There is another interesting path for the hobbyist, based on the Terasic DE10-nano. A group of retrocomputing enthusisasts has chosen this as their base to work upon: https://github.com/MiSTer-devel/Main_MiSTer/wiki and it even got picked up by some gaming hardware magazine, earlier this year: https://hothardware.com/reviews/mister-diy-console-fpga

While i don't care so much about the systems they emulate, and the cores they offer, this seems like a nice place to get started because of the many examples one can learn from.

Also Intel themselves offer many tutorials for it, on github and elsewhere.

And it creates an 'ecosystem' of reasonably available hardware expansions, without the usual markup for that stuff, should one need, or want them.

Would i start today, i'd use this. As it is, i've spent much more for similar stuff in the past.

I approve!

Can confirm. The only time I've ever been quoted list price for an FPGA from a distributor (other than digikey) was when our purchasing agent managed to personally enrage the sales guy.

We still didn't end up _paying_ list price (after I made the purchasing guy apologize - no details, but he was 100% in the wrong).

Well, that is true for all components at digikey. You don't mass-produce stuff with components bought from DK (or avnet either, for that matter, depending on where you do your production)

What’s a little frustrating with the Xilinx parts listed on Digi-Key, and to some extent other FPGA vendors, is the lack of any price breaks.

I looked up a random i.MX6 processor from NXP. It’s $32.08 for one of them, and $20.95 per part when you get a reel of 500. If you need a few thousand units made, it’s perfectly reasonable to order parts from Digi-Key. You might be overpaying compared to what a good purchasing person can get you, but it’s fine for a few thousand parts, and quick and easy.

Look up any Xilinx part on Digi-Key, and there’s just a single price break at 1 unit. Even Lattice parts only go up to price breaks of 100.

Worked with FPGAs at a past gig, and that is correct. There is heavy markup due to the accessibility of the parts.