Lapping, surface area, and heat dissipation

The issue is that the metal CPU heat spreader and metal heatsink base conduct heat MUCH better than any thermal compound, so the problem is not getting the heat to the thermal compound (as you suggest), but rather the heat passing through the thermal compound itself. Thus, the thermal compound layer is the bottleneck in heat transfer, and the thinner the thermal compound layer, the better. The smoother the CPU and hs base, the thinner the thermal compound layer can be.

Tbh once you attach the HS it spreads out evenly for the most of it anyway.

Thanks for the feedback. Has anyone been baller enough to stick them together -without- thermal paste? Or would that be a _really_ bad idea?

Also, why don't chip manufacturers manufacture a unified cover/heatsink combo?

You don't have to use thermal paste. All thermal paste does is make the contact between the IHS and cooler better. However, it is highly not recommended to not use thermal paste.

Give it a shot, your CPU will shut off at 100c, hehe, with no ill effects. Yet. No matter if all the options are disabled. Learned that when the capacitors near the socket were stopping my waterblock from touching the CPU, couldnt figure out why it kept powering down after 8 seconds, hehe, until I jumped into the bios fast like and seen the temps! 116 c? Wow, now thats a TCase!

--Lupi