I ordered a WiFi adapter for my PC build last week. It had good reviews, and as a bonus, the aluminum heat sink it sported went well with the color scheme of the motherboard, etc.

Imagine my surprise when I went to install it and realized the heat sink is on the 'bottom' of the card as it sits in the case. I went back to the website to see about maybe getting another one and realized ALL the products are shown "upside down".

1) I can't imagine a WiFi adapter creates a lot of heat, but wouldn't having the heat sink on the bottom essentially trap heat UNDER the card??

2) Why put a fancy heat sink, with the logo, etc., on the bottom where it can't be seen???

So weird.

If it's inside the case, where's the heat going to go if it's pointed up? It's still in the case.
you need airflow to move the heat out, the heat sink is just thermal mass to lower the temp of the chip, it is probably tiny, so a small amount of heat creates a high temp (look at the size of your CPU heat sink vs the size of the CPU)

In general, PCIE connections are built into the circuit board & on top of the slot- taller components go on the bottom or they interfere with the cards above.