On: A Practical Discrete 386

[Max-q]

6502: 3500 transistors. 80386: 275000 transistors. It would have been a big board ;)

[dvh → Max-q]

That's only 520x520 transistors. Using sot23 it would be maybe 2x2m.

[jojobas → dvh]

520x520x1 is 130x130x16. 2x2m is a bit optimistic, but a wardrobe-sized cabinet should be possible.