Painting a heatsink?

AtreuS · 28 Mar 2009 at 17:52

Has anyone painted a heatsink and been sucessful in getting the desired colour without rendering it useless temp wise?

I have a Noctua NH-U12P CPU Cooler
http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=HS-002-NC

and my new system would look 100% better if i could colour this black. I suppose just painting the top would suffice as the rest will be mainly covered by the fans. Does painting effect the thermal properties to such a degree as to make it pointless?

I suppose another option would be to buy a Thermalright True Black and use the noctua elsewhere, but if painting doesnt effect temps much then seems a waste of money.

AtreuS · 28 Mar 2009 at 17:56

ConnectionFX said:
ive never heard anyone do it but what about radiator paint?

get a tester pot for £1.99 @ B&Q lol

Its not so much the paint cost, it more the rendering of a £50 heatsink to useless-ness

AtreuS · 28 Mar 2009 at 18:08

The thing is, even when its hotter weather the heatsink barely even feels warm to the touch when under load. And thats running an E8500 at 3.8ghz... so i cant see a light coating of paint effecting it so much as to drasticly effect temperatures.

Then again the paint would act as an insulator... only way is to see :eek:

AtreuS · 28 Mar 2009 at 18:21

cje said:
It would really harm your heat transfer rate IMO. You practically insulate the heatsink with the paint. If you want a black heatsink, just buy the TRUE black.

You can always try it. Make a note of your temps now, paint it, and prove me wrong.

Im thinking the same. However i do have a spare intel heatsink somewhere so a bit of experimentation might be due some time in the next few weeks

AtreuS · 28 Mar 2009 at 18:53

Ben M said:
Black Sharpie to the top tbh

I take it that you have a different fan on it/painted the fan housing black already?

Not done anything yet im getting my plans together for when ive finnished sanding and painting my new case ( well got on the MM ) a thermaltake Mozart tx.

Im planning on an all black interior as much as possible. Im still in the planning and part aquring stage atm... as well as lots of sanding and glue removal ( the previous owner and stuck akasa mats everwhere ).

The sharpie plan could work actually, seeing as its mainly the top thats going to be visible.