Best Computer for Quartus Compile Times...

[Altera_Forum]

Has anyone done any benchmarking of compile times with different computer configurations? My main question is how much will it improve my compile times if I add additional processors to my system. Is it worth getting a system with dual quad core xenon processors? Also, is there any benefit of changing to 64-bit Windows XP.

[Altera_Forum]

Hi haven't done any benchmarking, but basically the bigger the badder, the better. 

 Dual Quad's, if you have the memory and licenses to utilize do it, allows you to use Design Space Explorer to kick off multiple builds in parallel. This is extremely handy in getting the best design out of your system.  I can say anything definite between 32 and 64, I've only ran Xp Pro 32.  Pete

[Altera_Forum]

Also if you are not already there, move to Quartus 8.0, sp1. It is a BIG improvement over 7.X compile times. I know all the tool vendors always say there new versions improve run times by XX, but Altera actually does it with 8.0 

 Pete

[Altera_Forum]

8.0 significantly reduced compile times on my core 2 duo system. Reduced compile time to approx. half that of 7.1

[Altera_Forum]

I built an Intel Core 2 Quad system specifically for compiling and simulations, however it never went above ~1.5 for the average number of processors utilized, even on larger projects. I ended up replacing it with a faster 45nm Core 2 Duo and am now achieving better compile times. 

 As for 64-bit, I run Windows x64 natively and x32 in a VMWare virtual machine on that system. I'm not able to use it today, but I'll try to remember to do a benchmark later to see which is faster (as I'm curious about it, myself). I'm sure the native version will have a slight unfair advantage due to it not being in a virtual machine but I can't imagine it'd be much given the virtualization support built into the processor.

[Altera_Forum]

--- Quote Start ---  8.0 significantly reduced compile times on my core 2 duo system. Reduced compile time to approx. half that of 7.1  --- Quote End ---    I wonder if I have to have a full license to feel this effect, or maybe a project that uses something specific? I just upgraded to 8.0sp1 (WE) on my core duo laptop and compared compile times for a simple 1-minute build time project and I couldn't feel any difference at all.   I also noticed that "max number of CPUs" is now disabled in the settings.

[Altera_Forum]

The advantage of 64-bit is to have more than 4GB of RAM. For 32-bit windows, it can only detect 3.25GB and 750MB is reserved for PCI, IDE, etc. So, if you are compiling for huge devices like the Stratix III and you almost use up all the logic, you might require more than 4GB of RAM. The 64-bit windows will come in handy. 

 The bigger impact of compilation will be the RAM. CPU power will come in picture if you have adequate RAM.   I have a core 2 duo 2.66GHz with 4GB RAM on 64-bit Vista, it compiles faster than my P4 3GHz with 1GB RAM on 32-bit XP by 2 to 3 times faster for small designs. While for bigger designs like for the 3S340 (Stratix III) with >50% logic, it compiles faster by more than 5 times faster. I think it's the RAM issue here because it keeps reading from my HDD and use up my virtual memory.

[Altera_Forum]

--- Quote Start ---  I wonder if I have to have a full license to feel this effect, or maybe a project that uses something specific? I just upgraded to 8.0sp1 (WE) on my core duo laptop and compared compile times for a simple 1-minute build time project and I couldn't feel any difference at all.   I also noticed that "max number of CPUs" is now disabled in the settings.  --- Quote End ---    You should not expect to see a significant compile time reduction for extremely small designs. The compile time gains are widespread: synthesis, timing analysis, place and route...but, the compile time reduction in Quartus II 8.0 is not universal. That is, 8.0 does not see significant speedup of the "overhead" operations needed to run the place & route engine.  - Mark

[Altera_Forum]

Thanks for all the feedback. I will try Version 8, and I will install a second Xeon 5150 (2.66Ghz Dual Core). I'll benchmark these using a design that is tight on timing and uses about 35% of the resources on a 2S60 device and post the results. It currently takes about 30 minutes with Ver. 7.2.

[Altera_Forum]

--- Quote Start ---  ...is there any benefit of changing to 64-bit Windows XP.  --- Quote End ---      --- Quote Start ---  The advantage of 64-bit is to have more than 4GB of RAM. For 32-bit windows, it can only detect 3.25GB and 750MB is reserved for PCI, IDE, etc. So, if you are compiling for huge devices like the Stratix III and you almost use up all the logic, you might require more than 4GB of RAM. The 64-bit windows will come in handy.  --- Quote End ---     For a new machine that might compile a large design in the future, definitely get a 64-bit operating system for the reason Rubikian gave. Even with a 64-bit operating system, however, run Quartus itself in 32-bit mode to minimize memory usage when 32-bit mode is sufficient. "Compiling designs with a 64-bit version of Quartus II can require 50 to 100 percent more memory than the same design compiled with a 32-bit version." Be sure to plan for this larger memory usage when you decide how much physical RAM to install in the machine. More information is at http://www.altera.com/support/software/quartus2/memory/qts-memory.html. "Help --> Readme File" in Quartus will give you a rough idea how much physical RAM each device size could require, but the actual amount is very design dependent.  For Quartus running in 32-bit mode under Windows XP, a 64-bit operating system has the advantage of giving 32-bit Quartus access to over 2 GB of memory space. The boot.ini method mentioned on the referenced web page to access 3 GB memory space with 32-bit Windows XP does not work for a lot of people (a Microsoft issue).