This could be a fun YouTube video, but I don’t do that, so this is a quick review for people who can read.
What is it?
It’s a functional clone of the Terasic DE10-Nano, used with the MiSTer, and it’s really inexpensive. Almost too inexpensive. I have no idea how they managed to get the price that far down, but I suspect they came across a batch of surplus chips and decided to use them for something cool. They part number on the QMTech board indicates it’s automotive grade – meaning it can take even more heat than the industrial grade the DE10 comes with. Even less a reason to use a fan on it, but each to his or her own.
I got the version with onboard SDRAM, which is a great idea as it’s one less thing you need to buy. From a technical standpoint it’s also a great idea, as the GPIO headers are not really meant for the kind of speeds or signal integrity required for SDRAM. I’ve seen the signals on an external SDRAM module, and it was pretty bad – I’ve not bothered to check the QMTech with a scope, but I assume they know what they’re doing.
I have only tested this board with the JVS & JAMMA expanders, as I don’t own any additional hardware that use the GPIO ports. The I2S audio via GPIO option on the JVS Expander was not tested.
Does it work with the JAMMA Expander / JVS Expander?
Yes it does, with a couple of caveats.
- The 4 included M3 brass hex spacers are 5mm long. You need longer ones, like the 10mm included with the Terasic DE10-nano.
- The USB cable included with the Expanders will not work, you will need a USB type A to type A extension. The QMtech does not have a micro OTG USB port, but instead a standard USB host type A port.
- The micro-SD slot is not in the same position as the DE10. On the QMTech it ends up really close to the JST-VH DC connector, so you will have to unscrew the Expander to swap the micro-SD.
Other than that it was plug & play. My QMTech came with a 32gb micro-sd card (thanks!), not sure if this was their QA card they forgot to remove or if they all come with it. I didn’t use this, but just swapped in the one from my normal DE10 and it booted right up with no surprises.
Links for the stuff I got
Short 15cm USB A to A cable – https://www.aliexpress.com/item/1005006832390098.html
QMTECH Intel Altera Cyclone V SoC FPGA 5CSEMA6U23 Development Board – https://www.aliexpress.com/item/1005007370471764.html
Github page with manual, schematic, images etc –https://github.com/ChinaQMTECH/QMTECH_Cyclone_V_SoC_KFB_With_Dual_SDRAM
QMTech twitter – https://x.com/zyjnumber1
The JAMMA Expander and JVS Expander is available in the store 🙂