heatsink problems

[The Overclocker]

matt black it the best colour to radiate heat, so why are are most heatsinks shiney silver, which it the worst the radiate heat, is it beacuse producers of heatsink feal that much more heat can be dotne rid of with conduction and dont bother or are they just thick

[Thelemac]

It's because hsfs are convection coolers. Very little of the heat is radiated and I would think that the black paint or whatever would just add another thermal interface.

There are some that are anodized black. Can't think of what off the top of my head, though.

[dimmreaper]

Alpha heatsinks are annodized black, as are P3 1GHz OEM heatsinks . . . .

[Random Nonsense]

they radiate so little heat its hardly worth it. any gains are lost as the ability to radiate a little more heat on a black heatsink is probably lost in the slight loss of efficiency of having another layer

[The Overclocker]

my solid thermoengine is balck, that is probably what gave it a edge over other aluminum heatsinks, but it is still crap

[Karsta]

Black also absorbs heat best. This may lead in reduction of cooling efficiency if there is other heat generating sources nearby.

I read from somewhere that black would be a good choice in low airflow systems where radiation may contribute to cooling and bright in high flow systems where the effect of radiation is very small.