Beige vs Black Optical Drives

[ramzorz]

I was watching a video by Tek Syndicate on YouTube today, and Logan mentioned that optical drive CD/DVD burners with a black faceplate get hotter than beige ones and decrease writing speeds. Usually Logan is quite accurate with his information, but I found this to be a little too much. I've searched online for confirmation on this and I couldn't find ANYTHING. It's logical that it could be possible because black absorbs heat more, but is it really that significant? I can't imagine that being true. He also mentioned that orange faceplates are the best because they disperse heat easier. I don't doubt that, but do corporations even make orange faceplates? This is all very confusing, but interesting nevertheless.

I would link the original video, but I can't find it at the moment, even in my YouTube history. (I watched 3 Teks today and they're ~35 minutes long and don't want to look through them.)

Can anyone confirm this information?

[+Mirumir Subscriber¹]

It's logical that it could be possible because black absorbs heat more, but is it really that significant?

No, it isn't.

With direct sunlight shining on the PC, both beige and black faceplate will get hot and it won't affect the writing speed at all.

[Haggis Veteran]

Actually black will get slightly hotter

dont think it will affect performance though

the "color" black (actually a dull flat black) absorbs every wavelength of visible light. this absorption creates heat, just like when you stand in the sun. white reflects all "colors" but white so it reflects most of the heat

[LUTZIFER]

OMG, black does not get hotter. Where do people get these ideas?

Personally I think that MYTH started with black vehicles, which seem to get hotter.

The color black does NOT absorb heat, in any way, it's just that on vehicles a shiney color reflects sun off better than a dark color.

Hense why a black car would end up being hotter compared to a silver car.

Christ... it ain't rocket science.

[Haggis Veteran]

OMG, black does not get hotter. Where do people get these ideas?

Personally I think that MYTH started with black vehicles, which seem to get hotter.

The color black does NOT absorb heat, in any way, it's just that on vehicles a shiney color reflects sun off better than a dark color.

Hense why a black car would end up being hotter compared to a silver car.

Christ... it ain't rocket science.

People get these ideas because it is a scientific fact

Black absorbs all light whereas white reflects all light back. The energy that black absorbs as light manifests itself as heat.

[MarkusDarkus]

OMG, black does not get hotter. Where do people get these ideas?

Personally I think that MYTH started with black vehicles, which seem to get hotter.

The color black does NOT absorb heat, in any way, it's just that on vehicles a shiney color reflects sun off better than a dark color.

Hense why a black car would end up being hotter compared to a silver car.

Christ... it ain't rocket science.

These ideas come from studying physics mate. Black absorbs all energy in the visible light spectrum. some energy is reflected off a black object in the infra red spectrum (HEAT) and with all the energy the material absorbs, it will have an increase in temperature over an object of any other colour. Having said that, the claims that a black optical drive will run hotter is false because there are many other variables that will have a much greater impact on the temperature of the drive than it's colour. Prime example is friction from it's moving parts.

[watkinsx2]

Christ... it ain't rocket science.

No, but it IS Science.

[Rohdekill]

OMG, black does not get hotter. Where do people get these ideas?

Personally I think that MYTH started with black vehicles, which seem to get hotter.

The color black does NOT absorb heat, in any way, it's just that on vehicles a shiney color reflects sun off better than a dark color.

Hense why a black car would end up being hotter compared to a silver car.

Christ... it ain't rocket science.

Funniest post of the day. I sure hope he wasn't trying to be serious.

[xendrome]

LOL.... OP, you got trolled, even if it did get "hotter" it isn't going to change how fast the drive writes. I hope you didn't spend all day looking for different colored face plates to increase your burning speed...

And yes, black reflects less light back, but are we talking about energy from a light source like the sun or are we talking about heat? Black won't get "hotter" because of the ambient temp, it just will reflect back less light if a light source is pointed at it, increasing it's temp.

OMG, black does not get hotter. Where do people get these ideas?

Personally I think that MYTH started with black vehicles, which seem to get hotter.

The color black does NOT absorb heat, in any way, it's just that on vehicles a shiney color reflects sun off better than a dark color.

Hense why a black car would end up being hotter compared to a silver car.

Christ... it ain't rocket science.

Funniest post of the day. I sure hope he wasn't trying to be serious.

Actually I think you guys are reading it wrong LUTZIFER is actually right.

Black does not "absorb" heat in the way I think some of you are describing. I think it is coming off as "it grabs ambient heat, it just doesn't reflect as much back thus that increases the temp of a black surface/object.

[PGHammer]

No, it isn't.

With direct sunlight shining on the PC, both beige and black faceplate will get hot and it won't affect the writing speed at all.

The increased prevalence of black optical drives is due to the increased prevalence of black PC cases - nothing else, or less.

It's not just in the BYO space (which is where black PC cases took off, primarily due to being the opposite of beige) - what is the prevailing color among OEMs these days (DELL and HP especially)? White = Apple, pretty much (white is the prevalent color of most desktop Macs and all portables - the Mac Pro is the desktop exception), while black has become the New Beige.

Modders are, in fact, moving as far away from black, beige, AND white as primary/base colors as possible for that reason.

(That said, I went specifically with black faceplates for my last two optical drive purchases to match the cases - both were going into black cases, however, the drives DID include beige faceplates.)

[ILikeTobacco]

Christ... it ain't rocket science.

Every time someone says this, I am reminded of October Sky(for people who haven't see it, its a movie about some average kids going to an average school doing rocket science). Do people actually think rocket science is hard? Go to Walmart and pick up a rocket kit. Congratulations, you are now a rocket scientist. Any child can do this. If you are trying to make a point, at least use something that is hard to accomplish and understand, like string theory, why females act the way they do, or stem cell research.

[SkyyPunk Veteran]

Plus it is probably < 10% of the drive is exposed (the face plate), and even if it did get warmer it is plastic which doesn't conduct heat well at all so it would be hard for it to transfer into the drive components

[+Mirumir Subscriber¹]

Additionally, I assume the temperature at the tip of the laser beam is an order of magnitude hotter than room temp.

[Rohdekill]

LOL.... OP, you got trolled, even if it did get "hotter" it isn't going to change how fast the drive writes. I hope you didn't spend all day looking for different colored face plates to increase your burning speed...

And yes, black reflects less light back, but are we talking about energy from a light source like the sun or are we talking about heat? Black won't get "hotter" because of the ambient temp, it just will reflect back less light if a light source is pointed at it, increasing it's temp.

Actually I think you guys are reading it wrong LUTZIFER is actually right.

Black does not "absorb" heat in the way I think some of you are describing. I think it is coming off as "it grabs ambient heat, it just doesn't reflect as much back thus that increases the temp of a black surface/object.

Black reflects no light. Black is the absence of light. Light (white) is made of of seven basic color light rays (wavelengths). An object of color reflects its own color light ray and absorbs the remaining light. Thus, a white object reflects ALL light and absorbs none, a red object reflects red light and absorbs 6 color rays, and black reflects no light - absorbing ALL rays. The more rays absorbed, the greater the heat.

Unless things have changed in basic, fourth grade science classes.

[+Gary7 Subscriber²]

If you have a beige case then get a beige one. If your case is black get a black one. The work is done inside the case which in most cases would be in the absence of light.

[ATLien_0]

plus on top of that, how much sunlight does your case really get through out the day, probably close to none. Weirdest myth in a while

[xendrome]

Every time someone says this, I am reminded of October Sky(for people who haven't see it, its a movie about some average kids going to an average school doing rocket science). Do people actually think rocket science is hard? Go to Walmart and pick up a rocket kit. Congratulations, you are now a rocket scientist. Any child can do this. If you are trying to make a point, at least use something that is hard to accomplish and understand, like string theory, why females act the way they do, or stem cell research.

Typically it is used when referring to putting a object into orbit or landing it on another planet. Getting a model rocket and shooting it off is not the "science" part however. Building the rocket from scratch and putting it into orbit, would be more what the term is used for. But I get what you are saying.

[Crisp]

Why is Space so cold? It's black, so should absorb all the stars rays!1

/s

[Original Poster]

OMG, black does not get hotter. Where do people get these ideas?

Personally I think that MYTH started with black vehicles, which seem to get hotter.

The color black does NOT absorb heat, in any way, it's just that on vehicles a shiney color reflects sun off better than a dark color.

Hense why a black car would end up being hotter compared to a silver car.

Christ... it ain't rocket science.

its fact.. black does absorb ... while lighter shiner reflects

[MarkusDarkus]

This thread is brilliant. It really makes me fell better about myself.

Just to throw something else in there though. Black objects do reflect light!.. Well light energy anyway. However when it is 'reflected' it is 'reflected' in the infrared wavelength so we cannot see it with our eyes but it is there.

;)

[Phouchg]

A little glossy black (e.g., LiteOn iHAS) still reflects a little while fully matte black (e.g., Samsung SH-something) absorbs all. Therefore, LiteOn must be better :p

[Astra.Xtreme]

Wow, this is one of the strangest PC myths I've ever heard.

Let's be realistic here. The heat from the inside of your PC case is going to heat up an optical drive much much much more than some infrared rays hitting the small surface area of the front bezel of the optical drive. And the heat inside your case fluctuates quite a bit depending on what you're doing, so it's simple to disprove this "myth".

Plus these bezels are plastic, which is a poor conductor of heat.

[Astra.Xtreme]

And regarding the discussion of white vs black and heat absorption, let's go back to the basics here.

First of all, "heat" is simply caused by the vibration and rubbing of particles.

A black surface absorbs all visible light waves, so there will be a lot of particles "rubbing" together which creates heat.

Since a white surface reflects these light waves, these particles aren't present to create the same magnitude of heat.

It's basically as simple as that.

[ILikeTobacco]

Typically it is used when referring to putting a object into orbit or landing it on another planet. Getting a model rocket and shooting it off is not the "science" part however. Building the rocket from scratch and putting it into orbit, would be more what the term is used for. But I get what you are saying.

Well in the case of the Walmart rockets, you build those yourself using the parts and instructions. Go to hobby lobby and you can find kits to design the thing. October Sky was about average kids building rockets from scratch. Also, don't forget that rocket science includes missiles. "Rocket Science" is no where near as hard as people make it out to be when using that phase.

[DaveGreen93]

Quick question

Why do Islamic men and women tend to wear black clothing from head to toe in the searing heat of the day?

Wouldn't it be more beneficial to them if they wore white? Seeing as Black apparently absorbs so much more heat...