Painting Motherboard Heatsinks

[QwasJ]

Hi guys,

 

I plan on matching my rig's colors up properly, Most of my components already are in a color suiting the build, but not all.

Two of those not-matching parts are two heat sinks on my motherboard. I read a lot about painting heat sinks on motherboards in all kinds of forums, 

but all I read was really controversial.

 

To start off:

I know I need to use non-conductive paint, as well paint that dissipates heat well. I will take off the heat sinks before painting them, so no paint will mess up the looks of my motherboard.

Further, I have an extremely well cooled high airflow case with a lot of fans. Still, I'm concerned about heat issues after painting.

 

So now to my question:

Does anyone know the usual temps of transistors? And sort of the max. temp of them? Did anyone already spray his motherboard heat sinks?

And: What paint can you recommend me? I'd like to have a white spray paint.

[Extingquish]

It should be fine to paint the heatsinks

[QwasJ]

It should be fine to paint the heatsinks

 

Did you try it already? Or do have a source i could check?

[Extingquish]

Did you try it already? Or do have a source i could check?

No I haven't tried it, but if you use a paint that conducts heat well, there shouldn't be any issues

[QwasJ]

No I haven't tried it, but if you use a paint that conducts heat well, there shouldn't be any issues

 

Okay Can recommend any paint?

[Extingquish]

Okay Can recommend any paint?

No sorry

[QwasJ]

No sorry

 

No problem. I'm sure there are other users who know more than us two

[W-L]

Hi guys,

I plan on matching my rig's colors up properly, Most of my components already are in a color suiting the build, but not all.

Two of those not-matching parts are two heat sinks on my motherboard. I read a lot about painting heat sinks on motherboards in all kinds of forums,

but all I read was really controversial.

To start off:

I know I need to use non-conductive paint, as well paint that dissipates heat well. I will take off the heat sinks before painting them, so no paint will mess up the looks of my motherboard.

Further, I have an extremely well cooled high airflow case with a lot of fans. Still, I'm concerned about heat issues after painting.

So now to my question:

Does anyone know the usual temps of transistors? And sort of the max. temp of them? Did anyone already spray his motherboard heat sinks?

And: What paint can you recommend me? I'd like to have a white spray paint.

Paint wise I would usually suggestany regular spray paint since the temperature difference with bare metal and paint is only a few degrees of difference with a thin coat since most modern motherboard heat sinks don't get substantically hot like a GPU. The two main brands I use here are Krylon and Rustoleum but if you want a very bright white to match the case, automotive paints will be better at that.

As for temps it varies on the motherboard and what load your apply to the PC, and if you overclock.

[QwasJ]

Paint wise I would usually suggestany regular spray paint since the temperature difference with bare metal and paint is only a few degrees of difference with a thin coat since most modern motherboard heat sinks don't get substantically hot like a GPU. The two main brands I use here are Krylon and Rustoleum but if you want a very bright white to match the case, automotive paints will be better at that.

As for temps it varies on the motherboard and what load your apply to the PC, and if you overclock.

 

I want to have safe temps even under heavy load. Currently, my CPU is barely over clocked, i think around 200 Mhz. My GPU on the other hand is heavily oc'ed D:

 

Thank you for the recommendation on the paint brands, I'll have a look at them

[KamiKatze]

What color do you want to do? What color are the heatsinks right now? Some colors cover better than others and therefor you need less layers. I'd definiteley suggest to get special paint that's made for dissipating heat well.

 

I haven't done heatsink painting myself yet. @xTrekStorex has done it before.

[anders_b]

it should Work but will proberly not cool as good as before

[QwasJ]

What color do you want to do? What color are the heatsinks right now? Some colors cover better than others and therefor you need less layers. I'd definiteley suggest to get special paint that's made for dissipating heat well.

 

I haven't done heatsink painting myself yet. @xTrekStorex has done it before.

 

Currently the heatsinks are blue, i want them white, so I guess I'll need quite a lot of covers

 

@xTrekStorex Do you have any tips for me? Anything to be really careful about?

[KamiKatze]

Currently the heatsinks are blue, i want them white, so I guess I'll need quite a lot of covers

 

@xTrekStorex Do you have any tips for me? Anything to be really careful about?

 

possibly yes. he also did his heatsinks in white. He was less careful and still got an okay result. i think the paint is most important.

[W-L]

I want to have safe temps even under heavy load. Currently, my CPU is barely over clocked, i think around 200 Mhz. My GPU on the other hand is heavily oc'ed D:

 

Thank you for the recommendation on the paint brands, I'll have a look at them

 

It will be safe temps nothing to really worry about but if you want to try and maximize dissipation the best would be to dye or anodize the metal at a shop but as for paint the best ones to use is a matte finish ceramic based paint for engines with as thin of a coat as possible.

 

http://www.vhtpaint.com/products/flameproof/

https://www.duplicolor.com/products/enginePaint/

[LukaP]

@OP people have painted heatsinks in plastidip (infact i have seen them in action) which does not transfer heat well at all and were ok. id just recommend you take the paint that you like the colour most, and use that. make sure to mask off the bottom part, so that the contact area is clean and thats it. 

 

The fact is, modern chipsets dont heat up that much at all, so as long as there is a piece of metal just pulling hte heat away youll be ok

[QwasJ]

@OP people have painted heatsinks in plastidip (infact i have seen them in action) which does not transfer heat well at all and were ok. id just recommend you take the paint that you like the colour most, and use that. make sure to mask off the bottom part, so that the contact area is clean and thats it. 

 

The fact is, modern chipsets dont heat up that much at all, so as long as there is a piece of metal just pulling hte heat away youll be ok

 

Okay, thank you!

[LukaP]

Okay, thank you!

Anytime

 

also, if you want a good coat, prepare the heatsink first, use a sandpaper to rough up the surface (but dont use one taht is too rough) or use a primer coat

[QwasJ]

Anytime

 

also, if you want a good coat, prepare the heatsink first, use a sandpaper to rough up the surface (but dont use one taht is too rough) or use a primer coat

 

Okay, I'll do that