Compatible emulators

Description

Motherboard published 37 years ago:

KT216WB5-HI Rev.2 (c) 1989 KT Technology

The KT216WB5-HI is an 80286-based motherboard designed for the high-end office workstation market of the 1989–1990 period. Built primarily around the Chips & Technologies (C&T) NEAT (New Enhanced AT) chipset, it was engineered to offer better-than-standard performance for the 286 architecture. The board features a socketed 80286 CPU (typically clocked at 12 or 16 MHz). Its expansion capabilities include a mix of 8-bit and 16-bit ISA slots. Memory management is handled by banks of 30-pin SIMMs, which was a significant upgrade over the earlier DIP-bank memory systems. It provides standard support for an 80287 math coprocessor and includes the typical AT-compatible BIOS configuration interface.

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The "Super 286" Performance: Because this board utilized the C&T NEAT chipset, it supported "shadow RAM"—a feature where the slow BIOS and video ROM contents were copied into high-speed DRAM. This was a massive performance boost for 286 systems, making the KT216WB5-HI feel significantly snappier in DOS applications than older 286 boards that accessed ROMs directly.

Rev.2 Stability: The "Rev.2" designation is significant because earlier revisions of this board were known for timing issues with certain high-speed ISA expansion cards. The Rev.2 design improved the trace routing on the ISA bus, making it much more reliable for users who were adding specialized cards for industrial control or advanced serial communication.

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