Does gold plating help?

[brownninja97]

I have the feeling that gold wil barely make any different for something like hdmi or dvi or even usb 3.0. Im sure this will save people a lot of money as itd abotu £2 difference but i buy a lot of cables for customers and i have a ton of usbs.

[JordanMac]

gold plating used to matter a lot when the signals were analogue becuase you can have a strong signal or weak signal but since we are now almost all digital (hdmi etc) it doesn't matter becuase you are either connected or not connected.

[Bluejay0]

Gold is the best in conducting signals so it would be a bit worth it, how ever I see no difference.

[brownninja97]

Gold is the best in conducting signals so it would be a bit worth it, how ever I see no difference.

I dont think we are close to over saturating copper at the moment for displays. maybe with 4k but im just using 1080p at the moment.

[Bluejay0]

I dont think we are close to over saturating copper at the moment for displays. maybe with 4k but im just using 1080p at the moment.

 

True. Soon gold will HAVE to be on connectors however most connections without gold are comepletely fine for now.

[Lamb]

As Linus says, It will matter if the connectors on the inside of the plug are gold. But, the outside of the connector does not matter if it is gold.

[Bluejay0]

As Linus says, It will matter if the connectors on the inside of the plug are gold. But, the outside of the connector does not matter if it is gold.

 

Bingo. Inside, good. Outside, NOT YET!

[Wesz-T]

Mythbusters (or Linus) should take on the whole "omg my 1.30m (or 4 feet?) long (HDMI) cable needs better shielding and connectors than medical equiptment" on a scientific way and bust it once and for all.

[Guest]

Gold is not the best conduct of electricity - silver is however it is less malleable and is prone to wear. Gold connectors make better contact with receptacles due to the malleability of it. 

 

We don't use silver in cables because of the cost. 

[Bluejay0]

Gold is not the best conduct of electricity - silver is however it is less malleable and is prone to wear. Gold connectors make better contact with receptacles due to the malleability of it. 

 

We don't use silver in cables because of the cost. 

 

Sadly I would like to see silver implemented more. However we both know that can't really happen.

[virusal19]

It doesn't really make a "huge" difference. 

 

Gold is a high conductor of electricity, does not tarnish or oxides in air, is malleable, ductile, soft, dense and is relatively cheap in terms of plating. So why not?   

[SubTract]

Gold is not the best conduct of electricity - silver is however it is less malleable and is prone to wear. Gold connectors make better contact with receptacles due to the malleability of it. 

 

We don't use silver in cables because of the cost. 

I was just thinking this. Damn you windspeed and beating me to it again!.

[constanrine5d]

Gold is not the best conduct of electricity - silver is however it is less malleable and is prone to wear. Gold connectors make better contact with receptacles due to the malleability of it. 

 

We don't use silver in cables because of the cost. 

Isn't gold more expensive?

[megadarkwood]

On the inside, not on the outside.

[Mines_Skyline]

Gold is the best in conducting signals so it would be a bit worth it, how ever I see no difference.

 

Gold is not the best conductor. Silver is first, then Aluminum, then Gold. This is based on the elements Electrical Resistivity values at 20 degrees Celsius.

 

Silver = 15.87 nano Ohm meters

Copper = 16.78 nano Ohm meters

Gold = 22.14 nano Ohm meters

 

Smaller number is better. Which means by gold plating, we are actually making it worse.

 

However, that said, Silver and Copper will "rust", whereas, gold will not. So by plating it with gold, you are basically preventing the connector from ever losing its connectivity. The wire can be made out of Copper because it will be covered by the plastic coating so it wont rust.

[kuddlesworth9419]

No there is no reason at all to get gold plated connectors. Unless you want to pour water on the connectors or something. It has been said that the gold is more malleable however this is not true unless they were using an alloy containing a high percentage of gold which is unlikely as these cables are not in the £50-£100 price range. Just go with the highest quality wire itself and with a braided cable if it is available. 

[tito]

Gold is used in conectors because it is maleable, meaning that it will last more connect-disconnect cycles. It is on the top 5 of conductive materials, but you wouldnt notice any difference in quality signla between cupper and gold, the only benefit as I said before is that it will last longer.

Also keep in mind that the amount of gold that they use is very small, so I dont think it make a lot of a difference.

[adotkdotjh]

Gold is used in conectors because it is maleable, meaning that it will last more connect-disconnect cycles. It is on the top 5 of conductive materials, but you wouldnt notice any difference in quality signla between cupper and gold, the only benefit as I said before is that it will last longer.

Also keep in mind that the amount of gold that they use is very small, so I dont think it make a lot of a difference.

 

It's more to do with the fact that gold is more stable than copper or silver. Copper and silver tarnishes over time, whereas gold does not, so gold can provide more reliable connection in the long run (at least in theory). I don't know if gold's malleability could be a factor, since i expect the plated layer to be incredibly thin. I don't know why Linus always says it's because of gold's malleability. 

[_wky]

Yes! But only for analogue signals (VGA and audio as far as I know)

Even then, silver is better than gold at this but I think gold is used as most customers will naturally think that gold will be better than silver.

 

For digital signals (USB, DVI etc..) it makes no difference, as long as the signal gets though. 

Now you still may want to go with a higher quality cable as the build quality normally means that it will last longer before breaking but that's up to you.