Black CPU coolers - 2014

Black CPU coolers

Why black CPU coolers?

Because they are "cool" :). There are plenty of good looking CPU coolers on the market. And while CPU coolers and the heat sinks are not the most important part of the PC. For sure they are the most impressive parts when its come to the view and the way they look. I decided to make small list of the current available CPU coolers grouped by color . The list will include the major brands and there will be pictures included.

Black CPU coolers list for 2014.

1. Xigmatek Dark Knight - SD1283 Night Hawk Edition.

Ximatec official web page.

Xigmatek Dark knight CPU cooler - Black Hawk Edition.

What is the special thing for this CPU cooler is the black paint on the heat sink. Actually this is special ceramic coating which Xigmatek claims to remove the heat away faster from the heat sink. Or with their own words "Special formulated ceramic coating with stealth technology for ultimate heat dispensing. This innovative composite coating is specially designed to conduct heat away from its source rapidly and dispense it extremely fast without leaving any trace on the surface."
Its true that you cant use any paint for heat sinks. Because if the paint is temperature insulator it will actually stop the heat. So OK they have use their special paint formula.

But there is also another  thing which is curious. Actually the black surface radiate heat better than the reflecting white surfaces. And the mirror polished surfaces has the least temperature radiation coefficient. Here is a list of some common materials and paints temperature radiation coefficients: basically it shows that rough surfaces has better emissivity than the mirror polished surfaces.
OK So we have black mat paint but will this help much? This is good CPU cooler this is true. But it use fan to blow air and it removes the heat away by convection not by radiation. Isn't this so special coating just extra added value which wont make much difference from normal barbeque paint for example. Well the important thing is that it looks "cool".

Xigmatek HDT- Heat-pipe Direct Touch Technology.

Next thing about this cooler is the direct touch technology or with other words. The heat pipes are bended and grinded in such way that they touch the CPU directly this also should help the CPU cooling. Also they use three 8 mm heat pipes instead of 6 mm like most CPU coolers. And they say that the 3x8 mm is better than 4x6 mm. I have seen this on one of mine CPU coolers - Enzotech extreme-x rev.a It has 4x8mm heat pipes and on the online reviews it topped the down-facing CPU-coolers so I guess its true - the thicker heat-pipes conduct better than the thinner heat-pipes. And some top CPU coolers also use 8 mm.

2. Prolimatech black Megahalems.

Prolimatech ofers nice top tower CPU coolers that are painted black. Actually the Megahalems models comes in three special edition models with red, blue and black color.

This heat sink comes with six heat-pipes 6 mm thick.

It comes with different back plates for different sockets allowing mounting on any system.
It doesn't come with fans. You  have to choose the fans by yourself. The fan clips allow to mount two 12 or 14 cm fan for push-pull configuration. And for sure this fan looks really nice. Cool, big and awesome.

2.1 Prolimatech black Genesis and Armageddon Blue Series

Two more CPU coolers from Prolimatech comes in black color. It seems that they have seen the need of such products on the market. Since like already said - the CPU cooler is not the most important part of the PC but for sure is the most impressive.

Black Genesis Series

Black Genesis CPU cooler is one strange cooler with its shape. But it offers cooling not only of the CPU but also on the RAM and the whole mother board. It has one flaw... its kinda big and you will need good big PC case to be able to mount it.

Armageddon Blue Series

Well its name says "Blue" But blue is just a small touch on the whole heat-sink so I decided to add it to the list.

3. BeQuiet Dark Rock Pro 3.

Now this is product from BeQuite! company and they pay special attention not only to the performance but to the noise levels too. The name of the CPU cooler really match its look. With weight of 1.197 kg its one pretty big cooler.

BeQuiet Dark Rock Pro 3

 Coming with 7 heat-pipes which done end in one line ass seen on the picture bellow it looks really nice. Also the back side of the Heat-sink is with crossed sections which also should reduce the noise. This makes the outer look of the cooler even better.

Dark Rock Pro 3 back side.

It comes with two fans 120 mm outside fan and 135 mm inner fan. It looks more like push-push configuration than push-pull configuration. It also support 3rd fan with the fan clips coming with the box.

Side view of Dark Pro 3.