While area is now very cheap, power and thermal is more of an issue than ever. Huge d/i caches are doable since they save power, huge arrays of decoders not so

While area is now very cheap, power and thermal is more of an issue than ever. Huge d/i caches are doable since they save power, huge arrays of decoders not so much. The CISC-RISC debate wasn't just based on area; everyone back then also saw the direction that scaling was taking us.