RE: The Cost of Developing A PCI Card

["Austin Franklin" <austin@darkroom.com>]

Hi Kevin,

For your PCB my suggestion would be to go to www.SierraProtoExpress.com and
see for your self.  It depends on how fast you want the board, and how big
it is.

I typically spend $2000 for around 10 pieces of a PCI board for prototypes.
In large quantity, like 1000, the cost goes down to around $20 or less each.

You need a schematic capture program and PCB layout program.  These costs
can range from sort of free to thousands of dollars.  Heck, try eBay!  I
guess if I was on a low budget, I'd try Eagle is it?

As far as logic analyzers and oscilloscopes go, again, try eBay.  I can
recommend for low cost exceptional logic analyzers, the HP 16500 series (get
the B with a 10 base T network connection) or Kontron PLA/2.  For scopes,
Tektronix 465B or get a 16530/31 card for the logic analyzer, though I
really do recommend a stand alone scope.  You'll probably spend under $1000
for both a logic analyzer and scope.

Austin

> -----Original Message-----
> From: Kevin Brace [mailto:kevinbraceusenet@hotmail.com]
> Sent: Wednesday, March 27, 2002 3:14 AM
> To: pci-sig@znyx.com
> Subject: The Cost of Developing A PCI Card
>
>
>         While a discussion on whether or not it is okay to use 2
> layer PCB
> or 4 layer PCB for a PCI card is going on, I will like to ask
> people of this
> mailing list about the cost of developing a PCI card.
> I will like to someday develop my own PCI card that has a Xilinx
> Spartan-II
> XC2S200 FPGA and an SO-DIMM slot on it.
> Obviously, I will strictly follow PCI specification, so I will
> use 4 layer
> PCB for my board, and will like to use SMT parts very extensively for
> passive components like capacitors and resistors.
> How much would it cost to make such a board in prototype quantity of just
> one, and how much would it cost if I made 100 of them?
> I know that Spartan-II XC2S200-6CPQ208 (208 pin PQFP) costs $30, and
> XC2S200-6CFG456 (456 pin Fine-Pitch BGA) costs $45 in prototype
> quantity of
> buying only one.
> XC18V02 Configuration PROM costs about $36 last time I checked in
> prototype
> quantity.
>         Besides the material costs, how much would it cost to acquire the
> tools needed to develop such a card?
> Obviously, I will need software tools like a PCB CAD tool and a signal
> integrity tool.
> Can someone recommend me one?
> Besides that, I need a logic analyzer and an oscilloscope.
> For those two, I will like to have the equipment that can handle
> 33MHz/66MHz
> PCI as well as PC100/PC133 SDRAM.
> I do realize that the everything at the end of the day will cost
> a lot (It
> probably will cost as much as a luxury car.), but I will just
> like to know
> for my curiosity.
>
>
>
> Thanks,
>
>
>
> Kevin Brace (In general, don't respond to me directly, and respond within
> the newsgroup.)
>
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