Amanda and I recently spoke at the last IMAPS workshop in San Jose last week. The event was a great success. I did however take away one thing especially from a young man that presented at the IMAPS about over clocking. The crowd kind of chuckled at this young engineer about the fact that these guys can burn out a processor in a month. Instantly I wondered if a better thermal interface material would help make a difference. In this particular case this young man presented data on a number of thermal interface materials but did not focus at all on 100% metal or fully metallic thermal interface materials. The range of materials was mostly thermal greases that were tested on an AMD lidded processor. I have since given my card to this young gentleman and I hope that he responds to me about testing some of our metallic thermal interface materials.
It was disappointing to me that some of his experiments seemed too radical to some of the participants, and I can understand why. But I must say that the work that some of these guys are doing is a great way to test interface materials and thermal set-ups in general. My opinion was, this guy has his own thermal test vehicle in his dorm. I think there is something to learn from this group.