[bigben2k]

Right, his test setup is completely isolated from the mobo (hence why he gets so much admiration from those who can appreciate the difficulty).

Once the IHS is off, there's going to be a CPU temp drop, for each block tested. C/W estimates for each block should remain the same (if calculated that way); any variation would come from the resized contact area, which is going to be smaller without the IHS; a small difference, almost insignificant.

IHS tim joint variation assumes that the internal tim joint varies, between mounts (among other things), so it really needs to be tested on several CPUs.

I suspect that the internal tim joint may undergo some curing (one of many possible explanations, if variations indeed do exist), which would put Derek's CPU way past that stage (since it's already been used several times). I'm lead to believe this from my previous inquiries with a few manufacturers, as well as user experience, which all indicate that TIM joints (with few exceptions) need to be cured (i.e. put through a hot temperature, to settle).

I can dream up many other ways for the internal TIM joint to vary.