July 28, 2026
Heavy metal motherboard drama
Why copper still rules the motherboard trace
Copper wins again, and the comments say the real reason is just plain money
TLDR: Copper still dominates motherboards because it balances strong electrical performance with practical cost, which is crucial as computers push more data through tiny paths. In the comments, people split between "it’s obviously about money," complaints that the article overcomplicated things, and jokes about future fiber and copper recycling.
The article’s big claim is simple: copper still runs the show inside your computer because it carries electricity extremely well, fits into tiny spaces, and helps modern parts talk to each other without the signal falling apart. In plain English, the metal in those thin motherboard lines matters a lot when your processor, memory, and graphics slot are all trying to move data at ridiculous speeds. Copper, the piece argues, is still the sweet spot between performance, durability, and price.
But honestly? The comment section immediately turned this into a courtroom drama. One camp boiled the whole thing down to a single blunt answer: "Money." Why copper and not shinier, fancier metals? Because silver and gold may sound glamorous, but commenters made it clear that manufacturers are not building luxury jewelry under your laptop keyboard. Another reader dragged the article itself, calling it a "tedious read" and basically accusing it of dodging the obvious question of why not silver or gold. Ouch.
Then came the wild side quests. One commenter tried to pull the conversation toward recycling, arguing that if mining gets tough, old electronics could become a copper treasure chest. Another looked ahead and suggested the richest, most advanced machines may eventually skip metal paths altogether and use fiber, while tiny consumer gadgets are getting so packed that people are joking, "what trace?" And for pure chaos, someone dropped a sarcastic humidity joke about copper wrecking electronics when exposed, because no internet debate is complete without at least one person bringing the apocalypse energy.
So yes, copper still rules. But the community verdict? It’s physics, it’s cost, and the article maybe talked around the juiciest question.
Key Points
- •The article says copper remains the main material for motherboard traces because it balances conductivity, cost, manufacturability, and durability.
- •Copper is described as the second-most conductive metal after silver, with oxygen-free copper reaching 101% conductivity relative to the pure copper baseline.
- •Aluminum is cited as having about 61% of copper's conductivity, requiring larger traces for the same electrical load.
- •Low resistivity in copper helps reduce conductor loss and preserve signal amplitude over longer traces and at higher frequencies.
- •The article says thicker copper layers such as 2 oz or 3 oz are used in some high-speed or high-power PCB designs, though newer PCIe generations impose loss-budget limits that mean thicker copper is not always automatically better.