I had gotten a framework laptop from the third batch as a DIY but had recieved it fully assembled, I didn’t mind but now I think I should have asked about this, the thermals were never as good as I had expected from the specs on the website but I figured it was all just some software or firmware problems, it was never enough I couldn’t do what I wanted to so i paid it very little mind until my heat sink started sounding closer to a jet engine. Just today I replaced the heat sink thinking it was a bearing that had worn out faster than the others but I take off the original to find that there was bearly any thermal paste on my cpu or gpu (image bellow). I’m not overly upset about this but anyone else running into poor thermal performance consider checking if the thermal paste or pads are appropriate amounts, I haven’t had a single problem with the new pads or heat sink and my computer is whisper quiet now.
I remember that the formation of thermal paste used on early units suffered from pump-out, where heat cycling in the silicon would dry out the space between the dies and the cooler. Seems like that may have happened to you.
PTM7950 FTW.
I’m not going to lie if I’m going to get third party thermal compound I’ll just use a paste, thermal pads are way more expensive.
Also seems like a reasonable assumption with the smaller footprint than the amount of paste makes sense for on the die itself, thanks for the information!
oooh, i also have a 3rd batch & seem to be having similar heat issues.
i’ll check and post a picture as soon as new thermal paste arrives
Update:
looks like it wasn’t actually an issue for me:
replaced it with SYY-157 paste & it runs about 10℃ cooler though 
(not properly measured)
As mentioned, just get the PTM7950 and marvel at the double digit temp drop.
Game over.