Using a 'newish' s370/sA HSF may require use of a spare metal clip, as some put a lot of pressure on the CPU socket extension thingies, which are easier to break then one might expect (yes I've broken one once and yes it was a ss7 board 😒 ).
With s7/ss7 there's also the issue of clearance. Many ss7 boards seem to have caps and resistors and all kinds of stuff right next to the CPU socket, making the more beefy HSFs not fit.
Same goes for the metal retention clips that have 3 openings instead of the 1 that many other HSFs have. Usually 3 is better as it helps prevent breaking of these CPU extension thingies, but if the HSF isn't really tightly installed, 1 should suffice.
Some of the metal clips may require a bit of bending, these ss7 CPUs don't need a tight fitting HSF.
ODwilly wrote:Newegg sold some cheapish Startech ones brand new that seemed pretty nice. I prefer the stock heatsinks from lowend Celeron socket 370 heatsinks. Always seem to be around in good qualities for cheap/free/ drowning in them. And you can buy some nice 40mm fans like a Noctua to replace the noisy stock ones, makes a standard heatsink shine.
I second this. On top of that, these heatsinks will usually always fit as they don't overhang the CPU socket anywhere (except for maybe thge much larger Tualeron HSFs or so).
