-Fran-
Illustrious
The idea behind the paste and grease is to make the transfer of the heat as smooth as possible (sort of).
So, if you think that any non-metal material you put on top of the heat spreader of the CPU will handicap that, the less you put, the better.
Now, how does the paste or grease helps making it smooth? Well, first of all, it makes the "rough" surfaces (at a microscopic level, off course) blend with each other, maximizing contact between them. Then comes the paste or grease itself's heat conductivity (you can search for the usual formula for it, according to material used) that won't be better than any metal put for the Heat Sink of Heat Spreader.
So, the argument in favor of "less is more" applies only if:
1.- You successfully cover 90%+ (100% if you spread it manually, off course) of the Heat Spreader area once the Heat Sink comes on top of it. And...
2.- The layer of paste or grease is thin enough to let the 2 metals make contact with each other in most of the area surface they can (this is a "help, but not obstruct" idea). In this regard, some pastes have metal in them to help this somewhat (ArticSilver5 has it's name out of this, I think, lol).
My 2 cents.
Cheers!
So, if you think that any non-metal material you put on top of the heat spreader of the CPU will handicap that, the less you put, the better.
Now, how does the paste or grease helps making it smooth? Well, first of all, it makes the "rough" surfaces (at a microscopic level, off course) blend with each other, maximizing contact between them. Then comes the paste or grease itself's heat conductivity (you can search for the usual formula for it, according to material used) that won't be better than any metal put for the Heat Sink of Heat Spreader.
So, the argument in favor of "less is more" applies only if:
1.- You successfully cover 90%+ (100% if you spread it manually, off course) of the Heat Spreader area once the Heat Sink comes on top of it. And...
2.- The layer of paste or grease is thin enough to let the 2 metals make contact with each other in most of the area surface they can (this is a "help, but not obstruct" idea). In this regard, some pastes have metal in them to help this somewhat (ArticSilver5 has it's name out of this, I think, lol).
My 2 cents.
Cheers!