Quote from: proclivity on July 09, 2014, 03:10:52 AM

Wow.. I'm inspired to pull out my soldering iron! I'm definitely going to implement the terminal blocks, I've got way too much heat coming off of my power leads, even with a box fan. It's just asking for trouble.

Really great job!

I recommend leaving the WBs facing out. If you do get a failure, facing out should reduce the chance of fluid reaching the other boards.

The blocks I used are (RELATIVELY) inexpensive GROUND strips.
Notice the hazardous wood and tywraps insulating it? I have a cover too.
Actually with formed 12AWG wire I'll have trouble perma-mounting except exactly there.
They come in different lengths depending on power panel size.
One could be cut for 12V and ground for 1/2 price.
Keep in mind they are NOT copper.
I do not put all PSU at one end and all ASIC at other.
I have 4 12V wires per PSU, one from each PSU together every 4 holes.
(abandoned plan for 8kW rail)

Regarding solder and ASIC PCB power pins:
Go big(with iron wattage and iron tip) or stay home.

Although my fancy dancy 18AWG to each VRM was planned exactly as pictured,
it was not scheduled for when it was installed.
And I brought big iron to the game, plus preheat PCB.

One of my PCIe connector 12V pins was not soldered well originally. fact.
(many in fact did not flow to top of PCB along pin, do they scrimp on Silver too?)
I in egotistical self defense might claim the hole was full of slag and wouldn't clean up.conjecture
Everyone else could safely assume the 12V pins might require caution and TLC.
I still had connection but no trust that is was not compromised, creating what I sought to avoid HEAT.
If I had a do-over I would have cut or melted the plastic out of the way to preserve the pins and vias.
Or left it alone to begin with.
The ground pins are quite sturdy even with 1/2 filled holes.

A third decent option exists for applying 12V to PCB.
Between VRM PCB and outer caps on ASIC PCB is 12V. Inside of cap from edge of ASIC PCB.
(exception C26 & C27 hot is toward edge of ASIC PCB)
It looks like in all instances 12V is the side opposite the silkscreen designators.
It's a tight space but could get by with lower wattage iron if you just attach small wires to inside of some 12v caps.
If you have enough heat to wick em clean on one side you have good sturdy corner to put wire and resolder caps.
Only clean one side of caps and caps will provide mount point. dirty would also work if ya have no wick.
Reflow one cap at a time and neighbors can provide oops support.
Would not need to have wire extend past more than 2-3 caps.
No idea what signals are on VRM PCB in that area so I'd avoid getting too close.
2 18AWG PCIe cables cut and sacrificed gives ya 6, could skip the ones by connector and plug in more power(or not).
Could probably skip and reasonably backfeed 1/2 the VRMs from neighbors.
A single 18AWG PCIe(sacrificed) to the 3 farthest VRMs would help a LOT.
Some 28nm folks might already have unmelted blue extenders just begging to be cut.

I'm anal about potential points of failure that create lots of HEAT when they occur unattended.
Add crimps and consider 2 ends of every wire on modular PSU and it becomes a puckerful motivation for me.
30+ potential points of failure per ASIC (PPOFPA)
I'll never use a modular cable PSU with high current again if possible.

RE: fluid on PCB
tested
Takes a couple hours to reawaken some VRMs
They neighbors bake-em-awake.
Choose fluid and additives wisely!
If it leaks after construction in a static state I got other issues though inside or outside.

Life is full of options!

YMMV