but with modern 74LVC gates laid out as they would be in the circuit diagram of the chip, and LEDs to show logic state at the different parts of the circuit. Thus when it is used to teach ALU ...

Perhaps this CPU-less computer with a single NOR-gate instead of an arithmetic-logic unit is enough of a hacker flex? We certainly think so. We must admit that when we first saw [Dennis Kuschel ...

This graphic is a block diagram of Intel’s Nehalem ... at the very least, a processor will have an arithmetic and logic unit (ALU), but a floating point unit (FPU) may be included as well ...

Based on the processor diagram as it's shown, there's no indication of any kind of "special sauce" that would lower processor power consumption, while potentially increasing chip efficiency.