Should I use an external synthesis tool?

[avishay]

Hello all,
I'm designing with Altera FPGA with their Quartus software. My company
also have license for Mentor Graphics' Precision synthesis tool. From a
very brief check, it seems that Quartus' built-in synthesizer gives
comparable results to the Precision. I wonder if there is any advantage
in using an external synthesis tool. What does it give me more than
Quartus has to offer?

Thanks,
Avishay

 

[Gupta]

I have not used Quartus. But you would want to post this message to
deepchip.com to get better answers.

In general, historically, third party tools (like synplcity and
precision) performs better than fpga-design house tools in terms of
area, timing and power. But based on recent results, the design-house
tools are catching up.

-Amit

avishay wrote:

Hello all,
I'm designing with Altera FPGA with their Quartus software. My company
also have license for Mentor Graphics' Precision synthesis tool. From a
very brief check, it seems that Quartus' built-in synthesizer gives
comparable results to the Precision. I wonder if there is any advantage
in using an external synthesis tool. What does it give me more than
Quartus has to offer?

Thanks,
Avishay