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Why OpenCL haver specific boards?

Altera_Forum
Honored Contributor II
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i am beginner of the OpenCL. So i want to test OpneCL exapl. But I have question in this point. Why OpenCL have specific boards? According to my reserach, the OpenCL are posibly used any Altera FPGA over sepcific verison(like arria 10, stratix ...). But in Altera web-site, they speify the some boards. So I have wandering that if I want to use OpenCL SDK, Do I have to buy specifc boards or any FPGA boards over specific version. If I have miss some point. please teach me. 

 

Thanks in advance
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Altera_Forum
Honored Contributor II
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If all you want to do is learn/experiment with OpenCL, why not just do it on a GPU in your PC? NVIDIA CUDA based GPUs support OpenCL development. 

 

Then once you learn and understand OpenCL, you can move to an FPGA based environment if that is what your application requires.
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Altera_Forum
Honored Contributor II
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--- Quote Start ---  

If all you want to do is learn/experiment with OpenCL, why not just do it on a GPU in your PC? NVIDIA CUDA based GPUs support OpenCL development. 

 

Then once you learn and understand OpenCL, you can move to an FPGA based environment if that is what your application requires. 

--- Quote End ---  

 

 

Dear ak6dn. 

 

Thanks for your apply. Actually I want to learn OpenCL and use old Atera FPGA. So I want to use old board to learn OpenCL. The board is composed of stratix Altera FPGA and possible to use PCIe connecting. But Altera web-site introduce specific boards. So I have upper question. Is it possible to use OpenCL in my board? I want to test just 'Hello world example'. If it is not possible, please tell me why.
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Altera_Forum
Honored Contributor II
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Well, unless your board vendor can supply the OpenCL board support package, then you will have to develop one. 

 

This is useful (p.89++ especially): http://www.in2p3.fr/actions/formation/numerique16/altera_opencl.pdf 

 

And of course this: https://www.altera.com/content/dam/altera-www/global/en_us/pdfs/literature/hb/opencl-sdk/ug_aocl_custom_platform_toolkit.pdf
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Altera_Forum
Honored Contributor II
481 Views

 

--- Quote Start ---  

Well, unless your board vendor can supply the OpenCL board support package, then you will have to develop one. 

 

This is useful (p.89++ especially): http://www.in2p3.fr/actions/formation/numerique16/altera_opencl.pdf 

 

And of course this: https://www.altera.com/content/dam/altera-www/global/en_us/pdfs/literature/hb/opencl-sdk/ug_aocl_custom_platform_toolkit.pdf 

--- Quote End ---  

 

 

Dear ak6dn. 

 

Thanks for guide line. I think my old board is satisfied with hardware condition in ALTERA_OPENCL.pdf page 73. But unless my board vendor can supply the OpenCL board support package, than i will make all like as xml file, MMD Library ... etc. Is it right? 

 

Many thanks.
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Altera_Forum
Honored Contributor II
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Dear ak6dn 

 

Thanks for guide line. I think my old board is satisfied with hardware condition in ALERA_OPENCL.pdf page 73. But unless my board vendor can supply the OpenCL board support package, then I will have to make all like as XML file, MMD libray...etc. Is it right? 

 

Many Thanks.
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Altera_Forum
Honored Contributor II
481 Views

 

--- Quote Start ---  

Dear ak6dn 

 

Thanks for guide line. I think my old board is satisfied with hardware condition in ALERA_OPENCL.pdf page 73. But unless my board vendor can supply the OpenCL board support package, then I will have to make all like as XML file, MMD libray...etc. Is it right? 

 

Many Thanks. 

--- Quote End ---  

 

 

That is correct. To use OpenCL you need a board support package to tell OpenCL how it can use your board. If your board vendor is unable/unwilling to supply an OpenCL BSP, then you will have to do the work to build a custom BSP for that board you want to use.
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Altera_Forum
Honored Contributor II
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@kangchusuk, since all the existing boards with OpenCL support are based on Cyclon V, Stratix V or Arria 10 FPGAs, chance are, other families might no be at all supported by Altera's OpenCL compiler and hence, even if you create a BSP yourself for your own board, you might not be able to use it. If you are planning to use an FPGA that doesn't belong to these three families, you should make sure that FPGA is supported by Altera's OpenCL Compiler. I have not seen anything regarding device support list in the compiler's documentation, so you might have to ask Altera directly to make sure.

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Altera_Forum
Honored Contributor II
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Thanks for reply. 

 

I understand. My FPGA version is stisfied because that is arria 10. But board vendor not support the OpenCL. So I want to buy a new board. I think Nallatech's 385A is good. Because that FPGA support both Compute Accelerator and Network Accelerator. And that is the latest FPGA of Altera web-site. Is the board is good for first step at OpenCL?
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Altera_Forum
Honored Contributor II
481 Views

Kind of like buying a Cadillac Escalade SUV to learn how to drive.

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Altera_Forum
Honored Contributor II
481 Views

Dear ak6dn 

 

Dose you mean that is so excessive? If so, please recommand the best way you think. 

 

Many Thanks
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Altera_Forum
Honored Contributor II
481 Views

The Nallatech board is certainly good enough but, depending on your budget, it could be expensive. If you just want to learn and play around with OpenCL, I would recommend buying one of the Cyclone V SoC boards that support OpenCL. If, however, you want to invest in a board with OpenCL support which you can later use for real high-performance applications, then an Arria 10 board will be the best choice.

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Altera_Forum
Honored Contributor II
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On this page: https://www.altera.com/products/design-software/embedded-software-developers/opencl/overview.html 

 

Lots of less expensive choices detailed here: https://www.altera.com/content/dam/altera-www/global/en_us/pdfs/products/software/opencl/opencl-dev-kit-guide.pdf 

 

One of the Terasic CycloneV SOC boards would be a good starter choice (for 1/10 the price of the Nallatech) to learn OpenCL. Then when you get really serious and have some OpenCL experience maybe a Nallatech board will make sense. 

 

I have used lots of different Terasic boards and they are very good in my opinion.
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