For a few machines, I have used 3M double sided thermal tape. Just because I had trouble finding cheap coolers with clip.

As long as the area closest to the socket isn't populated with capacitors or other tall components, socket 370 and socket A heatsinks usually fits on socket 7 boards. They might not be cheaper, but it's always nice to have more options 😀

They're generally much larger than socket 5/7 coolers too, so you can run the fan at much lower speeds, or even go fanless, for less noise.

I stocked up by buying bulk lots of coolers. Now I have so many that I probably will never need to buy coolers for old machines again.

Much cheaper to go that route than to buy them one by one.

For socket 3, if you get a heatsink of the adequate size, you can bend a paperclip so that it latches to the tabs on the sides of the socket.

cyclone3d wrote:

I stocked up by buying bulk lots of coolers. Now I have so many that I probably will never need to buy coolers for old machines again.

Much cheaper to go that route than to buy them one by one.

This is what I ended up doing. And still, I have so many old heatsinks laying around, once you have a good stock you can mix and match to whatever are your needs.
It's very fitting 😀

TheMobRules wrote:

For socket 3, if you get a heatsink of the adequate size, you can bend a paperclip so that it latches to the tabs on the sides of the socket.

I like this idea. Do you have any pics? 😜

Artic silver thermal adhesive, used it on my k6-2 when the old CPU socket got brittle and a clip broke off, works quite well