No apologies needed, it's your design!
If you search through these forums, you'll find that we tackled the baseplate question, to some extent.
The general conclusion, was that for a flat plate type of block, such as a Swiftech, where the water hits the plate, then exits, 5mm will give you the best results. There is actually a performance decrease, if the baseplate is thinner.
So we all went over different types of designs, and found that Cathar's block, which is a combination of multiple jets and densely finned area, allowed him to lower the thickness under 1.0 mm. Now that's a tribute to Cathar's design, because I think few of us thought it was possible to get to a baseplate of 1 mm.
In your design, there is no jet, there are essentially no fins, but you do benefit from a fair pump, so I estimate that you would fare better with a bp of 3 to 5mm.
As for the science of it, I can't throw numbers or equations (few can, ask Les), but I can attempt to explain the general idea.
It might be simpler to look at the system from the point of view as a series of thermal resistances, through the TIM, through the baseplate, and finally into the water. By decreasing the baseplate thickness down so far, you actually increase the resistance of the transfer of the heat, to the water.
I often find it useful to look at extremes, in a multiple of five or ten, to try to explain something.
Since you're already running it, you can do a simple test: compare your water temp to your CPU temp. If the difference is more than 10 degrees C, your design stands to be improved.
Not to slam your design, but if I were you, I would be concerned about one of the hoses getting tugged, and crushing a corner of the core. The Athlon pads are great for preventing this, to some extent. I'm sorry, I just had to bring that up. I'll be using a fairly large res (a 6" tall prototype), right on top of my block, and to prevent any issues, I'll not only use the pads, I also picked up a shim. Accidents happen so quickly!
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