[Home] [This version is outdated, a new version is here]
*Title...
*Search:...
*Read Me/FAQ/General Info...
**Cant find a chip?
Early chip sets have  a title and a part no. to refer  to the chip set
as a  whole. As time went  on the chip  set became one chip,  so later
chip sets are usually referred to by  the part no. on the actual chip.
These are  usually called "Single  Chip" by the  manufacture, although
they nearly  always follow the 2-chip  North/South-bridge paradigm. So
these are referred to by for example, "M1521/M1523" or "M1521/M23" for
short. If there is a part number for  the chip set as a whole that has
precedence. Try the search function for  a chip part no. and hopefully
it will turn up the chip set it was part of.

**Why this document is not GPL or a wiki...
**Definition of a chip set:...
**'chip set', 'chip-set' or 'chipset'?
I don't  know, all seem  to be ok/OK/okay. CHIPset  is a term  used by
C&T.

**What's not included:...
**Who made the first chip set?
By the  criteria of (2.)  in  'Definition of a chip  set' many sources
state this  to be the  Chips and Technologies  NEAT chip set.  I don't
know why this is stated as it is most definitely incorrect. The CS8221
NEW   Enhanced  AT   (NEAT)  chip   set  consisting   of  the   chips;
82C211/82C212/82C215/82C206  was  as far  as  I  can establish,  first
released sometime in 1986. 

C&T itself have an earlier chip set called the CS8220 PC/AT compatible
Chip  Set,  and  consists   of  the  following  chips;  82C201/82C202/
82A203/82A204/82A205.  It was  first  available  in OCT-85.  (see:C&T>
CS8220>Notes for further info.)

That is, AFAIK, the first motherboard  chip set from C&T and AFAIK the
worlds first chip set that meets the criteria of (2.). However C&T did
already have on the market their  popular EGA chip set, but that isn't
a motherboard chip set.

By the criteria of (1.), IBM, or Intel, see IBM>PC/XT chip set.

Another pre-'86 chipset is the  Faraday FE2010. The datasheet includes
a schematic on the very last  page dated 11/22/85. This only indicates
the chip set was on paper at that date. An acutal release date has not
been found.

**Spelling errors/mistyped words...
**Info needed on:...
**A note on VESA support of 486 chipsets....
**Datasheets:...
*_IBM...
*ACC Micro...
*ALD...
*ALi...
*AMD . . . . . . . [no datasheets, some info]...
*Chips & Technologies...
*Contaq  . . . . . [no datasheets, some info]...
*Efar Microsystems [no datasheets, some info]...
*ETEQ...
*Faraday...
*Forex . . . . . . [List only, no datasheets found]...
*Intel...
**82395SX     Smart Cache                                     12/17/90
***Notes:...
**82396SX     Smart Cache                                     12/17/90...
**82485       Turbo Cache (and 485Turbocache)                      c90...
**82489DX       Advanced Programmable Interrupt Controller    10/12/92...
**82495DX/490DX DX CPU-Cache Chip Set                           <Sep91...
**82495XP/490XP Cache Controller / Cache RAM (for i860)       06/05/91...
**82496/491     Cache Controller / Cache RAM (for P5 Pentium) 03/22/93...
**82497/492   Cache Controller / Cache RAM (for P54 Pentium)    <Nov94...
**82498/493   Cache Controller / Cache RAM (for P54 Pentium)    <Nov94...
**
**Later chipsets (basic spec):
**440 series:...
**450NX  (?)            06/29/98:...
**?????  (Profusion)    c:99...
**800 series...
*Headland/G2...
*HMC (Hulon Microelectronics)...
*Logicstar...
*Motorola...
*OPTi...
*PC CHIPS/Amptron/Atrend/ECS/Elpina/etc...
*SIS...
*Symphony...
**SL82C490   'Wagner' 486?              [no datasheet]               ?
***Notes:...
**SL82C550   'Rossini' Pentium          [no datasheet]            c:95...
**
**Support Chips:
**SL82C365    Cache Controller (for 386DX/SX)                     c:91...
**SL82C465    Cache Controller (for 486/386DX/SX)                 c:91...
*TI (Texas Instruments)...
*UMC...
*Unresearched:...
*VIA...
*VLSI...
*Western Digital...
*Winbond...
*ZyMOS...
*General Sources:...

(c) Copyright mR_Slugs Warehouse - All rights Reserved