NI PCIe-7851R compatibility?

[wjchen]

Hi,

I am going to get one PC delicated for the NI PCIe-7851R board. But I am not sure which PCIe bus formfactor this board use, x1, or x4, or x16? I am sure it can work with "up-plugging" x16, but how about x1?

Also, another thing is the memory requirement for this FPGA target PC. On the website it says

Memory requirements vary by FPGA target; although 2 GB of memory is adequate for typical FPGA VIs, the unique characteristics of each FPGA design can affect the amount of memory needed:

• Virtex-5 and earlier
  • Recommended: 3 to 4 GB of memory (32-bit OS)

Does it mean for this FPGA target PC, we should better use at least 3GB RAM? What is the minimum requirement for it?

Also, if my master computer is 64bit system, will it be compatatible with 32bit FPGA target PC?

Thanks,

Wenjie

[ColdenR · Accepted solution]

Hello wjchen,

It uses the 1x formfactor.

The system memory requirements depend on what your program is doing overall, what operating system you're using, and what other programs you're running in the background. 3GB tends to be limiting for any Windows 7 machine, but it should work fine if you're just running LabVIEW and you don't need to store a large amount of information in RAM. I would still recommend at least 4GB of RAM, especially considering how cheap it is.

How is your 64-bit machine communicating with the 32-bit machine that's hosting the FPGA target? You can communicate between two computers via TCP/IP, network-published shared variables, and other methods. This communication is independant of the operating system.

You can also operate the PCIe-7851R directly on a 64-bit system - just be sure to install 32-bit LabVIEW.

Note that the 7851R does not include a real-time operating system or a processor - it's an FPGA with DIO and AIO that communications with your computer.