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**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.
Many chipsets state  that they support VESA local  bus.  In some cases
these actually  implement VLB somewhat  like PCI, where it  is entirly
decoupled from the CPU bus. Chipsets  that do not state they work with
VLB,  may  be found  on  motherboards  that  contain VLB  slots.   VLB
is  *basically*  The 486  CPU  pinout in  a  slot  form. Unless  these
m/boards contain  some additional  chips, there VLB  implementation is
directly coupled to the CPU.

**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...
**82497/492   Cache Controller / Cache RAM (for P54 Pentium)    <Nov94
***Notes:...
***Info:
The 82497 Cache Controller and multiple 82492 Cache SRAMs combine with
the Pentium processor  (735\90, 810\100) to form a  CPU Cache chip set
designed for high performance servers and function-rich desktops.  The
high-speed interconnect between the  CPU and cache components has been
optimized to  provide zero-wait state  operation. This CPU  Cache chip
set  is fully  compatible with  existing  software, and  has new  data
integrity features for mission critical applications.

The 82497 cache controller implements the MESI write-back protocol for
full multiprocessing support. Dual  ported buffers and registers allow
the 82497  to concurrently  handle CPU bus,  memory bus,  and internal
cache operation for maximum performance.

The  82492 is a  customized high-performance  SRAM that  supports 32-,
64-, 128-bit wide memory bus widths, 16-, 32-, and 64-byte line sizes,
and optional sectoring.  The data path between the  CPU bus and memory
bus  is separated  by the  82492, allowing  the CPU  bus  to handshake
synchronously,  asynchronously,  or   with  a  strobed  protocol,  and
allowing concurrent CPU bus and memory bus operations.

***Configurations:...
***Features:...
**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...
*TI (Texas Instruments)...
*UMC...
*Unresearched:...
*VIA...
*VLSI...
*Western Digital...
*Winbond...
*ZyMOS...
*General Sources:...