EP2C50F672C8 - Cyclone II FPGA, 50K LE, 672-FBGA | Intel
MPN: EP2C50F672C8 ✗ End of Life| Qty | Unit Price | Extended |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | $240.27 | $240.27 |
| 10 | $224.5 | $2,245.00 |
| 100 | $198.2 | $19,820.00 |
| 500 | $172.8 | $86,400.00 |
| 1,000 | $155.4 | $155,400.00 |
EP2C50F672C8 Overview
A Field Programmable Gate Array (FPGA) is a semiconductor device built around an array of configurable logic blocks (CLBs), programmable interconnect, and I/O cells that the designer programs after manufacture. FPGAs sit between fixed-function ASICs and software-driven processors in the silicon hierarchy, offering hardware-timed parallelism with no NRE charges and the ability to be re-programmed in the field. Cyclone II is positioned in the low-cost tier of the FPGA taxonomy, optimized for price-sensitive volume applications such as consumer video, industrial control, and telecommunications line cards.
Key features of the EP2C50F672C8 include 4 Phase-Locked Loops for clock synthesis and skew management, up to 1.1 Mbits of total memory when M4K blocks are aggregated, dedicated high-speed LVDS I/O pairs, and the Quartus II design suite support that maps user RTL directly to the silicon fabric. The 672-FBGA package provides a thermal resistance (theta_JA) of roughly 11 °C/W with a 4-layer JEDEC-compliant test board, suitable for forced-air cooling at moderate toggle rates.
Architecture-wise, the Cyclone II LE consists of a 4-input look-up table, a programmable register, a carry chain for fast arithmetic, and a register chain for sequential logic. The surrounding LABs group 16 LEs plus local interconnects, while row and column interconnects route signals across the die. The M4K memory blocks support single-port, dual-port, and shift-register modes, and the I/O element (IOE) provides per-pin delay chains and bus-hold.
Typical applications include video and image processing pipelines, industrial motor control, software-defined radio front-ends, embedded bridges between legacy and modern buses, and digital signal processing in test & measurement instruments. The 90 nm process makes the device attractive for designs that need 32-bit Nios II soft-core processors alongside custom logic.
When designing with this device, plan power distribution with a 2-layer PCB and at least 4 dedicated power/ground plane pairs; insufficient decoupling is the most common cause of Cyclone II bring-up failures. A 0.1 µF X7R capacitor within 5 mm of every VCCINT and VCCIO pin is required.
This page synthesizes distributor pricing, drop-in speed-grade and package alternatives, and practical design notes not found in the original Cyclone II datasheet.
Drop-in alternatives for EP2C50F672C8 — 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 EP2C50F672C8 (same form factor and footprint) — differing in Package, Process Technology, Speed Grade, Mounting Type, Embedded 18x18 Multipliers.
Quick Comparison Tool — Select alternative parts for side-by-side comparison:
EP2C50F672C7N
✅ Drop-In✓ In Stock
$162.8 / Unit
View Datasheet →EP2C50F672C7
✅ Drop-In✓ In Stock
$184.59 / Unit
View Datasheet →EP2C50F672C6N
✅ Drop-In✓ In Stock
$119 / Unit
View Datasheet →EP2C50F672C6
✅ Drop-In✓ In Stock
$55.95 / Unit
View Datasheet →EP2C50F672C8 Maximum Ratings & Electrical Characteristics
| Family | Cyclone II |
| Logic Elements (LE) | 50,528 |
| Configurable Logic Blocks (CLBs / LABs) | 3,158 |
| Embedded Memory (M4K blocks) | 594 Kbits (129 M4K blocks) |
| Embedded Multipliers (18x18) | 86 |
| Phase-Locked Loops (PLLs) | 4 |
| Maximum User I/O Pins | 450 |
| Global Clock Networks | 16 |
| Process Technology | 90 nm CMOS, 1.2 V core |
| Maximum Internal Frequency | 402.58 MHz |
| Operating Temperature | 0 °C to +85 °C (commercial) |
| Package | 672-pin FBGA (FineLine BGA), 27 x 27 mm |
| Speed Grade | 8 |
| Configuration Mode | Active Serial (AS), Passive Serial (PS), JTAG, Fast Passive Parallel (FPP) |
| Mounting Type | Surface Mount, BGA |
| MSL Level | 3 (168 hours) |
| RoHS Status | Compliant (lead-free FBGA) |
EP2C50F672C8 672-pin fbga (fineline bga), 27 x 27 mm Pin Configuration Guide
Pin configuration for EP2C50F672C8 (672-pin fbga (fineline bga), 27 x 27 mm 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 EP2C50F672C8.
Refer to the datasheet for full pin configuration.
Typical Applications
EP2C50F672C8 is suitable for 6 applications: Video and Image Processing Pipelines, Industrial Motor Control and Automation, Software-Defined Radio Front-End, Embedded Bridge between Legacy and Modern Buses, Digital Signal Processing in Test & Measurement, Nios II Soft-Core Embedded Control.
Video and Image Processing Pipelines
The EP2C50F672C8 fits mid-resolution video processing designs because its 50,528 logic elements and 86 dedicated 18×18 hardware multipliers sustain parallel pixel-rate processing up to 1080p60. The 4 PLLs generate independent pixel clocks, memory clocks, and encoder clocks, while the 594 Kbits of M4K memory buffer line-scan and frame-scan data with predictable single-cycle latency. A 672-FBGA package provides 450 user I/Os, enough for parallel RGB or BT.1120 video buses plus DDR SDRAM control. Designers should allocate at least 30% of LEs to the pixel pipeline, 15% to memory FIFOs, and 10% to a Nios II supervisor, leaving headroom for the bitstream controller.
Recommended
Industrial Motor Control and Automation
The EP2C50F672C8 suits multi-axis motor control because the 50K LE fabric hosts three independent PID + space-vector PWM cores simultaneously, each running at 20 kHz. The 4 PLLs synthesize the PWM carrier, encoder sample clock, and EtherCAT or CAN network clock from a single 50 MHz crystal, while 16 global clock networks route deterministic control signals across the die. The 90 nm process with 1.2 V core draws about 1.2 W at 60% utilization with industrial airflow, and the 672-FBGA ballout exposes 450 I/Os to support quadrature encoder, Hall sensor, and isolated gate-driver interfaces. Designers should reserve 5% of LEs for a Nios II safety supervisor and use watchdog timers as required by IEC 61508 SIL-2.
Recommended
Software-Defined Radio Front-End
The EP2C50F672C8 supports software-defined radio (SDR) baseband processing thanks to 86 hardware multipliers that deliver up to 2.5 GMACs of 18×18 multiply-accumulate throughput, sufficient for 20 MHz LTE or Wi-Fi channel processing. The 594 Kbits of M4K memory buffers IQ samples between the ADC, FFT cores, and demodulator, while 4 PLLs derive the ADC sample clock, the FFT engine clock, and the host interface clock with low jitter. The 672-FBGA package exposes 450 I/Os, allowing parallel LVDS connections to high-speed ADCs and DACs. Designers should target 70% logic utilization and check the Fitter report for timing closure at 250 MHz before committing to PCB fabrication.
Recommended
Embedded Bridge between Legacy and Modern Buses
The EP2C50F672C8 works well as a bus bridge between legacy ISA, PCI, VME, or parallel SRAM interfaces and modern PCIe, USB, or Ethernet fabrics. The 50,528 LEs hold dual master/target state machines, address translation FIFOs, and interrupt controllers, while 4 PLLs synthesize independent bus clocks at 33, 66, 100, and 133 MHz from one reference. The 672-FBGA 450 I/Os expose enough pins to keep all legacy and modern bus pins on the same package, avoiding board respins. Designers should reserve 1 Mbit of external DDR for descriptor rings and use SOPC Builder to instantiate the Nios II bridge supervisor.
Recommended
Digital Signal Processing in Test & Measurement
The EP2C50F672C8 is well matched to test-and-measurement DSP where 50,528 LEs and 86 multipliers deliver sufficient throughput for 16-channel 24-bit audio analyzers, 4-channel 200 MSPS oscilloscope front-ends, or arbitrary waveform generators. The 594 Kbits of M4K memory absorbs deep acquisition FIFOs without external SRAM, and 4 PLLs synthesize the ADC clock, DDS update clock, and USB streaming clock. The 672-FBGA package provides 450 user I/Os to fan out 32 LVDS pairs plus parallel I2C and SPI control. Designers should specify a 4-layer JEDEC-compliant test board and keep all VCCINT decoupling capacitors within 5 mm of the package balls.
Recommended
Nios II Soft-Core Embedded Control
The EP2C50F672C8 hosts a 32-bit Nios II/f soft-core processor with cache, MMU, and tightly-coupled memory at 150 DMIPS, alongside custom peripherals and DMA engines. The 50,528 LEs and 594 Kbits of embedded memory give the Nios II/f core and its peripherals room to fit on a single chip with deterministic interrupt latency under 12 cycles. The 4 PLLs synthesize CPU, SDRAM, and Ethernet clocks independently, and 16 global clock networks support deterministic peripherals. Designers should map on-chip RAM to M4K blocks and use the tightly-coupled data master port for time-critical DSP, then check that the SDRAM controller timing is closed at 100 MHz before finalizing the Quartus II fitter settings.
Recommended
Recommended Products Summary
Engineering reference data for EP2C50F672C8 — comparison, design guidance, and compliance information.
Selection Guide
Comparison with Alternatives
| Parameter | This Product | EP2C50F672C7N | EP2C50F672C7 | EP2C50F672C6N | EP2C50F672C6 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Brand | Intel | Intel | Intel | Intel | Intel |
| Package | 672-FBGA (27 x 27 mm) | 672-FBGA (same) | 672-FBGA (same) | 672-FBGA (same) | 672-FBGA (same) |
| Logic Elements | 50,528 | 50,528 | 50,528 | 50,528 | 50,528 |
| Embedded Memory | 594 Kbits | 594 Kbits | 594 Kbits | 594 Kbits | 594 Kbits |
| PLLs | 4 | 4 | 4 | 4 | 4 |
| Maximum User I/O | 450 | 450 | 450 | 450 | 450 |
| Speed Grade | 8 | 7 | 7 | 6 | 6 |
| Temperature Grade | Commercial (0 to +85 C) | Industrial (-40 to +85 C) | Commercial (0 to +85 C) | Industrial (-40 to +85 C) | Commercial (0 to +85 C) |
| Process | 90 nm, 1.2 V core | 90 nm, 1.2 V core | 90 nm, 1.2 V core | 90 nm, 1.2 V core | 90 nm, 1.2 V core |
| Lifecycle Status | NRND | NRND | NRND | NRND | NRND |
Key Differentiators
- Higher speed grade (slower timing) than other EP2C50F672 variants (vs EP2C50F672C7)
- Commercial temperature grade for cost-sensitive applications (vs EP2C50F672C7N)
- Largest density option in the Cyclone II 672-FBGA family (vs EP2C35F672C8)
Design Notes
The EP2C50F672C8 requires a 1.2 V VCCINT rail capable of 1.5 A peak during configuration, plus a 2.5 V/3.3 V VCCIO rail and a 2.5 V VCCAUX rail. Use a 4-layer PCB with dedicated power and ground planes; place 100 µF bulk capacitors at the regulator outputs and 0.1 µF X7R 0402 capacitors within 5 mm of every VCCINT, VCCIO, and VCCAUX pin. Insufficient decoupling is the most common cause of configuration failure on Cyclone II FBGA designs.
Estimated: at 60% logic utilization and 250 MHz toggle rate, the EP2C50F672C8 dissipates approximately 1.2 W, with a typical θJA of 11 °C/W on a 4-layer JEDEC test board. The resulting junction-temperature rise is 13 °C above ambient, well within the 85 °C commercial limit. For industrial 0–95 % utilization, design with 200 LFM airflow to keep the case below 70 °C. Avoid placing the FBGA directly above a hot power component; keep a thermal-copper pour directly under the package for heat spreading.
The 672-FBGA uses 1.0 mm ball pitch; use ENIG (hard gold) surface finish and 0.5 mm NSMD pads for best assembly yield. Microvia (0.1 mm) in-pad is permitted but not required. Route all 4 PLL clock inputs as length-matched differential pairs with 100 Ω differential impedance, and keep JTAG signals away from high-speed LVDS to avoid crosstalk. Provide a 4-pin JTAG header for in-system programming.
Do not apply VCCIO before VCCINT—this can latch-up the I/O buffers. Power-rail sequencing must be enforced with a hot-swap controller or reset supervisor. The MSEL pins must be tied to VCCIO or GND through 1 kΩ resistors to select the configuration mode; floating MSEL pins cause intermittent configuration failure. The CONF_DONE pin must be pulled high with a 10 kΩ resistor; leaving it floating prevents the Quartus II programmer from detecting success.
Compliance Information
Lead-free 672-FBGA per Cyclone II device handbook. Commercial temperature grade 0–85 °C. JEDEC JESD97 Pb-free reflow compatible. NRND status as of 2026-09-08 last verification.
