why new version of quartus

[Altera_Forum]

Hi, I am so confused with new verision of quartus, it can be free downloaded from the web, why my company bought a licensed version? I was told by some colleague that the previous project may encounter problem when using new quartus, because of the some mismatch of megafunction, something like that? I really need sort out the relationship of quartus and megafunctions, IP cores that we have. Hope someone can help me. Thanks.

[Altera_Forum]

There are some differences between the free web edition (without a licenze) and the paid subcription edition (with licenze) 

 the main difference is, that the web edition won't produce all the files that can be used for production purposes and will allow you to test the functionality with some limitations (like time limited) this is some kind of evaluation testing ...  if you bought a licenze then you will also get some functionality, the web edition does not have (using more than 1 cpu core, and other enhancement) as well as additional ip functionality (FIR FFT ....)  next thing is, newer version will bring new features and enhancements. a couple of quartus releases in the past, they introduced using more cpu cores than only onw to speed up the compilation time. or the MMU for nios, the current V9.1 will give the nios II e core free ...  but yes some changes also introduce that you must have an eye on you design if they will perform with the new version as they did with your latest. but they could fix bugs ...  any more questions ?

[Altera_Forum]

Thanks, you're very helpful.  

When I look at the list of licensed magafunctions, there are some items, usually with vendor and product discription. but some doesn't. E.g. Altera (6AF7):00BE; Altera (6AF7):00BF; Altera (6AF7):00C2; Altera (6AF7):00BD; Altera (6AF8):00BD; How to interpret them?

[Altera_Forum]

My Quartus 9.1 patch 063 version lists the Licensed functions as follows : 

 Altera (6AF7) DDR High Performance Memory Controller (00BE) Altera (6AF7) DDR2 High Performance Memory Controller (00BF) Altera (6AF7) DDR3 High Performance Memory Controller (00C2)  but i have no information about these 2 as i doesn't have them  Altera (6AF7):00BD Altera (6AF8):00BD

[Altera_Forum]

Also, the free version of Quartus doesnt create sofs/pofs for some of the larger stratix devices, you need a license for that. 

 The latest versions have the most accurate timing models etc, and bug fixes so depending on what you are doing keeping up to date may be a good idea.

[Altera_Forum]

Altera (6AF7):00BD is TSE MAC. 

 you can find a list in c:\altera\91\quartus\bin\cpt_ip_product_map.txt