Altera PowerPlay Early Power Estimator - Manual (Page 7)

© June 2009 Altera Corporation PowerPlay Early Power Estimator User Guide for Cyclone III FPGAs
2. Setting Up Cyclone III PowerPlay Early
Power Estimator
System Requirements
The PowerPlay Early Power Estimator requires:
■ A personal computer (PC) with Windows NT, 2000, or XP operating system
■ Microsoft Excel 2003 or later
■ Quartus ® II software version 9.0 SP2 or later (if generating a file for import)
Download and Install PowerPlay Early Power Estimator
The Cyclone ® III PowerPlay Early Power Estimator for Altera ® devices is available
from the PowerPlay Early Power Estimators (EPE) and Power Analyzer page on the Altera
website. After reading the terms and conditions, click on the I Agree button. You can
then download the Microsoft Excel file and save it into your hard drive.
1 By default, the Microsoft Excel 2003 macro security level is set to high. When the
macro security level is set to high, macros are automatically disabled. To change the
macro security level in Microsoft Excel 2003, click Options on the Tools menu. On the
Security
tab of the Options window, click Macro Security. On the Security Level tab
of the Security dialog box, choose Medium. When the macro security level is set to
Medium
, a pop-up window asks you whether to enable macros or disable macros
each time you open a spreadsheet that contains macros. After changing the macro
security level, you must close the spreadsheet and re-open it in order to use the
macros.
Estimating Power
You can estimate power at any point in your design cycle. You can use the PowerPlay
Early Power Estimator to estimate the power consumption if you have not begun
your design or if your design is not complete. While the PowerPlay Early Power
Estimator can provide you with an estimate for your complete design, Altera highly
recommends that you use the PowerPlay Power Analyzer in the Quartus II software
to obtain this estimate. In general, using the PowerPlay Power Analyzer in the
Quartus II software should be your preferred method of generating power estimates
because the PowerPlay Power Analyzer knows your exact routing and various modes
of operation.
f For more information about the power estimation feature in the Quartus II software,
refer to the
PowerPlay Power Analysis chapter in volume 3 of the Quartus II Handbook.
You must enter the device resources, operating frequency, toggle rates, and other
parameters into the PowerPlay Early Power Estimator. If you do not have an existing
design, you must estimate the number of device resources your design might use in
order to enter the information into the PowerPlay Early Power Estimator.