HardCopy II chips cost roughly one-tenth as much as equivalent Stratix II FPGAs. And, according to Altera, a typical design will run about twice as fast and consume about half as much power when implemented as a HardCopy II ASIC instead of a Stratix II FPGA.

It is not surprising that a structured ASIC is superior to an FPGA in terms of cost, speed, and power. However, Altera claims that HardCopy II provides much greater benefits than the original HardCopy due to architectural differences between the two generations. While the original HardCopy is essentially a Stratix FPGA with the programmability removed, HardCopy II uses an entirely different architecture than Stratix II. Specifically, Stratix II uses large logic blocks, but HardCopy II uses fine-grained logic elements.

Although HardCopy II uses a different architecture than Stratix II, FPGA users do not need to re-work their designs when moving to HardCopy II. Instead, Altera has created libraries that automate the conversion process. And HardCopy II is pin-compatible with Stratix II, so designers do not need to alter off-chip interfaces when moving to HardCopy II.

This ability to directly convert an FPGA design into a pin-compatible structured ASIC is unique to Altera’s offerings. And while the original HardCopy was somewhat expensive and slow, the cost and performance of HardCopy II are likely similar to those of other structured ASICs. By combining its unique FPGA-based design flow with competitive hardware, Altera has made HardCopy II a compelling offering.

According to Altera, the first HardCopy II devices will be available in the third quarter of this year. Pricing for HardCopy II chips starts at $15 for 100,000-unit orders.