Why do some CPUs have gold plated heat spreaders on top and others don't.
example: Pentium Pro gold heat spreader (obvious and beautiful) vs. pentium 4 (no gold top -- drab looking).
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Why do some CPUs have gold plated heat spreaders on top and others don't.
example: Pentium Pro gold heat spreader (obvious and beautiful) vs. pentium 4 (no gold top -- drab looking).
Advances in technology and attempting to keep costs down...When the Pentium Pro was in play within the industry computers were still very expensive...Much like the 486 or the 386/286...In those days a simple computer could cost you $10,000. Now mass production, new advances in micro plating and so on have made it unnecessary to use gold as a heat sink.
Gold is a better conductor of heat and transfers it away from the CPU quicker. However it's not cost effective to plate cpus in gold.
It all comes down to what the consumer will pay. 199 for a cpu now or 399 for one if it was gold plated.