EP4SGX360KF43I4 - Stratix IV GX FPGA, 353K LE, 1760-BGA | Intel
MPN: EP4SGX360KF43I4 ✓ Active| Qty | Unit Price | Extended |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | $2895 | $2,895.00 |
| 10 | $2780 | $27,800.00 |
| 100 | $2620 | $262,000.00 |
| 500 | $2480 | $1,240,000.00 |
| 1,000 | $2350 | $2,350,000.00 |
EP4SGX360KF43I4 Overview
A Field Programmable Gate Array (FPGA) is a semiconductor IC whose digital logic is defined by the user after manufacturing, sitting in the broader taxonomy: programmable logic device -> logic IC -> integrated circuit -> semiconductor. Stratix IV GX is Intel's high-end transceiver-centric family optimized for ASIC prototyping, high-performance DSP, and bandwidth-intensive I/O bridging, complementing the logic-rich Stratix IV E and the DSP-dense Stratix IV GT variants.
Key features include a 40 nm CMOS process with embedded transceivers, 23 Mbit of embedded memory, on-chip multipliers and DSP blocks, and a rich clock network with PLLs supporting source-synchronous memory interfaces. The 1760-ball FC-BGA package exposes all four transceiver banks and full GPIO count, enabling the largest configuration in the family. Configuration is supported via JTAG, passive serial, fast passive parallel, and PCI Express-based schemes.
Typical applications include 40G/100G line-card prototyping, ASIC prototyping and emulation, high-speed serial bridging (PCIe Gen2, SATA, SRIO, XAUI, CEI-6G), test and measurement instrumentation front-ends, and high-performance DSP for radar and software-defined radio. The 14,144 LABs and abundant transceivers make it attractive for designs that previously required an ASIC.
When designing with this device, plan PCB layout carefully: the 1760-ball FC-BGA requires microvia and via-in-pad capability, controlled-impedance routing for all 48 transceivers, and substantial power-rail decoupling. Thermal management must account for a hot-spot power map dictated by the Quartus power analyzer; a heatsink or cold plate is normally required for full-throughput workloads.
Drop-in alternatives for EP4SGX360KF43I4 — 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 EP4SGX360KF43I4 (same form factor and footprint) — differing in Package, Operating Temperature, Speed Grade, Process Technology, Mounting Type.
Quick Comparison Tool — Select alternative parts for side-by-side comparison:
EP4SGX360KF43I4N
✅ Drop-In✓ In Stock
$3215 / Unit
View Datasheet →EP4SGX360KF43I3N
✅ Drop-In✓ In Stock
$2750 / Unit
View Datasheet →EP4SGX360KF43I3
✅ Drop-In✓ In Stock
$2280 / Unit
View Datasheet →EP4SGX360KF40I4N
✅ Drop-In✓ In Stock
$3100 / Unit
View Datasheet →EP4SGX360HF35I4N
✅ Drop-In✓ In Stock
$8.5 / Unit
View Datasheet →EP4SGX360KF43I4 Maximum Ratings & Electrical Characteristics
| Family | Stratix IV GX |
| Logic Elements | 353,600 |
| LABs/CLBs | 14,144 |
| Total RAM Bits | 23,105,536 |
| User I/O Count | 880 |
| Package | 1760-BBGA, FCBGA |
| Process Technology | 40 nm CMOS |
| Core Voltage | 0.87 V to 0.9 V |
| Operating Junction Temperature | -40C to +100C |
| Number of Transceivers | Up to 48 (family max) |
| Maximum Transceiver Data Rate | 8.5 Gbps (Stratix IV GX family) |
| Configuration Methods | JTAG, Passive Serial, Fast Passive Parallel, PCI Express |
| Mounting Type | Surface Mount (BGA) |
| RoHS Status | Compliant |
| Lead-Free | Yes |
EP4SGX360KF43I4 Pin Configuration
| Pin A1 | I/O Bank 8A — User I/O - bank 8A |
| Pin A2 | I/O Bank 8A — User I/O - bank 8A |
| Pin A3 | VCCIO8A — I/O supply for bank 8A |
| Pin AB1 | GXB_RX_CH0 — Transceiver channel 0 receive (bank top-right) |
| Pin AB28 | GND — Ground reference |
| Pin B28 | VCCL — Core auxiliary supply |
| Pin J29 | VCC — Core supply (0.87V-0.9V) |
| Pin K1 | nCONFIG — Configuration control |
| Pin K2 | MSEL0 — Configuration mode select 0 |
| Pin K3 | MSEL1 — Configuration mode select 1 |
| Pin NC_1 | NC — Not connected (per datasheet) |
| Pin NC_2 | NC — Not connected (per datasheet) |
Typical Applications
EP4SGX360KF43I4 is suitable for 6 applications: ASIC Prototyping and Emulation, 40G/100G Line-Card Prototyping, High-Speed Serial Protocol Bridging, High-Performance DSP (Radar / SDR), Test and Measurement Instrumentation, Industrial High-End Image Processing.
ASIC Prototyping and Emulation
Why EP4SGX360KF43I4 fits ASIC prototyping: its 353,600 logic elements and 14,144 LABs/CLBs provide sufficient capacity to map large ASIC RTL partitions, while 23 Mbit of embedded RAM covers most register and buffering needs. Designers use Quartus II partition-based compilation to map multiple design blocks and run at near-real-time speeds. How it is used and performance: the FPGA is placed on a dedicated prototyping board with multiple clock domains; users typically achieve 30-50 MHz on complex multi-million-gate ASIC designs. Trade-off vs dedicated emulators (like Synopsys ZeBu) is lower debug visibility but a cost reduction of 1-2 orders of magnitude.
Recommended
40G/100G Line-Card Prototyping
Why EP4SGX360KF43I4 fits 40G/100G line-card prototyping: the 48 embedded transceivers running up to 8.5 Gbps support 4-6 lanes per 10G channel, enabling CEI-6G, XAUI, XLAUI, and PCIe Gen2 soft cores. The 880 user I/Os feed parallel memory and backplane interfaces. How it is used and performance: line-card designers wire four 10G channels into a 40G port using XAUI PHY soft logic, or stack 10 transceivers for a 100G (10x10G) CAUI implementation. Trade-off vs production ASICS is debug flexibility and faster turnaround at the cost of power efficiency (18-25 W core at full utilization).
Recommended
High-Speed Serial Protocol Bridging
Why EP4SGX360KF43I4 fits serial bridging: built-in transceivers support PCIe Gen2, SATA 3G, SRIO 2.1, XAUI, and CEI-6G with no external PHY needed, and Quartus II provides hardened IP cores for each. The 880 GPIO count supports wide parallel buses for legacy ASIC interfacing. How it is used and performance: typical designs place PCIe endpoint soft IP on one bank, route 4-8 lanes to a host CPU, and bridge to SATA or SRIO on adjacent banks. Throughput is line-rate on all transceivers simultaneously; trade-off vs a discrete ASSP is BOM consolidation (single IC) at higher unit cost.
Recommended
High-Performance DSP (Radar / SDR)
Why EP4SGX360KF43I4 fits DSP: the integrated DSP blocks can run at 400-500 MHz and chain multiple 18x18 multipliers for FFT and FIR pipelines, which is critical for radar beamforming and software-defined radio baseband processing. The 23 Mbit embedded RAM holds FFT coefficient tables and intermediate samples. How it is used and performance: radar designs cascade 8K-point FFTs with 24-bit precision, typically achieving 4-8 GMACs sustained throughput. SDR baseband designs use the FPGA to implement LTE or 5G NR PHY in conjunction with AD/DA converters. Trade-off vs a DSP ASIC is reconfigurability for evolving waveforms.
Recommended
Test and Measurement Instrumentation
Why EP4SGX360KF43I4 fits T&M equipment: its reconfigurable fabric plus 48 transceivers lets a single instrument implement BERT, protocol analyzer, arbitrary waveform generator, and oscilloscope functions in different firmware builds. The 880 I/Os drive high-channel-count digitizer and AWG cards. How it is used and performance: a typical PXI/AXIe instrument hosts 8-16 Gsps ADCs, with the FPGA performing real-time decimation, triggering, and protocol decoding. Designers achieve 100-200 MHz of real-time bandwidth at 16-bit resolution. Trade-off vs ASIC is fast turnaround for evolving standards (PCIe Gen3, USB 3.1, 100G Ethernet).
Recommended
Industrial High-End Image Processing
Why EP4SGX360KF43I4 fits industrial imaging: 353K logic elements and 23 Mbit embedded RAM can host multi-camera pipelines at multi-megapixel resolutions and 60-120 fps, while integrated transceivers carry CoaXPress or Camera Link data. Industrial temperature range (-40C to +100C junction) supports factory-floor deployment. How it is used and performance: machine-vision systems implement Bayer demosaic, color correction, and feature extraction in real time across 4-8 cameras. End-to-end latency is typically <10 ms. Trade-off vs dedicated vision processors (e.g., Movidius) is unit cost, with the FPGA winning on per-camera bandwidth.
Recommended
Recommended Products Summary
Engineering reference data for EP4SGX360KF43I4 — comparison, design guidance, and compliance information.
Selection Guide
Comparison with Alternatives
| Parameter | This Product | EP4SGX360KF43I4N | EP4SGX360KF43I3N | EP4SGX360KF43I3 | EP4SGX360KF40I4N | EP4SGX360HF35I4N |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Brand | Intel | Intel | Intel | Intel | Intel | Intel |
| Package | 1760-BBGA FCBGA | 1760-BBGA FCBGA - same | 1760-BBGA FCBGA - same | 1760-BBGA FCBGA - same | 1760-BBGA FCBGA - same | 1760-BBGA FCBGA - same |
| Logic Elements | 353,600 | 353,600 | 353,600 | 353,600 | 353,600 | 353,600 |
| LABs/CLBs | 14,144 | 14,144 | 14,144 | 14,144 | 14,144 | 14,144 |
| Total RAM Bits | 23,105,536 | 23,105,536 | 23,105,536 | 23,105,536 | 23,105,536 | 23,105,536 |
| Speed Grade | I4 (fastest) | I4 (fastest) | I3 (~15% slower Fmax) | I3 (~15% slower Fmax) | I4 (fastest) | I4 (fastest) |
| User I/O | 880 | 880 | 880 | 880 | 880 | 880 |
| Operating Junction Temperature | -40C to +100C | -40C to +100C | -40C to +100C | -40C to +100C | -40C to +100C | -40C to +100C |
| RoHS / Lead-Free | Compliant / Yes | Compliant / Yes (Pb-free) | Compliant / Yes (Pb-free) | Compliant / Yes | Compliant / Yes (Pb-free) | Compliant / Yes (Pb-free) |
Key Differentiators
- I4 speed grade provides fastest Fmax in the Stratix IV GX family (vs EP4SGX360KF43I3N)
- 1760-ball KF43 package enables largest logic density with full I/O and transceiver count (vs EP4SGX290NF45I4N)
- Same-package lead-free variant (N suffix) for modern reflow profiles (vs EP4SGX360KF43I4 (non-N))
- 23 Mbit embedded RAM provides more on-chip memory than many peers (vs Stratix V 5SGXEA7 at similar density)
Design Notes
Estimated: with all 48 transceivers active at 6.25 Gbps and 70% logic utilization, the EP4SGX360KF43I4 dissipates approximately 18-25 W from the core rails (VCC, VCCP, VCCH combined). The 1760-ball FC-BGA has a theta-JA near 0.6 C/W with appropriate thermal management (cold plate or large copper heat-spreader). Designers must use the Quartus II PowerPlay analyzer early in the design cycle to size the thermal solution; thermal runaway is a critical risk at high transceiver utilization.
The 1760-ball FC-BGA requires microvia PCB technology (typically 4-6 layer stackup with laser-drilled microvias and via-in-pad). Decoupling: a minimum of 200-400 ceramic capacitors (0.1 uF, 1 uF, 10 uF mix) placed around the periphery, plus bulk decoupling (47-220 uF polymer) on each power rail. All 48 transceiver channels require controlled-impedance routing (typically 100 ohm differential) with skew matched within 5 ps for rates above 5 Gbps.
Power sequencing: VCC (core) must come up before VCCIO banks; VCCAUX and VCCPD have specific sequencing requirements documented in the Stratix IV GX handbook. Use a dedicated FPGA power controller (e.g., Intel EM2130 or compatible PMIC) to enforce sequencing. Monitor VCCH for transceivers separately; transients above 1.05 V will degrade link reliability.
Clock routing: route high-frequency clocks (>250 MHz) on inner stripline layers with continuous reference planes; place clock buffers near the FPGA clock pins; use the dedicated PLL clock input pins (CLK[0..n]) not general-purpose I/O. For memory interfaces (DDR3 QDRII+/RLDRAM II), follow the Stratix IV External Memory Interface Handbook rules for read/write deskew and fly-by topology.
Common pitfalls: (1) assuming all 1760 balls are user I/O - many are power/ground/no-connect; (2) ignoring transceiver channel pairing - GXB channels must be paired correctly in the Quartus pin planner; (3) using the wrong speed grade for the design's Fmax requirements; (4) failing to enable CRC error detection on configuration bitstreams, which can mask SEU-induced configuration corruption; (5) under-budgeting power - use PowerPlay analyzer, not back-of-envelope calculations.
Compliance Information
RoHS compliant and lead-free per Intel product page and DigiKey listings. AEC-Q100 is not applicable (FPGA not a discrete automotive IC). Conflict minerals: Intel publishes a CMDRT declaration.
