A blade server module comprising: a housing assembly; a printed circuit board disposed within the housing assembly and mounted in a free-floating relationship thereto; a processor mounted on the printed circuit board; heat sink assembly disposed in the housing assembly in close proximity to the processor; and, one or more compliant compression elements disposed within the housing assembly so as to be preloaded to provide a force on the printed circuit board to force the heat source into thermal engagement with the heat sink assembly. Methods and systems are disclosed for effectively dissipating heat reliably in compact packaging arrangements that are particularly adapted for computing systems including blade servers.