Choosing Between Distributed RAM and Dedicated Block RAM - 2025.2 English - UG901

Vivado Design Suite User Guide: Synthesis (UG901)

Document ID
UG901
Release Date
2025-12-05
Version
2025.2 English

Both types write data synchronously into the RAM. Distributed RAM and dedicated block RAM differ primarily in how they read data. See the following table.

Table 1. Distributed RAM versus Dedicated Block RAM
Action Distributed RAM Dedicated Block RAM
Write Synchronous Synchronous
Read Asynchronous Synchronous

Tool can choose between distributed RAM and dedicated block RAM based on the RAM characteristics described in the HDL source code. Also, weigh the availability of block RAM resources and whether you enforced an implementation style with the RAM_STYLE attribute.