[jwfergus]

I'm skeptical. I don't know the exact breakpoint, but pushing enough power through the small (and very dense) circuits of a processor can't go beyond a certain level based on our current CPU cooling technology. The heat at that density just becomes too high and too localized.

[t0]

Liquid nitrogen or helium. But if someone went to the trouble to use these substances, they'd likely show it in action instead of some computer screen.

[jwfergus]

Late reply, I know :( - Actually, it's not even the cooling outside the CPU that's the real problem, it's moving heat away at a microscopic level near each transistor. With enough power going through enough circuits nearby, the material the CPU is made out of becomes the issue.

Consider a block of metal submerged in a (hypothetical) liquid at near 0 degrees K. Despite how much heat this liquid can draw out of the block, if heat is being generated too quickly at the very center of the block, it's possible that the heat conductivity of the metal block itself limits the efficacy of outside cooling, resulting in an "overheating" center.