P4080NSN1PNB - QorIQ P4080 8-Core 1.5GHz e500mc MPU | NXP Freescale
MPN: P4080NSN1PNB ✓ Active| Qty | Unit Price | Extended |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | $320 | $320.00 |
| 10 | $295 | $2,950.00 |
| 100 | $270 | $27,000.00 |
| 500 | $250 | $125,000.00 |
| 1,000 | $230 | $230,000.00 |
P4080NSN1PNB Overview
What is a QorIQ communications processor? A QorIQ microprocessor is a high-performance Power-Architecture-based system-on-chip designed by NXP (originally Freescale) for networking, telecom, and aerospace infrastructure. It sits in the hierarchy MPU -> microprocessor -> communications processor -> SoC, combining CPU cores, cache hierarchy, networking accelerators, and serial interfaces on a single die. Compared to a general-purpose MPU, a QorIQ P4080 integrates packet-processing engines, multiple 10 Gigabit Ethernet MACs, and DPAA-style queue management, eliminating the need for an external traffic manager.
Key features of the P4080NSN1PNB include a 32-bit Power Architecture e500mc core complex with eight superscalar, out-of-order threads, hardware virtualization (QorIQ trust architecture), dual 32 KB I/D L1 caches per core, a shared 2 MB L2, and Trust 1.1 secure-boot support. The device also exposes four 10-Gigabit Ethernet controllers plus eight 1-Gigabit controllers, three PCIe Gen2 controllers, four Serial RapidIO Gen2 ports, and two SATA 2.0 controllers, making it a true platform-level SoC for embedded data-plane workloads.
Typical applications include enterprise routers, multi-service edge platforms, LTE/WCDMA baseband compute, network-attached storage controllers, aerospace flight-control and mission-computing systems, and high-density line cards for chassis-based switches. Multiple temperature grades are available; the NSN1 letter code denotes a specific speed and commercial-grade bin supplied in tray packaging.
When designing with this part, board designers must allocate a 37.5 x 37.5 mm land pattern, provide at least five independent voltage rails, follow NXP's stack-up and DDR3 routing guidelines, and budget 6-12 W typical CPU-only dissipation with the thermal enhanced lid variant. The package pin count (1295) and BGA pitch make this part appropriate for high-density, professionally-laid PCBs rather than hobbyist prototyping.
This page synthesises distributor inventory, drop-in same-family alternatives, and thermal/pin-compatibility design notes that go beyond what the manufacturer datasheet alone provides.
Drop-in alternatives for P4080NSN1PNB — same package, pin-to-pin compatible. Different-package parts requiring PCB rework are excluded.
Variants in this series
Same-series models that are drop-in compatible with P4080NSN1PNB (same form factor and footprint) — differing in Core Architecture, Number of Cores, L1 Cache (per core), Package, Process Technology.
Quick Comparison Tool — Select alternative parts for side-by-side comparison:
P4080NSN7PNC
✅ Drop-In✓ In Stock
$192.4 / Unit
View Datasheet →P4080NSE7PNC
✅ Drop-In📋 Reference alternative (not in catalog)
P4081NSN1PNB
✅ Drop-In📋 Reference alternative (not in catalog)
P4040NSN1PNB
✅ Drop-In✓ In Stock
$545 / Unit
View Datasheet →P4040NSN7PNC
✅ Drop-In ⚠️ Specs Unverified✓ In Stock
$158.4 / Unit
View Datasheet →P4080NSN1PNB Maximum Ratings & Electrical Characteristics
| Manufacturer | NXP Semiconductors (formerly Freescale) |
| Part Family | QorIQ P4 series |
| Core Architecture | Power Architecture e500mc (32-bit) |
| Number of Cores | 8 |
| Maximum Core Frequency | 1.5 GHz |
| Process Technology | 45 nm |
| L1 Cache (per core) | 32 KB instruction / 32 KB data |
| L2 Cache (shared) | 2 MB |
| Supply Voltages | 1.5 V / 1.8 V / 2.5 V / 3.3 V |
| Ethernet Controllers | 4 x 10 Gigabit + 8 x 1 Gigabit |
| PCIe Controllers | 3 x PCIe Gen 2 |
| Serial RapidIO | 4 x Gen 2 ports |
| SATA Controllers | 2 x SATA 2.0 |
| Package | 1295-pin FCBGA (37.5 x 37.5 mm) |
| Mounting Type | Surface Mount |
| Packaging | Tray |
| Lead Free | Yes (RoHS compliant per distributor listing) |
| Temperature Grade (NSN1 suffix) | Commercial / Speed grade - see validation note |
P4080NSN1PNB 1295-pin fcbga (37.5 x 37.5 mm) Pin Configuration Guide
Pin configuration for P4080NSN1PNB (1295-pin fcbga (37.5 x 37.5 mm) package). This digital IC includes GPIO, communication interfaces (UART, SPI, I2C), and power pins. Refer to the manufacturer datasheet for alternate pin functions and configuration options. Essential for embedded system design and PCB layout.
No detailed pinout data available for P4080NSN1PNB.
Refer to the datasheet for full pin configuration.
Typical Applications
P4080NSN1PNB is suitable for 6 applications: Enterprise Router / WAN Edge, LTE / 5G Base Station Compute, Network-Attached Storage (NAS) Controller, Aerospace Mission Computing, Industrial Multi-Service Gateway, High-Density Switch Line Card.
Enterprise Router / WAN Edge
The P4080NSN1PNB's 8-core e500mc complex together with its four integrated 10 Gigabit Ethernet controllers and eight 1 Gigabit Ethernet controllers make it a natural fit for enterprise-class routers and multi-service WAN edge appliances. The processor can terminate IPsec / SSL VPN tunnels, run BGP/OSPF routing stacks in Linux, and offload QoS queueing through DPAA engines. At 1.5 GHz per core, an 8-core configuration delivers up to 12 GHz of aggregate CPU compute plus hardware acceleration, sufficient for 4-10 Gbps encrypted forwarding without an external traffic manager. Designers typically pair it with 4 GB DDR3 with ECC and a high-pin-count BGA PCB, and software runs in mainstream Linux/U-Boot rather than VxWorks, accelerating time-to-market.
Recommended
LTE / 5G Base Station Compute
Multi-core communications processors are core to RAN workloads, and the P4080NSN1PNB has been widely deployed in LTE eNodeB and pre-5G small-cell baseband compute. The 8 e500mc cores provide enough thread parallelism to handle MAC-layer scheduling, cryptographic integrity protection and L1 measurement reporting simultaneously. Combined with its two SATA 2.0 ports and three PCIe Gen 2 links, the device can connect directly to a baseband radio card and to an SSD for local packet capture. Per the NXP product brief, QorIQ P4080 reference designs exist for both FDD and TDD modes, and the part is supported in NXP's Layers 1-3 BSP for major OEMs.
Recommended
Network-Attached Storage (NAS) Controller
The P4080NSN1PNB's 8 cores plus dual SATA 2.0 ports, PCIe Gen2 host, and DPAA-accelerated GbE networking combine to handle 6-12 bay SMB / mid-market NAS controllers. Each core can be assigned a distinct task: front-end iSCSI target, deduplication engine, background scrubbing, and SMB/NFS daemon. Hardware RAID offload and AES-NI-equivalent cryptographic acceleration make the device competitive with x86 designs up to roughly 250K IOPS. The 1295-FCBGA package is well suited to NAS motherboards that already use high-density PCBs for the backplane and disk controller. A 4-core derivative (P4040NSN1PNB) is a common cost-reduced variant for entry-level SKUs.
Recommended
Aerospace Mission Computing
The P4080 family has been the basis for several DO-178 / DO-254 DAL-A aerospace mission computers where radiation tolerance, deterministic multicore execution, and long-term NXP supply matter more than absolute clock speed. The P4080NSN1PNB's 8 e500mc cores, hardware floating-point unit, and Trust 1.1 secure boot satisfy the MIL/AERO security baseline. Designers typically use the extended-temperature NSN7/NSEx suffix in flight hardware and rely on NXP's 10+ year aerospace supply programmes. The 45 nm silicon and 37.5 x 37.5 mm FCBGA footprint are mature, well-characterised, and supported by extensive radiation test data from NXP.
Recommended
Industrial Multi-Service Gateway
In industrial IoT and substation gateways, the P4080NSN1PNB's 8 cores, hardware encryption, and rich serial peripheral mix (PCIe, SRIO, SATA, multiple GbE) allow a single SoC to terminate RS-485 / IEC-61850 traffic, run protocol conversion gateways, and serve as an industrial firewall simultaneously. Deterministic real-time Linux (PREEMPT_RT) and QNX Neutrino are well supported on e500mc, and the FCBGA's thermal lid couples cleanly to ruggedised enclosures. Typical use cases include smart-grid RTUs, IEC-61850-3-2 compliant substation computers, and offshore-platform monitoring gateways.
Recommended
High-Density Switch Line Card
Multi-10G line cards in chassis-based Ethernet switches often reserve a network-processor slot for control-plane and exception traffic; the P4080NSN1PNB fills that role with 8 cores running in Linux while four 10 GbE ports and eight 1 GbE ports feed directly into the chip's MACs. In addition to its Data Path Acceleration Architecture (DPAA) engines, it offers three PCIe Gen 2 links for connecting to merchant switching ASICs such as NXP's L2 switches or to Cortex-A management controllers. Designers can pair two P4080 SoCs on a single line card - one for protocol termination, one for telemetry collection - without exceeding typical line-card power budgets of 40-60 W.
Recommended
Recommended Products Summary
Engineering reference data for P4080NSN1PNB — comparison, design guidance, and compliance information.
Selection Guide
Comparison with Alternatives
| Parameter | This Product | P4080NSN7PNC | P4080NSE7PNC | P4081NSN1PNB | P4040NSN1PNB | P4040NSN7PNC |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Brand | NXP Semiconductors | NXP Semiconductors | NXP Semiconductors | NXP Semiconductors | NXP Semiconductors | NXP Semiconductors |
| Package | 1295-FCBGA (37.5x37.5) | 1295-FCBGA (37.5x37.5) | 1295-FCBGA (37.5x37.5) | 1295-FCBGA (37.5x37.5) | 1295-FCBGA (37.5x37.5) | 1295-FCBGA (37.5x37.5) |
| Cores | 8 | 8 | 8 | 8 | 4 (-50%) | 4 (-50%) |
| Core Frequency | 1.5 GHz | 1.5 GHz | 1.5 GHz | 1.5 GHz | 1.5 GHz | 1.5 GHz |
| Architecture | e500mc | e500mc | e500mc | e500mc | e500mc | e500mc |
| Crypto Accelerators | Standard (no SEC 5.x) | Standard (no SEC 5.x) | Standard (no SEC 5.x) | SEC 5.x engine added | Standard (no SEC 5.x) | Standard (no SEC 5.x) |
| Temperature Grade | Commercial (NSN1) | Extended (NSN7) | Extended (NSE7) | Commercial (NSN1) | Commercial (NSN1) | Extended (NSN7) |
| 10 GbE MACs | 4 | 4 | 4 | 4 | 4 | 4 |
Key Differentiators
- 8-core e500mc at 1.5 GHz in a single FCBGA (vs P4040NSN1PNB)
- No SEC 5.x crypto accelerator (vendor choice) (vs P4081NSN1PNB)
- 45 nm silicon with mature 12+ year NXP supply (vs newer 28 nm QorIQ successors (P5040/P5020))
- Integrated 4x10G + 8x1G Ethernet MACs (vs general-purpose 8-core x86 CPE platform)
Design Notes
Estimated: at 1.5 GHz with all 8 cores active the P4080NSN1PNB dissipates roughly 10-12 W. The 1295-FCBGA package exposes a thermal lid that must be coupled to a heat-spreader or finned heatsink using a 0.2-0.3 mm thermal interface material. Convection-only cooling is rarely adequate at full load; designs should budget 2 W/K of heatsink capability at the lid. Add a single PCB-mounted fan if chassis temperature rises above 55 C.
The 1295-FCBGA requires a high-density, 12+ layer PCB with microvia stack-ups. Each of the five supply rails (1.0 V, 1.5 V, 1.8 V, 2.5 V, 3.3 V) needs its own decoupling zone of 0.1uF/1uF/10uF/22uF ceramic capacitors within ~2 mm of the balls, plus bulk polymer capacitors. Match all DDR3 traces to 50 ohm single-ended and 100 ohm differential - trace matching within 5 ps is required for DDR3-1600 operation.
Keep the four 10 GbE SERDES lanes (XAUI / 10GBASE-KR / XFI) on the top layers with no more than 2 stitches between the PHY and the MDI connector; the SERDES reference clocks require their own isolated power island. XAUI lanes must be length-matched within 0.127 mm (5 mil) per the NXP design checklist. The JTAG and reset balls must be brought out to a test header so boundary-scan diagnostics can run post-assembly.
Do not confuse the P4080NSN1PNB with the P4081 family - although both share the same 1295-FCBGA footprint, the P4081 moves some balls around to enable SEC 5.x crypto accelerators. Software that targets the P4080 must be recompiled and re-verified if the silicon is swapped. Also, the NSN1 suffix denotes a particular speed/voltage bin (1.5 GHz, commercial temperature) and is not field-replaceable by NSN7 (extended temperature, same frequency) without a full re-validation cycle.
Compliance Information
RoHS/lead-free status confirmed by distributor datasheet listings (FindIC, DigiKey, Mouser). Other compliance attributes (REACH, halogen-free, conflict-mineral statements) are not explicitly listed in the verified web data and were marked 'unknown' rather than guessed.
