Why Use Genuine Xilinx Parts And How To Find Them?
It’s essential, when building a prototype digital circuit, to ensure that you get the best results possible from it. Failure of a digital circuit could doom a project. It’s particularly important if you hope to obtain funding based on the performance of the project. It’s vital if you need to convince your company to keep funding research for the project.
Anywhere that you rely on digital circuitry, even when fixing a slightly older system, you need reliable parts for the best possible performance.
You Need Great Tech To Start With
Xilinx has built a reputation for producing high-quality products and being innovative. Innovation is great news if you are interested in developing new designs, but it can be problematic when it comes to fixing something a little older.
As with all things electronic, technological advances are moving extremely quickly. A part considered state-of-the-art tech today could well be obsolete tomorrow. And, naturally, it doesn’t make sense for companies to carry manufacturing parts that are now outdated.
Xilinx invented FPGA tech, so it makes sense to rely on the company to provide the parts. Unfortunately, Xilinx doesn’t make some of its best models anymore, and there is nothing comparable on the market.
Lack of new models doesn’t need to break the deal. You can get obsolete models from some suppliers. You’ll get a used part, but if you deal with reputable companies, this shouldn’t be an issue.
There’s A Fly In The Ointment
Of course, there are some issues here. Some parts are highly sought after, especially those no longer manufactured. Finding them can be tough. It also means, unfortunately, that you have to be careful when considering where to order parts.
There is a substantial industry for knock-off replacement parts, especially in the digital circuit area. Unfortunately, replacements tend to be cheap, nasty, and never quite as good as the originals. Gray marketers take advantage of the fact that users have fewer options in buying parts.
Which, in turn, means that when you look over a Xilinx FPGA list, you need to be sure you get the real deal.
How Do I Know I’m Getting The Real Thing?
Your only real guarantee is to deal with a company that has a well-established reputation and compare prices carefully. Fakes might look exactly like the real deal, but they’ll often come in at a lower cost, and that’s your first clue.
If the price looks too good to be true, you need to ask yourself why. That’s not to say the expensive option is necessarily genuine. You can get genuine Xilinx part at reasonable rates, but by and large, the prices should make sense.
Your best protection is to buy from a company with a solid reputation for customer service. You want to know that if something goes wrong, you have some recourse. With the gray market dealers, you usually don’t get any refunds.
