Sipeed has recently introduced the Tang Primer 25K, an FPGA board powered by Gowin Semi GW5A-LV25MG121 chip. This board features 23,040 LUTs, USB Host capability, and an optional SDRAM module that unlocks vintage gaming.
We have previously covered many FPGA boards like Sipeed Tang Mega 138K Pro, Fudan Micro JFM7K325T, ILYGO T-FPGA, and many other development boards by Sipeed including the Sipeed Tang Nano 20K with a Gowin GW2A FPGA. You can check those out if interested.
The Tang Primer 25K development board is divided into the 25K SoM Board and the 25K Dock Board together they offer a comprehensive set of features:
- GW5A-LV25MG121 specifications:
- 23040 LUT4
- 23040 Registers (FF)
- 28x 18×18 Multipliers
- 6x PLLs
- Memory/Storage:
- 64Mbit NOR Flash
- 180K Distributed S-SRAM
- 1008K B-SRAM (bits)
- 56 Number of B-SRAM
- I/O Interfaces:
- 3x PMOD
- 40-pin header
- 2x buttons
- 8x I/O banks
- 75x General IO
- MIPI IO – 4lane Data
- USB Ports:
- 1x USB Type-C port (using BL616 MCU)
- 1x USB-A port
- Other Features:
- 3x LEDs
- JTAG debugger
- 50MHz Crystal oscillator
- Power – 5V DC
- Debugger – Supports JTAG+UART
- Mechanical:
- Core size: 23 x 17.8mm
- Dock size: 64 x 40mm
The company also offers a range of modules including a camera, SDRAM, a display unit, a joystick, HUB75E, and a 64×64 LED matrix among others.
Sipeed indicates that their product supports retro gaming, DVP camera management, and LED matrix control. To make the programming part simpler Sipeed provides a collection of sample projects on their GitHub and documentation on their Wiki page. The company also provides essential resources including board specifications, schematic, 3D model files, a Core board package, and a comprehensive Getting Started Guide all can be found on their resource page.
Sipeed’s board is available on their AliExpress Store where the Core Board Package is priced at $19.00, while the Basic Package costs $29.00. Additionally, the PMOD Camera Kit is available for $8.00, the PMOD Basic Kit for $12.00, the PMOD Joystick Kit for $8.00, and the PMOD LED Matrix Kit for $18.00. There’s also an SDRAM kit priced at $10.00. You’ll also find the board and bundles on Amazon US.
Debashis Das is a technical content writer and embedded engineer with over five years of experience in the industry. With expertise in Embedded C, PCB Design, and SEO optimization, he effectively blends difficult technical topics with clear communication
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Has anyone gotten any of these chips to work with an open source toolchain? I’m not really interested in trying to run some Windows only tools from a third party.
The older boards like the Tang Nano 9k are supported quite well at this point but tho some of the advanced features might be a bit buggy still.
‘Newer’ boards like this one are still unsupported.
You can check the progress at https://github.com/YosysHQ/apicula
I thought gowin had Linux tools https://www.gowinsemi.com/en/support/download_eda/
Yes the ide runs on both windows and Linux. And it’s really quite easy to use and small and fast.
I already had the Sipeed 4K and 20K boards, but liked the PMOD capability so I ordered one. While waiting for the PMOD modules to arrive I wrote a simple piece of VHDL code which controls one of the onboard LEDs with one of the buttons.