But it's thermal conductivity what we want in a IHS. Copper is better than gold in that, and much cheaper.

TELVM wrote:

But it's thermal conductivity what we want in a IHS. Copper is better than gold in that, and much cheaper.

Copper inconveniently reacts with various things, like oxygen, which is why it is often nickel or gold-plated. The IHS in your photo above was nickel-plated before lapped.

Oh for corrosion protection then. Yep, for that gold plating is more efficient than nickel plating, ~182 vs ~52 thermal conductivity.