NIOS vs ARM

[Altera_Forum]

Does anyone know how does a NIOS softcore, implemented on a MAX10, compare to an ARM hardcore, from a speed point of view?

[Altera_Forum]

There's no comparison (well, there's some comparison). Nios is more akin to a microcontroller while the Arm processors in the SoC devices are applications class processors. Nios works well with no OS or an RTOS while the Arm processors work great with a full OS like a Linux variant and aren't suited well for an RTOS.

[Altera_Forum]

You are right. Perhaps I should have been more clear. 

I did mention ARM cores, instead of processors, because many popular microcontrollers are based on those (eg NXP Kinetis, Atmel SAM etc). So, from a speed point of view, would it be better to implement a NIOS II in a MAX10 or just add an Atmel SAM3X8E on its side?

[Altera_Forum]

If you need just more performance just go with fpga with arm integrated, no hassle with high speed signal integrity issue between cpld and ic that could be a bottleneck. 

Arm core is more optimized than nios but more complex