Why OC motherboard's use gold in cpu socket?

[cool.dx.rip]

I have found in many high end mobo's to use gold in cpu socket.But why they use it?Thanks in advance

 

[Kenmitch]

Makes sense to me.

GIGABYTE 8 series motherboards come equipped with gold plated hardware for the most crucial areas where your motherboard has contact with other components; gold plated CPU socket, gold DDR3 slots and PCI Express slots. Using gold plated CPU socket and slots means that enthusiasts are guaranteed absolute reliability and longevity for the CPU, memory and graphics cards, no matter how many times you switch them out.

 

[BrightCandle]

Gold is a better conductor than pretty much anything, its also soft. It will thus deform to contact pushed up against it to make a better contact patch and it will conduct better than other materials as well. The theory is that will increase the frequency at which the pin can run or perhaps the amount of current that can pass through it.

 

[dma0991]

Gold does not rust or tarnish under normal conditions. Copper or silver will tarnish when exposed to air. The oxidized layer can reduce its conductivity.

 

[BUnit1701]

Gold does not rust or tarnish under normal conditions. Copper or silver will tarnish when exposed to air. The oxidized layer can reduce its conductivity.

This.

 

[mindbomb]

is this a feature? I thought it was a requirement.

 

[VirtualLarry]

is this a feature? I thought it was a requirement.

This. All mechanical/electrical connections have to be gold (*). It's not just for marketing.

(*) SIMMs used to use either gold or tin, for both slots and pins. There were a lot of issues mixing the different metals, you had to match them for reliability. Thankfully, the industry standardized on gold.

 

[Galatian]

Wow...so many wrong informations:

1.) Gold is not the best conductor. Silver is, then cooper and then gold

2.) Gold is indeed more "durable" then cooper but the problem is, if you mix different metals one will corrode quicker. If you mix your cooper components with gold components the coopers ones will corrode quicker.