Helio Vs Altera Soc Vs Arrow kit for Cyclone V evaluation

[Altera_Forum]

Hello 

 I need to work with cyclone v soc for evaluating its multi-core performance. I am planning to buy an Evaluation kit.   Based on resources and support available which one would help me jump start? 1) Macnica - Helio Board 2) Arrow - SoCKIT 3) Altera - Cyclone V SoC Development Kit   Pls share your views   Lnk

[Altera_Forum]

I went with the SoCKIT. It was cheaper than the Altera board which had stuff on it I don't need. There is more support for SoCKit than the Helio, but not as much as the Altera board. I might have chosen the new DE1-SoC board if it was available when I purchased the SoCKit.

[Altera_Forum]

Thanks for the response.  

I got the Helio board due to immediate availability with our local vendor. As you pointed, there are more resources for Altera board than Helio board. I am facing portability issues with Altera board's sample projects when used for Helio board.  I understand the Preloader (Hardware config + pin out, GPIO numbers etc) changes.   In general, what else do I need to consider when using sample projects between different boards.  Regards LnK

[Altera_Forum]

I don't know of a listing of the differences between the various dev boards out there. In general, if you are porting an example to a different dev board, you need to make sure the I/O is compatible. For example that voltage levels match, outputs on the FPGA aren't connected to outputs on the board, etc. I'd start by comparing each line in the example project's I/O constraints file with the schematic of your board.