Quote from: tigerbit on July 01, 2013, 02:54:31 PM

I hear mineral oil brought up in discussion so many times, but these sort of solutions are surely just more trouble than they're worth.

Edit: I'll see your tad of unqualified FUD and raise you an iota of qualified optimism:

Read the links that discuss this. Cooling electric/electronic systems by direct oil contact has been in use for decades. Computer users have historically not done so, likely because there hasn't been a need. The likes of Intel have done studies spanning a year of nonstop server operation. Follow up failure analysis indicated hardware was in fine shape. The benefit was significant operational cost reductions, primarily in the form of reduced air conditioning costs. There are others who have had similar results, these studies are interesting reads.

Quote from: tigerbit on July 01, 2013, 02:54:31 PM

The heat captured still has to go somewhere - if air cooling isn't enough, then waterblocks are a far more sensible and proven solution if you insist the stock cooling is inadequate for your needs.

Yes, the heat capacity of water is the best. Cheap, widely available. It is one alternative. Indeed, thermodynamics tells us that the heat must go somewhere. In this particular case, away from the ASIC chip is all that matters. There are many ways to do this. Water is one, oil another. The combination of the two... or just air. Creativity is the only limiting factor here.

Quote from: tigerbit on July 01, 2013, 02:54:31 PM

Yes, but what about overclocking I hear you say. 450MHz dare I say it, is a fantasy figure. Theoretically possible according to Avalon but based on pretty much all real world overclocking experiences the absolute maximum is typically impractical for either stability, safety, energy consumption, chip longevity etc..

From what I have seen on the forum, the OC attempts were performed under air cooled conditions. I may have missed a thread, if I am mistaken I would be interested in reading it. If all these OC studies were under air cooling, these are not the conditions that Yifu (BitsynCom) identified that 450MHz was achieved at Avalon. Your point is taken, I would like to see more info from Avalon regarding that study (duration, conditions, errors thrown, etc.). The only info offered was that "450" was not achieved under air cooled conditions.

Quote from: tigerbit on July 01, 2013, 02:54:31 PM

If the majority of Avalon chips were capable of this, for what conceivable reason would they have limited their clock to 285 MHz in their own units.
[...] What about the fools that try 450Mhz on air cooling?

I think you answered your own question there.

I also agree with you: we need to get these boards in hand as soon as the PCB designers have achieved their design aim.