Featuring the XCVU9P-L2FLGA2104E FPGA, offering support for PCI Express Gen3, DDR4, and FMC expansion; it’s widely used in applications such as imaging, data acquisition, and low-latency communications.
High-Performance Platform
The AMD/Xilinx Virtex UltraScale+ VCU118 Evaluation Kit is one of the strongest PCI Express FPGA platforms available for system developers, hardware teams, and companies building data-movement or acceleration hardware. With a fully certified PCIe Gen3 x16 interface, a large Virtex UltraScale+ FPGA (XCVU9P), multiple memory options, QSFP+ networking, and both FMC and FMC+ expansion, it stands out as a lab-grade board for demanding, real-world workloads.
But what makes the VCU118 especially compelling for software/hardware integration work is its direct alignment with Jungo WinDriver. WinDriver’s ability to generate user-mode drivers for PCIe devices, map BARs, handle interrupts, and drive DMA engines fits the VCU118’s architecture exceptionally well. Together, they create a rapid development environment that eliminates weeks of manual driver coding and lets engineers focus immediately on FPGA logic and system behavior.
A PCIe Architecture Built for WinDriver
WinDriver is designed around the PCIe programming model; BARs, MSI/MSI-X interrupts, memory-mapped registers, and DMA engines. The VCU118 exposes exactly that model:
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PCIe Gen3 x16 edge connector
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Enumerates as a standard PCIe endpoint
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Supports Xilinx’s PCIe Hard IP with AXI-Lite and AXI high-performance ports
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Integrates cleanly with host PCs running Windows or Linux
Because the VCU118 implements PCIe using the built-in Hard IP block, WinDriver can detect the board immediately, read the configuration space, enumerate the BARs, and give developers direct control over all mapped registers without writing a kernel driver.
PCI-SIG Certified: Stability You Don’t Need to Debug
Unlike many development kits that only “support” PCIe electrically, the VCU118 is formally PCI-SIG certified as a PCIe 3.0, x16, 8 GT/s endpoint. This matters. Certification eliminates an entire class of system issues; TLP errors, link instability, PHY training failures, etc.
PCI-SIG lists the VCU118 as a recognized reference card, meaning:
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It behaves like a compliant, production-grade PCIe device
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It interoperates reliably with a wide range of host PCs
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WinDriver’s PCIe enumeration and interrupt logic behaves predictably
WinDriver thrives on predictable PCIe behavior. With a certified board, the integration layer is stable from day one.
WinDriver’s Real Advantage: Ready-Made DMA Samples for UltraScale+ (XDMA/QDMA)
WinDriver includes full, ready-to-use DMA sample code tailored for Xilinx UltraScale/UltraScale+ devices using:
These samples are not generic—they match the exact structure of Xilinx’s DMA subsystem for PCIe:
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BAR mapping for control registers
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Descriptor setup
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Ring management
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High-throughput user-mode DMA transfers
For VCU118 users, this means you can:
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Build a standard Xilinx XDMA/QDMA design in Vivado
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Load the bitstream onto the VCU118
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Run WinDriver’s DMA sample application
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Immediately transmit and receive DMA data
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Validate your FPGA DMA path with the driver already done for you
This is the single biggest productivity advantage when using VCU118 with WinDriver. The VCU118 provides the hardware foundation; WinDriver provides a complete, fully functional DMA driver stack—no kernel development, no debugging MSI-X handling, no manually mapping BARs and descriptor tables.
For teams building real acceleration pipelines—video, networking, signal processing, storage, instrumentation—this shortens bring-up time dramatically. The combination is extremely hard to beat.
Hardware Resources That Match Real Workloads
The VCU118 is engineered for demanding PCIe applications:
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Virtex UltraScale+ XCVU9P
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~2.5M logic cells
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6,840 DSP slices (correct number)
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High-speed transceivers
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Dual DDR4 component memory
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RLDRAM3 support
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Two QSFP+/QSFP28 ports
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One FMC and one FMC+ connector
This makes the board suitable not only for testing PCIe enumeration, but for genuine high-bandwidth pipelines where DMA transfers operate in the tens of gigabytes per second range. With WinDriver’s DMA samples, teams can push real payloads across the PCIe link and study bandwidth, latency, and reliability under stress.
Conclusion
The Virtex UltraScale+ VCU118 Evaluation Kit is an outstanding match for Jungo WinDriver. Its certified PCIe Gen3 x16 interface, stable hardware platform, extensive memory and connectivity, and large UltraScale+ FPGA make it a natural fit for driver development and PCIe prototyping. WinDriver’s ready-made XDMA and QDMA DMA sample code puts the VCU118 in a different class: it enables teams to bring up a complete PCIe + DMA pipeline in a single day, with no kernel driver development and minimal host-side work.
For organizations building PCIe-based FPGA products or validating high-performance data paths, the VCU118 paired with WinDriver offers a uniquely powerful, time-saving combination.
Testimonials
Inomed- Jörg Wipfler (Head of R&D)
“Usually, if a problem occurs during the development process, you don’t know whether it’s in the firmware – or even in the hardware – or in the software on the PC, WinDriver helped enormously to avoid such problems.”
GE Healthcare - Yann Casteignau (Principal Engineer Digital Hardware Design)
“We were looking for a driver to allow access to the board’s resources for a Windows 2000-based software. Having no intention to develop the driver in-house, we then searched the web and found Jungo’s solution.”
Brookhaven National Laboratory - John Haggerty (Data Acquisition Coordinator)
“I have been impressed with the relative ease with which one can develop a high performance driver for a PCI card without much detailed knowledge of the computer’s hardware or even the system software."
Micro Control Company - Kim Hamilton (Director of Software Engineering)
"I would like to thank Jungo for providing a great platform to work with. We purchased Jungo many years ago (2003) and developed a driver for our proprietary PCI controller card. Jungo made this process very easy to do. It is amazing how, over time, it just keeps working. The same driver is still being used today (2025) and works flawlessly. I would highly recommend Jungo’s development platform, as it takes the complex parts of device driver development, and makes it simple."
Supported Operating Systems
Windows
WinDriver supports user-mode driver development on Windows platforms, simplifying access to PCI, PCIe, and USB devices through a robust API.
Linux
On Linux systems, WinDriver enables seamless user-mode driver creation with cross-platform support for various kernel versions.
macOS
WinDriver allows developers to build drivers for macOS environments, supporting USB and PCIe devices with compliance to Apple’s user-space driver architecture.
RTOS Zephyr (Coming Soon)
WinDriver support for Zephyr RTOS is coming soon, bringing user-mode driver development with a consistent API for device access on Zephyr-based systems, aligned with Zephyr’s small-footprint, modular RTOS architecture.
DriverWizard
A visual tool that helps developers generate initial driver code and explore device registers without manual coding.
WDREG Utility
Allows for installing, starting, stopping, and removing drivers on Windows systems through a simple command-line interface.
PCI Diagnostics Tool
Enables inspection and testing of PCI and PCIe devices, including register access and memory mapping.
WDDEBUG Utility
Provides detailed logs and debugging support for diagnosing driver behavior and troubleshooting errors.
INF File Generator
Automatically creates Windows INF files needed for driver installation, simplifying deployment.
Sample Code Library
A collection of pre-written code samples that demonstrate common driver tasks, offering templates for custom projects.
Full Benefits
Guidance
Features
Technical Data
WinDriver Download Free 30 Day Trial
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(a) You may not distribute, or otherwise transfer or assign, any portion of the Software, including any of the headers or source files that are included in the Software, unless otherwise expressly permitted in this Agreement, subject to the provisions of Section 4 above.
(b) Subject to your full and continued compliance with the terms of this Agreement, including the ongoing payment of annual license fees, you may distribute the following files:
Windows:
– windrvr1650.sys
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– windrvr1650.cat
– wdapi1650.dll
– wdapi1650_32.dll
– wdapi1650_arm64.dll
– wdapi_dotnet1650.dll
– wdapi_dotnet1650_32.dll
– wdapi_netcore1650.dll
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– wdapi_java1650.jar
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Linux:
– windrvr_gcc_v3.o_shipped
– windrvr_gcc_v3_regparm.o_shipped
– kp_linux_gcc_v3.o
– kp_linux_gcc_v3_regparm.o
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– linux_wrappers.c
– linux_wrappers.h
– wdusb_linux.c
– wdusb_interface.h
– wd_ver.h
– linux_common.h
– windrvr.h
– windrvr_usb.h
– wdsriov_interface.h
– wdsriov_linux.c
– wdreg
– configure makefile.in
– configure.wd makefile.wd.in
– makefile.wd.kbuild.in
– configure.usb
– makefile.usb.in
– makefile.usb.kbuild.in
– setup_inst_dir
macOS:
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– libwdapi_java1650.dyld
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