NEAT chipset


The NEAT chipset was a
4 chip VLSI implementation of the control logic used in the IBM PC compatible PC/AT computers. It consists of the 82C211 CPU/Bus controller, 82C212 Page/Interleave and EMS Memory controller, 82C215 Data/Address buffer, and 82C206 Integrated Peripherals Controller. NEAT, official designation CS8221, was developed by Chips and Technologies.

History

The NEAT chipset descended from the first chipset that C&T had developed for IBM XT-compatible systems, which was based around the 82C100 "XT controller" chip. 82C100 incorporated the functionality of what had been, until its invention, discrete TTL chips on the XT's mainboard, namely:
IBM PC compatibility is provided by C&T's 82C206 Integrated Peripheral Controller, introduced by C&T in 1986. This chip, like its predecessor the 82C100, provided equivalent functionality to the TTL chips on the PC/AT's mainboard, namely:
NEAT CS8221's predecessor, called CS8220, required six chips for a virtually complete motherboard, while NEAT required only four and added support for separate ISA bus clocks.
The eventual successor to the NEAT chipset, 82C235 Single Chip AT, amalgamated all of the chips of the NEAT chipset into a single chip.

Other manufacturers

Other manufacturers produced equivalent chips. OPTi, for example, produced a two-chip "AT controller" chipset comprising the OPTi 82C206 and 82C495XLC, which was found in many early 80486 and Pentium AT-compatible machines. The OPTi 82C206 is pin and function compatible with C&T's 82C206. The 82C495XLC incorporated the additional memory controller and shadow RAM support.