So basically ideally we wouldn't see any TIM on the die/heatspreader area then if it was making perfect/near-perfect contact?
Yes this is why i asked, i would bow to Bobnova's expertise.
My thinking was the TIM is purely a conduit to the heat spreader / cooler, i would have thought the more TIM there is between them the more it actually acts like a barrier.
I use AS5 and very thinly, just a very fine transparent layer and i get great temps like that on a really crappy cooler.
My thinking was if the HS was hard pressed against the DIE cap with only a fine layer of TIM in the way it would conduct heat more efficiently, thus temps might improve (if you can make it a tighter fit)