A replica 386 would be impractically large - it's got around 275k transistors, compared to the 3.5k in the 6502. At the same scale as the MOnSter 6502, that'd be about a hundred square feet of PCB.

The number of layers isn't even remotely close to being a constraint. The real i386DX was manufactured on a process which only supported two metal layers, and a PCB version isn't subject to the same constraints as silicon.

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geerlingguy an hour ago | parent | next [-]

But in terms of rearranging the stack vertically; is that a possibility?

	▲	duskwuff 33 minutes ago \| parent [-]
		Components like transistors usually have to go on the surface of a PCB. (While there are techniques for embedding components in a PCB, they're extraordinarily expensive and would not be feasible for a project like this one.)

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Cieric an hour ago | parent | prev [-]

Interesting, thanks for the info.