which audigy 2?

[CrawlingEye]

Originally posted by Swerv
"The Retail comes with Gold connectors which make for better contacts as well as preventing corrosion."

FYI: Gold connectors dont make "BETTER" contacts, all they do is prevent corrosion....

Silver is a much better conductor than gold.

Indeed, and copper is a much better conductor than all of the above.

The fact remains that Silver is neither very conductive or very good at preventing corrosion.

[soupnazi]

Originally posted by CrawlingEye
Indeed, and copper is a much better conductor than all of the above.

The fact remains that Silver is neither very conductive or very good at preventing corrosion.

If silver isn't very conductive, why does Arctic Silver 3 contain 70% silver?

[Swerv]

"The fact remains that Silver is neither very conductive or very good at preventing corrosion. "


Hold on there.... Silver is Very conductive, they use it in the highest of quality audiophile cables, with close to 0 percent oxygen.
It isn't spectacular for preventing corrosion but when was the last time you had your cables/contacts corrode on you? I know I haven't...

[CrawlingEye]

Originally posted by soupnazi
If silver isn't very conductive, why does Arctic Silver 3 contain 70% silver?

Arctic Silver 3 is thermally conductive, and electrically conductive. However, the two shouldn't be confused. Ceramique is a better thermal conductor than AS3 and it isn't electrically conductive.

There's no direct relation between the two.

However, the only real similarity is that copper is best in both sitautions.

With that said, there's no proof that silver is in fact used in the OEM's or any other metal.

Also, Swerv, you should also consider people who live by the shore or bring their computers around the shore. Corrosion also won't show itself in a week or a month but rather over a deal of time.

Consider that and you'll find the answer to your question about "Why is corrosion a problem?"

Further more, finger grease in itself (IIRC) can cause corrosion in many cases, so just purely from handling something over time, it can corrode.


This aside, I still think retail offers a better deal, considering the marginal price difference and added software which is actually desirable.