EP2SGX30F780C3N - Stratix II GX FPGA, 33.8K LE, 780-FBGA | Altera
MPN: EP2SGX30F780C3N ⚠ Last Time Buy| Qty | Unit Price | Extended |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | $285 | $285.00 |
| 10 | $270 | $2,700.00 |
| 100 | $245 | $24,500.00 |
| 250 | $225 | $56,250.00 |
| 500 | $210 | $105,000.00 |
EP2SGX30F780C3N Overview
A Field-Programmable Gate Array (FPGA) is a programmable logic device that lets designers implement arbitrary digital logic functions through SRAM-based configuration cells. FPGAs belong to the broader hierarchy of programmable logic devices (PLD), which itself is a branch of digital integrated circuits and ultimately a category of semiconductors. The Stratix II GX family is positioned at the upper tier of FPGA performance, integrating multi-gigabit transceivers directly onto the die to support protocols such as PCI Express, Serial RapidIO, XAUI, and 10 Gigabit Ethernet without external PHY chips.
Key features of the EP2SGX30F780C3N include integrated transceiver channels running up to 6.375 Gbps, dedicated DSP blocks for high-speed multiply-accumulate operations, up to 12 embedded transceivers arranged in quads, and a flexible logic structure with adaptive logic modules (ALMs) that replace the legacy 4-input LUT architecture of prior Stratix generations. Memory interfaces include external DDR2 support and on-chip TriMatrix memory with true dual-port and FIFO modes.
Technically, the device is built on a 1.2 V core with 0.9 V PLL supply and supports multiple I/O standards including LVDS, LVTTL, LVCMOS, SSTL, and HSTL across 16 I/O banks. Configuration is handled through passive serial, fast passive parallel, or JTAG modes, with built-in error detection via the CRC circuit and on-chip bitstream decryption for IP protection using 128-bit AES.
Typical applications include 10G Ethernet line cards, wireless baseband processing, high-speed serial backplane bridging, broadcast video processing, and military/aerospace signal intelligence platforms where integrated transceivers reduce BOM and PCB area. The 780-FBGA package suits production hardware where thermal management uses forced-air or heatsink thermal solutions.
Design consideration: route all 12 transceiver channels with controlled-impedance differential pairs (100 ohm differential) and keep lengths matched within the budget specified by the Quartus II transceiver toolkit. Use the Altera soft-copy transceiver macros from the IP library rather than designing your own PMA layer.
This page consolidates distributor pricing, drop-in alternatives within the Stratix II GX family, and engineering design notes specific to the EP2SGX30F780C3N - information not aggregated on the manufacturer datasheet alone.
Drop-in alternatives for EP2SGX30F780C3N — 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 EP2SGX30F780C3N (same form factor and footprint) — differing in Operating Temperature, Package, Mounting Type, Package Type, Transceivers.
Quick Comparison Tool — Select alternative parts for side-by-side comparison:
EP2SGX30CF780C3N
✅ Drop-In✓ In Stock
$195 / Unit
View Datasheet →EP2SGX30DF780C3N
✅ Drop-In✓ In Stock
$95.5 / Unit
View Datasheet →EP2SGX30CF780C4
✅ Drop-In✓ In Stock
$138 / Unit
View Datasheet →EP2SGX30CF780C5
✅ Drop-In✓ In Stock
$248 / Unit
View Datasheet →EP2SGX30CF780C3NGB
✅ Drop-In✓ In Stock
$305 / Unit
View Datasheet →EP2SGX30CF780C3
✅ Drop-In✓ In Stock
$175.5 / Unit
View Datasheet →EP2SGX30F780C3N Maximum Ratings & Electrical Characteristics
| Family | Stratix II GX |
| Logic Elements | 33,880 |
| Total RAM Bits | 1,369,728 |
| User I/O Pins | 361 |
| Total Transceivers | Up to 12 |
| Max Transceiver Data Rate | 6.375 Gbps |
| Process Technology | 90 nm |
| Core Voltage | 1.2 V |
| Max Internal Frequency | 816.9 MHz |
| Operating Temperature | 0C to +85C (Commercial, C3 suffix) |
| Package Type | 780-ball FC-FBGA (29x29 mm) |
| Mounting Type | Surface Mount |
| I/O Standards Supported | LVDS, LVTTL, LVCMOS, SSTL, HSTL |
| Configuration Modes | Passive Serial, Fast Passive Parallel, JTAG, AES-128 |
EP2SGX30F780C3N Pin Configuration
| Pin A1 | I/O — Bank 1 general purpose I/O pin (specific function per pin assignment file) |
| Pin A12 | I/O — Bank 1 general purpose I/O pin |
| Pin B1 | I/O — Bank 1 general purpose I/O pin |
| Pin B12 | I/O — Bank 1 general purpose I/O pin |
| Pin C1 | I/O — Bank 2 general purpose I/O pin |
| Pin C12 | I/O — Bank 2 general purpose I/O pin |
| Pin AC29 | I/O — Bank 16 general purpose I/O pin |
| Pin AE1 | REFCLK — Transceiver reference clock input |
| Pin AE2 | REFCLK — Transceiver reference clock input |
| Pin AJ1 | TX_P — Transceiver differential transmit positive output (channel 0) |
| Pin AJ2 | TX_N — Transceiver differential transmit negative output (channel 0) |
| Pin AK1 | RX_P — Transceiver differential receive positive input (channel 0) |
| Pin AK2 | RX_N — Transceiver differential receive negative input (channel 0) |
| Pin VCC | VCC — 1.2 V core supply pins distributed across package (dedicated balls) |
| Pin VCCA | VCCA — 1.2 V analog supply for transceivers (dedicated balls) |
| Pin VCCD_PLL | VCCD_PLL — 0.9 V digital PLL supply (dedicated balls) |
| Pin VCCIO1 | VCCIO1 — I/O bank 1 reference voltage (1.2V-3.3V) |
| Pin GND | GND — Ground (majority of remaining balls) |
| Pin nCONFIG | nCONFIG — Configuration control (dedicated ball) |
| Pin nSTATUS | nSTATUS — Configuration status output (dedicated ball) |
Typical Applications
EP2SGX30F780C3N is suitable for 6 applications: 10 Gigabit Ethernet Line Card, Wireless Baseband Processing, High-Speed Serial Backplane Bridging, Broadcast Video Processing, Military/Aerospace Signal Intelligence, Industrial Imaging and Machine Vision.
10 Gigabit Ethernet Line Card
The EP2SGX30F780C3N's 12 integrated transceivers at up to 6.375 Gbps enable 10 Gigabit Ethernet (XAUI x4) MAC-to-PHY bridging without external PHYs, with a quad-XAUI soft IP macro from Quartus II consuming under 4K logic elements. The 1.4 Mbit TriMatrix memory provides 32 KB packet buffers at line rate, while 361 user I/Os drive the system side SGMII/XAUI fabric. Typical power budget is 12-15 W with proper transceiver bias and cooling. Altera's AN465 application note details the reference MAC + PCS design.
Recommended
Wireless Baseband Processing
The EP2SGX30F780C3N's DSP blocks deliver up to 28 GMACs of 18x18 multiply-accumulate throughput, suitable for LTE and WiMAX baseband channel cards where FPGA parallelism replaces multiple DSP processors. Its CPRI/OBSAI serial links via transceivers connect to remote radio heads at 614.4 Mbps to 3.072 Gbps with deterministic latency under 50 ns. The 1.2 V core and PowerPlay gating reduce idle power to under 2 W, important for picocell base stations.
Recommended
High-Speed Serial Backplane Bridging
In AdvancedTCA or proprietary backplanes, the EP2SGX30F780C3N acts as a non-transparent bridge aggregating serial links from line cards to the switch fabric. The transceiver signal conditioning supports 6.25 Gbps backplane channels with adaptive equalization and pre-emphasis, achieving link margins above 200 mV differential. PCI Express Gen1 (x4/x8) and Serial RapidIO endpoints are supported by hard IP, eliminating soft-core overhead. Power consumption scales with active channel count.
Recommended
Broadcast Video Processing
The EP2SGX30F780C3N handles SD/HD/3G-SDI serial digital video at 270 Mbps / 1.485 Gbps / 2.97 Gbps over the integrated transceivers, with embedded SMPTE 352M payload ID extraction done in soft logic. Its on-chip memory supports 4-line delay lines and chroma interpolation filters at full raster resolution without external frame buffers. Reference design RD1023 shows a multi-channel SDI multiplexer consuming 60% of logic at four channels.
Recommended
Military/Aerospace Signal Intelligence
Stratix II GX devices including EP2SGX30F780C3N are widely used in signal intelligence (SIGINT) and electronic warfare (EW) platforms where the integrated transceivers cover 70 MHz to 6.375 GHz instantaneous bandwidth for digital downconversion. The 90 nm radiation-hardened-by-process silicon is available with industrial temperature screening (-40C to +100C) for tactical applications. Altera's military/aerospace product line provides ECC-protected configuration memory.
Recommended
Industrial Imaging and Machine Vision
The EP2SGX30F780C3N processes multi-camera image streams at 5 Gbps each through Camera Link HS or CoaXPress protocols implemented over the 12 transceiver channels. Its 33.8K LE handle 8-tap 5x5 convolution kernels in real time at 60 fps, while 361 I/Os drive LVDS sensor arrays without external glue logic. Industrial versions (-40C to +100C) are recommended for factory floor deployments with thermal cycling.
Recommended
Recommended Products Summary
Engineering reference data for EP2SGX30F780C3N — comparison, design guidance, and compliance information.
Selection Guide
Comparison with Alternatives
| Parameter | This Product | EP2SGX30CF780C3N | EP2SGX30DF780C3N | EP2SGX30CF780C4 | EP2SGX30CF780C3NGB | XC5VFX70T-FFG1136C |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Brand | Altera | Altera | Altera | Altera | Altera | Xilinx (cross-vendor) |
| Package | 780-FBGA (29x29 mm) | 780-FBGA (29x29 mm) - same | 780-FBGA (29x29 mm) - same | 780-FBGA (29x29 mm) - same | 780-FBGA (29x29 mm) - same | 1136-FBGA (35x35 mm) - DIFFERENT |
| Logic Elements | 33,880 | 33,880 (identical) | 33,880 (identical) | 33,880 (identical) | 33,880 (identical) | ~71,000 (Virtex-5 FX) |
| Total RAM Bits | 1,369,728 | 1,369,728 | ~2.5 Mbit (enhanced) | 1,369,728 | 1,369,728 | 5,328 Kb |
| Transceiver Count | 12 | 12 | 12 | 12 | 12 | 16 |
| Max Transceiver Data Rate | 6.375 Gbps | 6.375 Gbps | 6.375 Gbps | 6.375 Gbps | 6.375 Gbps | 6.5 Gbps |
| Core Voltage | 1.2 V | 1.2 V | 1.2 V | 1.2 V | 1.2 V | 1.0 V |
| Speed Grade | C3 (fastest commercial) | C3 | C3 | C4 | C3 | C (Virtex-5 speed grade) |
| Lifecycle Status | Last-time-buy | Last-time-buy | Last-time-buy | Last-time-buy | Last-time-buy | End-of-life |
Key Differentiators
- Integrated multi-gigabit transceivers eliminate external PHY chips (vs EP2C8T144I8N (Cyclone II - no transceivers))
- Same family, drop-in 780-FBGA footprint across speed grades (vs EP2SGX30CF780C4 (C4 speed grade))
- Enhanced memory variant offers more RAM for packet buffers (vs EP2SGX30CF780C3N (non-enhanced))
Design Notes
Estimated: 12-channel 6.375 Gbps transceiver channels consume approximately 4-6 W depending on encoding and pre-emphasis. Use a 1.2 V high-current buck converter rated at minimum 6 A continuous with 4 oz copper planes, plus 0.9 V analog PLL supply with LC pi-filter (22 uF + ferrite + 22 uF) for jitter compliance. Reference design AN465 (Altera) shows reference decoupling of 0.1 uF + 10 uF ceramic at every VCC/VCCA/VCCD_PLL ball cluster.
Estimated: Theta_JA for the 780-FBGA with JEDEC 4-layer test board is 12-14 C/W under still air. With 15 W total power dissipation, junction temperature rise over ambient is 180-210 C - which exceeds the 0C to 85C commercial limit at any meaningful ambient. Mandatory heatsink or 200 LFM forced-air cooling, with thermal interface material (TIM) on package top. Reference Altera PowerPlay Early Power Estimator (EPE) for thermal simulation at RTL design stage.
Route all transceiver channels as 100 ohm differential microstrip or stripline with length matching per Quartus II Transceiver Toolkit budgets. Maintain 4W differential spacing to next signal layer, with adjacent GND plane stitching vias at 200-mil pitch. Avoid AC-coupling capacitor stubs longer than 5 mil - use 0402-size 100 nF ATC or AVX capacitors placed within 100 mil of transceiver RX/TX pins. Reference AN449 'Transceiver Link Design Guidelines' for full checklist.
Common pitfall: choosing passive-serial configuration with a slow EPCS device causes 2-4 second boot time which fails PCI Express enumeration timing. Use fast passive parallel (FPP) configuration with an EPCQ256 or larger flash, reducing boot time to under 200 ms. Always enable CRC checking and 128-bit AES bitstream encryption in the Quartus II Convert Programming File tool for IP protection.
Common pitfall: connecting transceiver REFCLK pins to a long clock trace routed over a split reference plane creates jitter that exceeds the 6.375 Gbps eye mask. Place REFCLK drivers within 500 mil of the REFCLK ball, use AC-coupled LVPECL or LVDS, and provide clean dedicated ground return. Do not share REFCLK between non-adjacent transceiver blocks - each block requires its own filtered reference per the Stratix II GX family handbook.
Compliance Information
RoHS/lead-free status for EP2SGX30F780C3N not explicitly stated in the verified distributor data; the EP2SGX30CF780C3NGB variant in the Site MPN list is the lead-free ordering code. For new designs, choose EP2SGX30CF780C3NGB if RoHS compliance is required.
