I do both all the time, but then that's maybe why they call me mad mikee

A bare core is slightly convex, so removing the IHS means a non flat surface, so I just lap it (look around here for one of my posts on this) and get a wonderful flat surface (I also use to make telescopes for a hobby ) I'm firmly convinced you must do all this to get the most out of the CPU (remove another layer of TIM and metal (neither of which is all that great ) and flattening both surfaces in contact.

There is a risk, but seems to work xtremely well for me.

OTOH SPeedfan says my WC @ 1.5vcore = 30c (D20l always )and my other SD (my beloved's future puter) has the same settings in the basement and it's been running prime fo 22hrs and that one is 36c under a hyper6

If you have good eyesight and a steady hand, you can have great cooling!