Do rust affect air cooling?

[Jurrunio]

I saw a used deal for an NH-D15 at $40, but it does look dated. I mean, the metal fins are covered in grey oxides. I guess that's the sign of Noctua coating the fins with Nickel?

 

Anyway, does that affect its performance? Or is it a small difference that it oesnt matter considering the price?

[meenmeen1103]

Oxides should affect conductivity but overall should be negligible if cleaned off, maybe just some toothbrush and distilled white vinegar action. Nickel itself shouldn't be too bad so once cleaned off from at least dust and loose particles should be just fine. You have any pics?

[KarathKasun]

Even without cleaning (beyond simply removing the dust) it will not significantly change the performance of the heatsink.

[Jurrunio]

@meenmeen1103@KarathKasun Thanks for replying.

 

 

A bit of dust in between the fins, so I'd probably blast them with a hair dryer when I'm ready to mount it.

 

The pair of NF-A15s do look good as new though, probably the plastic got yellow, but the dirt-like (in my country they call that poo-like) color does help cover that up.

[NachoMan]

Slightly off-topic, but I thought it could be of interest. This happened to my NH-U12S when it was about 2 years old. I got a replacement part for it though.

I suspect the nickel plating was not of great quality on the screw, so it came off.

[WoodenMarker]

Yes, that's just the nickel coating that wore off to reveal the aluminum underneath. 

The aluminum oxide isn't rust but instead corrosion. It has high thermal conductivity and the layer is generally only a few atoms thick so there won't be any notable difference in performance.