To paint or not to paint / To clean or not to clean

[Beggar]

So whilst sitting here looking at my home-made water radiator i am faced with the question that forms the subject of this post.

Painting
Black matt objects radiate heat better than other colours (shiny mirrory objects are the worst) so do we reckon that painting the copper coils would increase the cooling rate between the rad and the surroundings due to increased radiation, or would the decrease in thermal conductivity on the surface overall reduce cooling rate due to reduced conduction.

Oxide/Cleaning
The same question is posed to do with the copper oxide layer that forms on er... copper, its all matt and non-shiny therefore radiation is better, but does the reduced thermal conductivty make it worth leaving on?

What does anyone think, or does anyone know for sure, its also worth bearing in mind that heat sinks and stuff now seem to be bare metal and are no longer painted black, or is this just my imagination?

[KeyboardCowboy]

some pretty heavy querys you are posting, i doubt that painting your copper colis will increase your performance that much, that's just my opinion, i am a die hard fan man

[Phil]

black objects may well radiate heat well but seeing as the cooling in your pc is that of a convection system rather than radiation I don't see how it could help you. All that would happen in painting things black would be that the reduced thermal conductivity of the paint would hamper cooling performance.

dont do it!

[Crazy Jayhawk]

You might have a problem since I doubt paint transfers heat very well.

[dimmreaper]

I doubt paint would be at all desirable for reletively low temperature differential situations such as semiconductor cooling.

However, anodization type coatings might be worth the money because they do minutely improve cooling. Why do I say that? Well I'm looking at two different Intel OEM heatsinks being put to good use as paper weights.

The 700E heatsink Is anodized in the less expensive clear finish.

The 1000EB heatsink is anodized in the pricier black finish.

I think Intel knows what they are doing for the most part. Nuff said . . . .