motherboard audio gold-plated connectors

[VD0G]

is there a difference in audio quality on a mobo that don't have gold plated audio ?

[Cathulhu]

No. It's just a marketing gimmick.

[VD0G]

ok, but to be sure you have tested one ? to see if are difference

[Omega]

There is nothing to test because there isnt any difference

[oobymach]

Gold is a better conductor theoretically but it's often just gold plating which will give a good connection every time you plug something in where other metals may corrode from use like copper. There's no difference in quality of the audio, that is determined by your sound card and software settings.

[VD0G]

so you beleive there is no difference but you have not tested yet ?

[Astraea Kisaragi]

Sales gimmick like the 300 USD Audioquest HDMI cables. The crappy motherboard brands died out anyways and if you buy a soundcard you will probably buy a Creative/ASUS and not some unknown chinabrand from Aliexpress.

[Cathulhu]

Originally posted by Victor:

so you beleive there is no difference but you have not tested yet ?

There is no way that gold could improve an analog or digital signal to sound better. Period. It's physically impossible.
As oobymach has said, the only advantage is its non-corrosive nature, but that doesn't really matter with today's alloys.

[Elon Mosque]

Originally posted by Victor:

so you beleive there is no difference but you have not tested yet ?

This is not that people believe or not. I have been faced this question myself when wiring my speaker system. This not a different situation. Gold is a better conductor but copper and others doesn't really fall behind when it comes to audio quality so gold is just being more expensive meanwhile not bringing anymore advantage. Honestly i wouldn't even care if its gold or not. Better look at what audio card they put rather than plating.

[VD0G]

ok thanks for the answers.

[Revelene]

As someone who is rather experienced with audio, I can tell you that gold plating is more or less a gimmick.

Audio quality is not really affected. The signal being passed is not being limited with any of the possible metals one could use, so a specific metal is rather pointless.

It can, however, help with aging. But hopefully you are not constantly exposing it to the elements. I wouldn't recommend keeping a pc outside lol

[Retro]

Originally posted by Revelene:

It can, however, help with aging. But hopefully you are not constantly exposing it to the elements. I wouldn't recommend keeping a pc outside lol

That's what is keeping me from building my dream pc. If I did that, I'd have to live in a cardboard box.

[Azza ☠]

For gaming motherboards, isolation of onboard audio is key and then shielded. The component should be kept separate as much as possible to avoid audio electrical interference.

You will find high-end gaming motherboard do this, such as:

Asus ROG (Republic of Gamers)
Gigabyte G1 and Sniper series, etc

As for the connector end... Gold is actually a worse conductor of electricity than copper, though in practice that matters little. The only real, physical reason to use gold is that unlike copper, it doesn't tarnish. Over time copper oxidizes when exposed to air, gold doesn't have this issue. Nickel also oxidizes over time, here the level of your signal will fall down filled with scratches and noises over time causing interference. Depending on your air, this could take up to 15 years to become noticable.

Gold-plated connectors offer a benefit, but it's a marginal one at best and will take years to even be noticed. Soundwise there's no difference.

[Omega]

Originally posted by Victor:

you think asus tuf mark 1 z270 it´s a high end gaming board ? or rog it´s better ?

Motherboard doesn't affect proformance just look at what options you would like to have on your mobo. M2 ssd slot? 1, 2 or 3 PCI-e slots? How many SATA connectors?

If you just want to build a game PC with 1 GPU and 1 or 2 hdd's any mobo will do.

[Sovietball]

Originally posted by Victor:

if Motherboard doesn't affect proformance so motherboard it´s all the same ? i think you know nothing about hardware.

Motherboard wouldnt change your fps. Its just what makes it work.

[Azza ☠]

Originally posted by Victor:

you think asus tuf mark 1 z270 it´s a high end gaming board ? or rog it´s better ?

Both are great...

You will find ROG offers more gaming features however, such as the audio and networking. You do pay for them however, but saves you from getting them separately.

Asus TUF Mark 1 will use Realtek ALC 8-Channel audio.

Asus ROG Strix Z270, for example, will use ROG SupremeFX 8-Channel audio. SupremeFX is Realtek, with additional shielding and features.

You would also get a gaming ethernet card and Wi-Fi 802.11 AC, Bluetooth, etc.

It just depends if you want/need those extras?

If not, the TUF offers durability in a more protected rugged design.

ps: As the others have already mentioned, performance wise, it won't matter (there's no bottlenecking for those), it's more to do with the features you are after and will make use of or not.