Chuu posted:

I've gone down a bit of a rabbit hole looking at direct contact CPU cooling. The gains are incredibly impressive for the cost, especially if you're likely already going to buy a contact frame.

Something I've been having trouble getting a good answer though is about what materials to use in the junction. I've seen people say that you absolutely have to use liquid metal and cannot use thermal paste for . . . well different reasons. Meanwhile I've also seen videos of people using graphine pads, but I thought graphine pads were a convenience thing and not as good as the best thermal paste?

What's the actual story here? What can and can you use in the thermal junction, and why?