Chosen Solution
just wondering if something can be adapted to help out dissipate the heat faster
Its a bit more than a heat sink that’s needed. Apple’s physical design still won’t allow the heat to dissipate via the fan. If I was Apple… I would have created a vapor chamber which can be made thin and then mounted with a fin assembly to the side with the fan blowing across pushing the heat out. If you look you can see there is enough room to put one in. mmm… a possible upgrade kit??? You still would need to tune the thermal management logic within the SMC as Apples thermal curve still would be biased against the improved cooling. References: What is a Vapor Chamber as Fast As PossibleIntel PCIe PC Ghost Canyon Review: NUC Thermals, Noise, & Tear-Down
It would most likely be very hard to upgrade the heatsink itself, however a better quality cooling paste and installing a thermal pad between the case and the heatsink would most likely help a bit. The idea behind the current cooling solution is to push air through the system to cool everything with one fan instead of focusing a lot of cooling capacity on the CPU. If you’re okay with breaking the warranty I’d likely recommend that
