> The purpose of the compound is to help transfer heat from the CPU to the
> heatsink.

True, but different thermal compounds have different heat transfer properties. A GPU may not get as hot as a CPU or vice-versa, so the potential is there for cooking it if you use the wrong one.

Granted, if your CPU, GPU, or other greased-up chip is cooking itself, you've got more fundamental cooling issues there than just the thermal compound you're using. Better fans, heatsinks, liquid cooling, and climate-controlled operation may be required depending on your circumstances.