most cores are brass for mainly cost reasons. have you compared costs between Al to brass/CU radiators? if you use a '94 RX-7 radiator, a C&R Al rad is $600 new, & a stock brass/CU one is ~$190 brand new. of course, racers use Al because it works better on their cars. this is not to say that you would see similar differences using Al radiators on a PC, since your PC isn't generating 250F water temperature (a reasonable assumption i believe).
this is similar to the the Al vs steel case argument. you know what Al case ppl say about lower temps, but i read that someone did thermal calculations & found it would take temperatures that make the Al case glow white before a 3-4C difference is realized.
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