Run ESX 3.5 lab in ESX 3.5!

This may sound strange, I have been trying to build a ESX test environment and it seems that my T5750 CPU without VT cannot handle running ESX 3.5 from Workstation 
We have a ESX cluster in work so I am considering running a ESX lab from there - but I do not know if it is likely to work?
Has anyone given this a try?

We have a ESX cluster in work so I am considering running a ESX lab from there - but I do not know if it is likely to work?
Has anyone given this a try?
Comments
Recent: 11/2019 - RHCSA (RHEL 7); 2/2019 - Updated VCP to 6.5 (just a few days before VMware discontinued the re-cert policy...)
Working on: RHCE/Ansible
Future: Probably continued Red Hat Immersion, Possibly VCAP Design, or maybe a completely different path. Depends on job demands...
You need VT if you really want to consider making "ESX in a box" work.
profile: linkedin.com/in/astorrs
profile: linkedin.com/in/astorrs
To the OP No that wouldn't work. You can only run ESX/ESXi 3.5 from within VMware Workstation 6.5 or VMware Fusion 2.0. The other hypervisors lack the required hooks.
profile: linkedin.com/in/astorrs
I have found a quad core PC that can be used, will just need some extra RAM and a VMware compatible NIC.
It is amazing how much of a difference VT makes.
MrX
P.S. On the laptop I was trying to create a 32bit VM and using Workstation 6.5.0 118.166 following guide on Xtravirt.