Posted January 1, 2017 I got a bonus at work the other day and wanted to upgrade my water cooling to a custom loop. Did the configurator on EKWB but the shipping and taxes put me over budget. I cant seem to pull the trigger on a $600 loop when I dont terribly need anything like that. It would be more of a silence and extra cooling upgrade instead of something I need for overclocking. Didnt seem worth it to me right now. As an alternative until I decide to get it or not, I bought some Plasti Dip to paint my Corsair AIO for some upgraded looks. The all black AIO doesn't exactly stand out. I bought the granite Plasti Dip and some metallic gray plasti dip alternative from Duplicolor. To start the project I removed the AIO from the computer and masked it off from the fittings with masking tape. I also covered the fins with a piece of paper and made sure to mask around them as well. After three coats of the Plasti Dip with 30 minutes of drying in between I didnt like the flat gray primer type look and decided to use the Duplicolor to finish it off. Love the results and am happy for now with how it looks. I got some thermal grease all over that I still need to wipe off. Before: After: Intel i7 6700k|Asus Maximus VIII Hero|Asus Strix 1080|Gskill DDR4 3200|950 Pro M.2|Corsair RM750|Corsair OBSIDIAN 500D|Corsair K65\G65|SteelSeries Arctis 5|Asus PB277Q|PG279Q Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options... Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Posted January 1, 2017 I can't tell the difference. It honestly just looks like you took off the red spiral. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options... Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Posted January 1, 2017 Author Just now, DaveTheBeast023 said: I can't tell the difference. It honestly just looks like you took off the red spiral. You figured it out. Intel i7 6700k|Asus Maximus VIII Hero|Asus Strix 1080|Gskill DDR4 3200|950 Pro M.2|Corsair RM750|Corsair OBSIDIAN 500D|Corsair K65\G65|SteelSeries Arctis 5|Asus PB277Q|PG279Q Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options... Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Posted January 1, 2017 Just now, Vigilante505 said: You figured it out. But you said you painted some stuff? I can't even tell something was painted. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options... Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Posted January 1, 2017 Author Just now, DaveTheBeast023 said: But you said you painted some stuff? I can't even tell something was painted. The stock Corsair AIO is all black. Its gray now that I painted it. The before picture is crap but I didnt take one directly before because I figured everyone knows what an AIO looks like. I wanted to show I took off the red coils. Intel i7 6700k|Asus Maximus VIII Hero|Asus Strix 1080|Gskill DDR4 3200|950 Pro M.2|Corsair RM750|Corsair OBSIDIAN 500D|Corsair K65\G65|SteelSeries Arctis 5|Asus PB277Q|PG279Q Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options... Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Posted January 4, 2017 Hey man don't need to rain on your parade but I'm a mechanical engineer and putting plasti dip on a heat exchanger is not a good idea. Adding any sort of additional layer of material, ie paint or especially plastic, over your radiator will affect its ability to cool. Even high temperature engine paint (like most people use) affects heat exchange, but it's not a noticeable difference in computers. This video will help explain it a bit. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options... Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Posted January 4, 2017 Good on you for making a financially responsible decision. Sometimes tinkering is enough to satisfy the mind. I can see the metallic nature in some shots. Sure it's hard to capture. Don't mind the above poster. It won't make much of any difference (especially avoiding the fins). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options... Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Posted January 5, 2017 Author 9 hours ago, TomR said: Hey man don't need to rain on your parade but I'm a mechanical engineer and putting plasti dip on a heat exchanger is not a good idea. Adding any sort of additional layer of material, ie paint or especially plastic, over your radiator will affect its ability to cool. Even high temperature engine paint (like most people use) affects heat exchange, but it's not a noticeable difference in computers. This video will help explain it a bit. Dont worry you're not raining on anything. The heat is dissipated with the air moving through the fins. The fins aren't painted so no added layer there. As far as the outside paint I'm sure a tiny amount of paint on the isn't going to change anything. I'm idling at 32C right now and under the stress test it maxed at 65C so I think I'm good. Thanks for looking out though. Its always good to hear different points of view. Intel i7 6700k|Asus Maximus VIII Hero|Asus Strix 1080|Gskill DDR4 3200|950 Pro M.2|Corsair RM750|Corsair OBSIDIAN 500D|Corsair K65\G65|SteelSeries Arctis 5|Asus PB277Q|PG279Q Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options... Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Posted January 5, 2017 14 hours ago, Vigilante505 said: Dont worry you're not raining on anything. The heat is dissipated with the air moving through the fins. The fins aren't painted so no added layer there. As far as the outside paint I'm sure a tiny amount of paint on the isn't going to change anything. I'm idling at 32C right now and under the stress test it maxed at 65C so I think I'm good. Thanks for looking out though. Its always good to hear different points of view. Yeah just speaking from a technical standpoint. As long as you watch your temps then have fun! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options... Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
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