Early Power Estimator User Guide

ID 683272
Date 7/16/2021
Public
Document Table of Contents

1. Early Power Estimator Overview

This user guide describes the Early Power Estimator (EPE) support for Arria® II, Arria V, Cyclone® III, Cyclone IV, Cyclone V, Stratix® III, Stratix IV, Stratix V, and MAX® 10 device families. This user guide provides guidelines to use the EPE at any stage of the FPGA design and provides details about thermal analysis and the factors that contribute to FPGA power consumption. You can calculate the FPGA power with the Microsoft Excel-based EPE spreadsheet. For more accurate power estimation, use the Power Analyzer in the Quartus® II or Intel® Quartus® Prime software.

Note: MAX® 10 devices released after the MAX® 10 EPE 18.1 final version are not supported in the EPE. Use the Power Analyzer in the Quartus II or Intel® Quartus® Prime software to perform power estimation for these devices.

Intel recommends switching from the EPE spreadsheet to the Power Analyzer in the Quartus II or Intel® Quartus® Prime software once the design is available. The Power Analyzer has access to the implemented design details to produce more accurate results.

Intel recommends using these calculations as an estimation of power, not as a specification. You must verify the actual power during device operation as the information is sensitive to the actual device design and the environmental operating conditions.

The features of the EPE spreadsheet include:
  • Estimating the power consumption of your design before creating the design or during the design process
  • Importing device resource information from the Quartus II or Intel® Quartus® Prime software into the EPE spreadsheet with the use of the Quartus II or Intel® Quartus® Prime-generated EPE file
  • Performing preliminary thermal analysis of your design