OT: how big would it be?

From: Dwight Elvey <elvey_at_hal.com>
Date: Wed Oct 20 12:01:06 1999

allisonp_at_world.std.com wrote:
> > BTW: I am building an Intel 4004 or possible an 8008 with flip chip modules.
> > Will tell you when I start it.
>
> Those parts were in the 3000-6000 transistor bracket. I'd expect an 8008
> in flip chips would be bigger than a straight-8 (that's larger than an
> 8S). Why? The 8008 is register rich compared to the PDP-8 series and
> for every bit in a register thats a flip chip (8008 is about 45 bits of
> registers alone and then there are the FFs in the state logic). This
> thing is going to be HUGE. The 4004 would be less ambitious but there are
> still a lot of FFs in that part.
>
> Allison

Hi
 Another issue with the 4004 is that it used a lot of
dynamic latches. These would need to be replaced by full
latches if done as a descrete part. The 2300 transistors
of the 4004 would most likely be expanded to about 3000.
Still, if one used 8 bit latch chips, one could make a
reasonable copy. I would think a 4004 equivalant could
be done in one of the larger programmable parts. I did
a clase where we put a 16 bit processor into one of these
larger chips.
Dwight
Received on Wed Oct 20 1999 - 12:01:06 BST