EP2C50F484C6 - Cyclone II FPGA, 50K LEs, 484-FBGA | Intel
MPN: EP2C50F484C6 β End of Life| Qty | Unit Price | Extended |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | $165 | $165.00 |
| 10 | $148.5 | $1,485.00 |
| 100 | $132 | $13,200.00 |
| 500 | $121 | $60,500.00 |
| 1,000 | $110 | $110,000.00 |
EP2C50F484C6 Overview
A Field-Programmable Gate Array (FPGA) is a semiconductor device whose logic function is defined by a user-supplied configuration bitstream rather than at the factory. Positioned in the taxonomy as: FPGA -> programmable logic device (PLD) -> integrated circuit -> semiconductor, FPGAs sit alongside microcontrollers, ASICs, and ASSPs in the wider system-on-chip ecosystem but offer the unique advantage of post-silicon hardware re-programmability. The Cyclone II family specifically targets cost-sensitive, high-volume applications where a low unit cost masks the NRE of an ASIC.
Key features of the EP2C50F484C6 include 4 phase-locked loops (PLLs) for clock synthesis, dedicated 18-bit x 18-bit hardware multipliers for DSP, 8 Mb of total on-chip memory distributed in M4K blocks, and LVDS/LVTTL/LVCMOS I/O support. It supports configuration via JTAG, Active Serial (AS), Active Parallel (AP), and Passive Serial (PS) modes. The 484-pin FineLine BGA uses a 1.0 mm ball pitch and is footprint-compatible with other Cyclone II F484 devices of differing logic densities (EP2C8, EP2C20, EP2C35, EP2C50, EP2C70).
From an architectural standpoint, the Cyclone II LAB (Logic Array Block) is built from 16 Logic Elements arranged in a column, with each LE containing a 4-input LUT, a programmable register, and carry chain logic. The M4K memory blocks (4 Kbit each) double as simple dual-port or single-port RAM, ROM, or shift registers, eliminating the need for external SRAM in many bus-interface designs.
Typical applications include industrial motor control and factory automation front-ends, video/image processing pipelines, software-defined radio (SDR) baseband, telecommunications line cards, low-cost digital signal processing, and educational/development platforms. The combination of 50K logic elements, 8 Mb on-chip RAM, and 18-bit hardware multipliers makes it a sweet spot for mid-density control-plane and signal-conditioning designs.
When designing with this part, plan your pin assignments against the four PLL-driven global clock networks early to avoid later place-and-route congestion. The C6' speed grade offers a balance of timing margin versus cost; if the timing closure is too tight, step up to the C7 or C8 grade in the same package without any PCB changes.
This page synthesizes distributor pricing, drop-in alternatives drawn from the same Cyclone II family, and practical design notes not found in the manufacturer datasheet itself.
Drop-in alternatives for EP2C50F484C6 β same package, pin-to-pin compatible. Different-package parts requiring PCB rework are excluded.
Variants in this series
Same-series models that are drop-in compatible with EP2C50F484C6 (same form factor and footprint) β differing in Speed Grade, Package, Process Technology, Operating Temperature, Total RAM Bits.
Quick Comparison Tool β Select alternative parts for side-by-side comparison:
EP2C50F484C7N
β Drop-Inβ In Stock
$155 / Unit
View Datasheet βEP2C50F484C8N
β Drop-Inβ In Stock
$68.2 / Unit
View Datasheet βEP2C50F484I7N
β Drop-Inπ Reference alternative (not in catalog)
EP2C50F484C6N
β Drop-Inβ In Stock
$180.47 / Unit
View Datasheet βEP2C70F484C6N
β Drop-Inπ Reference alternative (not in catalog)
EP2C35F484C6
β Drop-Inβ In Stock
$57.2 / Unit
View Datasheet βEP2C50F484C6 Maximum Ratings & Electrical Characteristics
| Family | Cyclone II |
| Logic Elements (LEs) | 50,528 |
| Configurable Logic Blocks (CLBs) | 3,158 |
| Total RAM Bits | 594,432 bit |
| Embedded Memory Blocks | M4K blocks, 4 Kbit each |
| Total On-Chip Memory | 8 Mbit |
| DSP / Multiplier Blocks | 18-bit x 18-bit hardware multipliers |
| PLLs | 4 |
| Maximum User I/Os | 294 |
| Process Technology | 90 nm CMOS |
| Core Voltage | 1.2 V |
| Maximum Internal Frequency | 500 MHz |
| Speed Grade | C6 |
| Operating Temperature | 0C to +85C (commercial) |
| Package | 484-ball FineLine BGA (F484), 1.0 mm pitch |
| Mounting Type | Surface Mount |
| Configuration Modes | JTAG, Active Serial (AS), Active Parallel (AP), Passive Serial (PS) |
| RoHS Status | Compliant |
EP2C50F484C6 484-ball fineline bga (f484), 1.0 mm pitch Pin Configuration Guide
Pin configuration for EP2C50F484C6 (484-ball fineline bga (f484), 1.0 mm pitch package). This digital IC includes GPIO, communication interfaces (UART, SPI, I2C), and power pins. Refer to the manufacturer datasheet for alternate pin functions and configuration options. Essential for embedded system design and PCB layout.
No detailed pinout data available for EP2C50F484C6.
Refer to the datasheet for full pin configuration.
Typical Applications
EP2C50F484C6 is suitable for 6 applications: Industrial Motor Control, Video and Image Processing Pipelines, Telecommunications Line Cards, Software-Defined Radio (SDR) Baseband, Test and Measurement Instrumentation, Educational and Development Platforms.
Industrial Motor Control
The EP2C50F484C6 fits industrial motor-control front-ends because its 50,528 logic elements can host field-oriented-control (FOC) state machines, encoder-decoder logic, and protection loops simultaneously. The four on-chip PLLs derive the PWM carrier (typically 10-20 kHz), the encoder sampling clock (40 MHz), and the communication clock from a single 50 MHz crystal. With 294 user I/Os, the FPGA can interface directly to multi-axis power stages with current-sense ADCs and gate drivers. Designers typically map one LAB per PWM channel for cycle-by-cycle current limiting and place the trapezoidal/FOC algorithm in DSP-style 18-bit multipliers to compute Park/Clarke transforms in <2 us per loop tick.
Recommended
Video and Image Processing Pipelines
The 594 Kbit on-chip M4K memory block farm makes the EP2C50F484C6 well suited to line-buffer and frame-buffer staging in video pipelines up to 720p60. Designers commonly instantiate dual-port M4K blocks as FIFO queues between camera-sensor LVDS deserialization, color-space conversion (YUV422 to RGB888), and HDMI/DVI output. The 294 I/Os accept 18-24-bit parallel video buses plus embedded control channels, while the four PLLs generate pixel clocks at 27/54/74.25/148.5 MHz from a 27 MHz reference. Cyclone II 18-bit hardware multipliers accelerate 5x5 convolution kernels for basic edge-detection pre-processing at >100 MHz.
Recommended
Telecommunications Line Cards
Telecommunications line cards use the EP2C50F484C6 for glue-logic, TDM bus aggregation, and low-rate channel processing where the 50K LE envelope comfortably absorbs HDLC framers, BERT engines, and ATM/AAL2 segmentation. The four PLLs synthesize E1/T1 bit clocks (2.048/1.544 MHz) and the 8 kHz frame-sync reference. LVDS I/O capability allows direct connection to backplane SERDES at sub-gigabit rates. The 484-ball BGA package exposes sufficient I/Os to drive 32+ TDM timeslots on the front-panel side while maintaining backplane bus access on the rear side. Engineers typically allocate ~25K LEs to TDM logic and ~10K LEs to protocol-conversion glue.
Recommended
Software-Defined Radio (SDR) Baseband
The EP2C50F484C6 is a popular SDR baseband platform because its 50K logic elements, 18-bit hardware multipliers, and 8 Mbit on-chip RAM can implement digital down-conversion (DDC), FIR filtering, and demodulation for narrowband waveforms below 50 MHz of bandwidth. The 50K-LE envelope supports two parallel DDC chains for diversity reception, each with 256-tap FIR filters realized in 18-bit M9K-equivalent M4K blocks. Designers pair the FPGA with an external ADC (typically 12-14 bit, 100 MSPS) and use one of the four PLLs to derive the ADC sampling clock from a low-jitter reference. Compared with a fixed-function DSP, the FPGA allows post-deployment modulation-switch upgrades without hardware changes.
Recommended
Test and Measurement Instrumentation
The EP2C50F484C6 is well matched to bench-instrument designs such as logic-analyzer probe heads, protocol exercisers, and arbitrary waveform generator pre-processors. Its 500 MHz maximum internal frequency and 594 Kbit RAM buffer enable real-time pattern generation at >200 MHz, while 294 user I/Os handle multi-channel digital stimulus. The four PLLs produce independent sample clocks for transmit and receive paths. Designers often implement custom trigger logic in the FPGA's LAB fabric and use the M4K blocks as deep FIFO storage for pre-trigger capture. The BGA package's high pin count allows dense parallel LVDS interconnect to analog front-end boards.
Recommended
Educational and Development Platforms
The EP2C50F484C6 features in many university FPGA teaching labs because its 50K-LE capacity accommodates realistic student projects (RISC-V cores, VGA games, custom CPUs) without timing-closure pain. The Quartus II Web Edition toolchain is free for Cyclone II and supports schematic, VHDL, and Verilog entry. The 484-ball BGA is offered on low-cost Cyclone II starter boards (e.g. Terasic DE2-115 successors) with on-board SDRAM, audio CODEC, video DAC, and GPIO headers. The four PLLs and 8 Mbit RAM make the device forgiving of timing mistakes, while the mature student-projects ecosystem (CPU designs, hardware accelerators) accelerates learning.
Recommended
Recommended Products Summary
Engineering reference data for EP2C50F484C6 β comparison, design guidance, and compliance information.
Selection Guide
Comparison with Alternatives
| Parameter | This Product | EP2C50F484C7N | EP2C50F484C8N | EP2C50F484I7N | EP2C50F484C6N | EP2C70F484C6N | EP2C35F484C6 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Package | 484-ball FineLine BGA (F484) | 484-ball FineLine BGA (F484) - same | 484-ball FineLine BGA (F484) - same | 484-ball FineLine BGA (F484) - same | 484-ball FineLine BGA (F484) - same | 484-ball FineLine BGA (F484) - same | 484-ball FineLine BGA (F484) - same |
| Brand | Intel (formerly Altera) | Intel | Intel | Intel | Intel | Intel | Intel |
| Logic Elements | 50,528 | 50,528 | 50,528 | 50,528 | 50,528 | 68,416 | 33,216 |
| Speed Grade | C6 | C7 | C8 | I7 (industrial) | C6 | C6 | C6 |
| Operating Temperature | 0C to +85C (commercial) | 0C to +85C (commercial) | 0C to +85C (commercial) | -40C to +100C (industrial) | 0C to +85C (commercial) | 0C to +85C (commercial) | 0C to +85C (commercial) |
| Embedded RAM | 594 Kbit | 594 Kbit | 594 Kbit | 594 Kbit | 594 Kbit | 1,152 Kbit | 483 Kbit |
| PLLs | 4 | 4 | 4 | 4 | 4 | 4 | 4 |
| Maximum User I/Os | 294 | 294 | 294 | 294 | 294 | 294 | 322 |
Key Differentiators
- Mid-range Cyclone II density position with F484 footprint compatibility (vs EP2C35F484C6)
- Commercial speed grade offering within the same family (vs EP2C50F484I7N)
- C6 mid-speed grade balances timing margin versus cost (vs EP2C50F484C8N)
Design Notes
The EP2C50F484C6 requires four supply rails: VCCINT 1.2 V (core), VCCAUX 3.3 V or 2.5 V (PLL/auxiliary), VCCIO 3.3/2.5/1.8/1.5 V per I/O bank, and a separate VCCPD 3.3 V for configuration. Provide at least 100 uF bulk + 0.1 uF + 10 nF decoupling on each rail, distributed across the BGA pin field. Estimated: with all 294 I/Os switching at 100 MHz and default toggle rate, core current can reach ~1.0 A; design the VCCINT regulator with 1.5 A headroom and place it within 25 mm of the BGA core pin cluster.
The 484-ball FineLine BGA at 1.0 mm pitch requires a 4-6 layer PCB with 0.36 mm via-in-pad microvias or a dog-bone fanout. Use an 8-mil (0.20 mm) trace-and-space rule on the top layer for escaping the ball field. Maintain continuous reference planes under the BGA; do not route signals across split planes because return-path discontinuities create simultaneous-switching-noise jitter on PLL clocks.
Route PLL power pins (VCCA_PLL, VCCD_PLL) directly to their own filtered supplies; do not share ferrite beads with digital VCCINT because PLL jitter degrades rapidly. Keep differential clock inputs (CLK[0..3]p/n) matched within 5 ps across 100 mm, and isolate them from switching I/O with a guard trace stitched to ground every 5 mm. Reference Intel's Cyclone II Hardware Design Guidelines (document CII5V1) for the full layout checklist.
A common pitfall is leaving MSEL pins floating: the configuration mode (AS/AP/PS/JTAG) is sampled from MSEL[2..0] at power-up and must be tied high or low through 1 kohm pull resistors. Another frequent mistake is omitting the nCONFIG pull-up to 3.3 V VCCPD; without it, the FPGA can fail to initialize on noisy power ramps. Finally, do not connect the JTAG TCK pin to a fast clock source - the JTAG TAP expects a slow TCK (<=10 MHz typical) and a noisy fast TCK corrupts configuration.
Compliance Information
RoHS-compliant per Intel Cyclone II product family datasheet. Not AEC-Q100 qualified - this is a commercial-grade FPGA. For automotive applications, choose Cyclone IV GX or consult Intel's automotive-grade FPGA portfolio.
