy with other projects as well.

BigDog