i looked through that thread and it talked a lot about VRM cooling, but not nvme (unless I missed it). Do you know how thick the nvme cooling pad needs to be?

For the SSD, about 1.5mm-2mm, and you don't need extra high thermal conductivity. Problem is that pads are often not the spcified thickness, so better get a few in different thicknesses. You can stack thinner ones if there is no contact. 

Make sure you pad the VRM mosfets too while at it. They do overheat, and even sometimes blow up.