Altera PowerPlay Early Power Estimator - Manual (Page 19)

Altera Corporation 3–1
January 2007 Preliminary
Chapter 3. Using the
PowerPlay Early Power
Estimator
Introduction The PowerPlay Early Power Estimator spreadsheet provides the ability to
enter information into sections based on architectural features. The
PowerPlay Early Power Estimator spreadsheet also provides a subtotal of
power consumed by each architectural feature and is reported in each
section in watts (W).
PowerPlay Early
Power Estimator
Inputs The following sections of the user guide explain what values you need to
enter for each section of the PowerPlay Early Power Estimator. The
different Excel worksheets of the PowerPlay Early Power Estimator
spreadsheet are referred to as sections. Sections in the PowerPlay Early
Power Estimator spreadsheet calculate power representing architectural
features of the device, such as clocks, RAM blocks, or DSP blocks.
Main Input Parameters
Different devices consume different amounts of power for the same
design. The larger the device, the more power it consumes because of the
larger die and longer interconnects in the device.
In the Main section, you may enter the following parameters for the
device and design:
■ Family
■ Device
■ Package
■ Temperature grade
■ Power characteristics
■ Ambient or junction temperature
■ Airflow
■ Heat sink used
■ Custom heat sink information
■ Board thermal model
■ Custom board thermal model information
■ Board temperature
1 Parameters required depend on whether junction temperature
is entered manually or auto-computed.