After the fog prune the design clock closed (+0.631ns) but a 310MHz EMIF path
missed by 103ps: the Z-req FIFO read-address register u_zc_emit|u_req|raddr_hi1_q[4]
fans out to 6 spread M20K blocks. Quartus flagged TMC-20551 (needs more register
duplication), which AGGRESSIVE AREA mode was suppressing. That mode is a leftover
from the resolved LAB-overflow era; utilization has headroom (ALM 85%, DSP 45%,
RAM unaffected by opt mode). BALANCED lets the fitter duplicate the address
register to close the path. QSF-only, no RTL change.
Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 4.8 (1M context) <noreply@anthropic.com>
thejayman77
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