The NEAT chipset was a 3-chip chipset

Chipset

A chipset, PC chipset, or chip set refers to a group of integrated circuits, or chips, that are designed to work together. They are usually marketed as a single product.- Computers :...

 for IBM PC compatible

IBM PC compatible

IBM PC compatible computers are those generally similar to the original IBM PC, XT, and AT. Such computers used to be referred to as PC clones, or IBM clones since they almost exactly duplicated all the significant features of the PC architecture, facilitated by various manufacturers' ability to...

 computers. It was developed by Chips and Technologies

Chips and Technologies

Chips and Technologies was the first fabless semiconductor company, a model developed by its founder Gordon Campbell. Founded by Dado Banatao.Its first product was an EGA IBM compatible graphics chip...

.

History

The NEAT chipset descended from the chipset that C&T had developed for IBM XT-compatible systems, which was based around the 82C100 "XT controller" chip. This chip incorporated the functionality of what had been, until its invention, discrete TTL chips on the XT's mainboard

Motherboard

In personal computers, a motherboard is the central printed circuit board in many modern computers and holds many of the crucial components of the system, providing connectors for other peripherals. The motherboard is sometimes alternatively known as the mainboard, system board, or, on Apple...

, namely:

• the 8284 clock generator
• the 8288 bus controller
• the 8254 Programmable Interval Timer
  Programmable Interval Timer
  In computing and in embedded systems, a programmable interval timer is a counter which triggers an interrupt when it reaches the programmed count.- Common features :...
  
  
• the 8255
  Intel 8255
  The Intel 8255 Programmable Peripheral Interface chip is a peripheral chip originally developed for the Intel 8085 microprocessor, and as such is a member of a large array of such chips, known as the MCS-85 Family. This chip was later also used with the Intel 8086 and its descendants.It was later...
  
   parallel I/O
  Parallel port
  A parallel port is a type of interface found on computers for connecting various peripherals. In computing, a parallel port is a parallel communication physical interface. It is also known as a printer port or Centronics port...
  
   interface
• the 8259
  Intel 8259
  The Intel 8259 is a Programmable Interrupt Controller designed for the Intel 8085 and Intel 8086 microprocessors. The initial part was 8259, a later A suffix version was upward compatible and usable with the 8086 or 8088 processor...
  
   Programmable Interrupt Controller
  Programmable Interrupt Controller
  In computing, a programmable interrupt controller is a device that is used to combine several sources of interrupt onto one or more CPU lines, while allowing priority levels to be assigned to its interrupt outputs. When the device has multiple interrupt outputs to assert, it will assert them in...
  
  
• the 8237
  Intel 8237
  Intel 8237 is a direct memory access controller , a part of the MCS 85 microprocessor family. It was used as the DMA controller in the original IBM PC and IBM XT...
  
   DMA
  Direct memory access
  Direct memory access is a feature of modern computers that allows certain hardware subsystems within the computer to access system memory independently of the central processing unit ....
  
   controller

The central chip of the NEAT chipset was C&T's 82C206 chip, 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:

• the 82284 clock generator
• the 82288 bus controller
• the 8254 Programmable Interval Timer
• the two 8259 Programmable Interrupt Controllers
• the two 8237 DMA controllers
• the MC146818 NVRAM
  Nonvolatile BIOS memory
  Nonvolatile BIOS memory refers to a small memory on PC motherboards that is used to store BIOS settings. It was traditionally called CMOS RAM because it used a low-power Complementary metal-oxide-semiconductor SRAM powered by a small battery when system power was off...
  
  /RTC
  Real-time clock
  A real-time clock is a computer clock that keeps track of the current time. Although the term often refers to the devices in personal computers, servers and embedded systems, RTCs are present in almost any electronic device which needs to keep accurate time.-Terminology:The term is used to avoid...
  
   chip

This set of components comprised most of the logic (aside from the CPU

Central processing unit

The central processing unit is the portion of a computer system that carries out the instructions of a computer program, to perform the basic arithmetical, logical, and input/output operations of the system. The CPU plays a role somewhat analogous to the brain in the computer. The term has been in...

 itself) on a PC/AT-compatible mainboard, and the creation of the 82C206 allowed mainboard manufacturers to significantly reduce the number of components on, and thereby the cost of manufacture of, such mainboards. However, mainboards still required four other chips, in addition to the 82C206. These other chips were buffers and memory controller

Memory controller

The memory controller is a digital circuit which manages the flow of data going to and from the main memory. It can be a separate chip or integrated into another chip, such as on the die of a microprocessor...

s. In concert, these five chips were C&T's CS8220 chipset.

The NEAT chipset was the successor to the CS8220. It was officially designated the CS8221. It required only three extra chips in addition to the 82C206.

The successor to the NEAT chipset was the SCAT chipset, which amalgamated all of the chips of the NEAT chipset into a single chip, the 82C836.

Other manufacturers

Other manufacturers produced equivalent chips. OPTi

Opti

Opti may refer to*Daihatsu Opti, a car*OPTi Inc., a manufacturer of computer components*OPTI Canada, an oil company*Optimist , a type of boat...

, for example, produced a two-chip "AT controller" chipset comprising the OPTi 82C206 and 82C495XLC, which was found in many early 80486

Intel 80486

The Intel 80486 microprocessor was a higher performance follow up on the Intel 80386. Introduced in 1989, it was the first tightly pipelined x86 design as well as the first x86 chip to use more than a million transistors, due to a large on-chip cache and an integrated floating point unit...

 and Pentium AT-compatible machines. The OPTi 82C206 provided equivalent functionality to:

• a 8254 Programmable Interval Timer
• two 8259 Programmable Interrupt Controllers
• two 82437 DMA controllers
• a MC146818 NVRAM/RTC chip
• a 74LS612 Memory Mapper chip

The 82C495XLC incorporated the additional memory controller and shadow RAM support.