First misconception: Thermal paste carries more heat than copper. WRONG. The heatsink material is usually more heat conductive than the thermal paste. (wouldn't you think that they would have started to make heatsinks made of thermal paste?) That means that copper can contain and carry more heat around than your average dose of thermal compound. Theoretically speaking, if a heatsink is touching the CPU, adding thermal paste in the middle slows thermal conductivity, thus increasing temperatures. So why do we separate the heatsink from the source of the heat with thermal paste?

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