More FPGAs grow on Xeons

AT IDF LAST year, Nalantech showed off FPGAs that plugged directly into a Xeon socket. This year they have more toys, and a competitor.

Nalantech tri-FPGA module

The new one from Nalantech puts three Virtex 5 FPGAa on a module that plugs into standard Intel Xeon sockets. I know you only see two of them, but there is a second PCB underneath, and it has a third chip on it.

Nalantech socket plug

The interesting part is they don't plug into any specific socket, like the FPGAs, they are malleable. The module has a low profile adapter on it, so you can put on widgets to adapt it to any socket type, s603, s604, or LGA.

XtremeSystems tri-FPGA module

A little closer to commercial reality is a very similar device from XtremeData. It is a simpler tri-FPGA, this time Altera Stratix 3s, and it has a single flat PCB rather than a complex modules. This is not the final production version, those will have a newer FPGAs on them when they are released in the near future.

Performance is pretty solid, with 2 FPGAs available for use, the third routes, you can get a 250x increase in Monte Carlo simulations over the Xeon that used to occupy the same socket.

Look for them soon in the $15K price range. µ