Whatever paste was used, there's WAY too much of it! It should never be on top of the electrical connections.

Can't see the damage to your cooler from that pic though. If it's a metal paste, it's not compatible with aluminium

most socket 7 slots have the same clip spots that latter socket 370 p3 sockets had. if yours has those clips u could just get a socket 370 heatsink and clip that on they can be had for pretty cheap then u can just use any old thermal plate.

if yours don't have the clip though then u would need to look for some stuff called thermal Adhesive MG Chemicals makes some it comes in a 2 tube system 1 had thermal compound and another with strong glue. isn't cheap either like 30 for a small tube.

Doesn't your CPU socket have those tabs that you can latch the clamp of the heatsink to?
What you're showing looks like it's not meant to be used in this fashion for a prolonged period, but looks more like an emergency repair?

I'd suggest you get another s7 HSF as yours seems to be missing some part that prevents it from being mounted. If your HSF came this way then I'd still suggest you get a different one but first you'd need to check if your CPU socket has those tabs at the side. It's unclear from your pic due to the angle but yours seem to be missing?

I don't even use past on my 233MMX, just a 1.5inch tall socket 7 heatsink (it is quite a tight fit). No overheating problems, been working like this for over a decade. I haven't ever used paste on any 486 or P1 cpu, just the clip heatsinks.

You'll achieve several times the advantage of any high end thermal paste by simply using a slightly less primitive heatsink without any goo on it.
Also, any CPU will be fine if cooled down to specification. There's no special award for any degree below that.

There is quite a lot of discussion about adhesives going on in the k6 2+ To 3+ Mod thread.

For that you probably want a epoxy. A moisture cure would never harden to the center.

Re: SUCCESSFUL K6-2+ to K6-3+ Full Cache Enable Mod

Or as others have said, clean it up and get a new heatsink for it.

This is how my motherboard looks like
Is the socket broken?

Can I attach the retention clips? I don't have any.. need to buy

the clips are broken. if your good at soldering u could probably remove and replace the socket. but other wise u will need a thermal epoxy. or find a p1 chip with the heatsink pre glued on most of the retail ones came with the heatsink pre attached to the chip with glue.

like ex

I fixed a socket 7 socket by gluing the clip back once. I guess it can be worth a try if you can find the plastic piece. In the case somewhere. I used a cyanoacrylat glue but there are probably better ones.

idan182 wrote on 2022-03-20, 17:26:

This is how my motherboard looks like
Is the socket broken?

Can I attach the retention clips? I don't have any.. need to buy

yes, the socket is broken, as in, three of the clips are broken off.

Can I use thermal pad?
would it stick?

idan182 wrote on 2022-03-20, 17:26:

This is how my motherboard looks like
Is the socket broken?

Can I attach the retention clips? I don't have any.. need to buy

It's definitely broken. Both of them actually, never seen that before.
My guess is that (one of) the previous owner ripped off the previous heatsink with some brute force. Even breaking one of them (usually the middle one) takes some serious force and is uncommon, especially uncommon for socket 7 since the heatsinks which need to be mounted on socket 7 are rather small and the latch requires little force.

That or a previous owner tried to mount a HSF with 3 holes in the clamp (perhaps an Athlon HSF) on a CPU which was too high or used excessive force.

To be honest, I never even seen all of them damaged in this way.

It's not an easy fix. Either you find some way to install a CPU which doesn't require a cooling solution which requires those tabs, replace the socket (not at all easy and beyond my abilities) or alas get another board.

Joakim wrote on 2022-03-20, 17:57:

I fixed a socket 7 socket by gluing the clip back once. I guess it can be worth a try if you can find the plastic piece. In the case somewhere. I used a cyanoacrylat glue but there are probably better ones.

This could also be a solution. Would probably be the easiest fix if it works.

sorry if that's old news - didn't read through all the previous replies

those broken off bits of the socket, that's just wrong. Who would do something like that? A miracle the board survived such abuse.

But, there's a rather commons solution of fixing the heatsink to the CPU:
https://www.pimfg.com/product-detail/COOLER-1000
Unfortunately, I've only ever seen it applied to 486s, those being 45 x 45 mm, but the vanilla pentium is 50 x 50.

So, just putting that principle out there - 486s didn't mind, neither would Pentiums - If it's to be found - mechanically, perfectly sound solution.

There also ist the "diagonal wire clip" paradigm of heat sink mounting, like that:
https://eclats-antivols.fr/531-thickbox_defau … sor-cpu-fan.jpg
https://eclats-antivols.fr/en/ventilator/3494 … 0329415433.html
- which would make use of the one reamaining nose on your socket.
Might be possible to improvise the other with epoxy and a prayer.

Glueing stuff to a CPU should be your last resort 😉

The diagonal clip may still work, I can’t find a pic but it’s a wire torsion clip you might be able to make. there also are options that clip directly to the chip it’s self. And the athalon clips use three notches.

Micron has a screw on one that clips to the processor it’s self and screw tightens.

There are also a bunch of smaller ones

Cuttoon wrote on 2022-03-20, 21:50:

sorry if that's old news - didn't read through all the previous replies […]
Show full quote

sorry if that's old news - didn't read through all the previous replies

those broken off bits of the socket, that's just wrong. Who would do something like that? A miracle the board survived such abuse.

But, there's a rather commons solution of fixing the heatsink to the CPU:
https://www.pimfg.com/product-detail/COOLER-1000
Unfortunately, I've only ever seen it applied to 486s, those being 45 x 45 mm, but the vanilla pentium is 50 x 50.

So, just putting that principle out there - 486s didn't mind, neither would Pentiums - If it's to be found - mechanically, perfectly sound solution.

There also ist the "diagonal wire clip" paradigm of heat sink mounting, like that:
https://eclats-antivols.fr/531-thickbox_defau … sor-cpu-fan.jpg
https://eclats-antivols.fr/en/ventilator/3494 … 0329415433.html
- which would make use of the one reamaining nose on your socket.
Might be possible to improvise the other with epoxy and a prayer.

Glueing stuff to a CPU should be your last resort 😉

The "diagonal wire clip" (I used to call it z-wire clip, for lack of a better word) won't work as there are no socket tabs on the CPU socket left to attach it to.

I'm not sure the clamp-directly-to-the-cpu-using-2x2-of-those-tiny-plastic-clamps CPU HSFs were ever made for s5 and beyond. These definitely existed for s3 and perhaps s4, which both would be incompatable with s5/s7 due to s5/s7 CPUs being larger (except for the s3 POD of course).

EDIT: The latter ones might exist for s5/s7 Pentiums though, I'd need to go up to the attic and see if I have any of those. This design used to be somewhat common. he screw on model was a lot less common from what I could see.

Sphere478 wrote on 2022-03-21, 00:41:

MThe diagonal clip may still work, I can’t find a pic but it’s a wire torsion clip you might be able to make. there also are options that clip directly to the chip it’s self. And the athalon clips use three notches.

Micron has a screw on one that clips to the processor it’s self and screw tightens.

There are also a bunch of smaller ones

I remember those screw ones! They were an odd but interesting design that needed the heatsink to be screwed down (yes the entire heatsink would turn until it would touch the top of the CPU, screw in a bit tighter and it would be secured).
Iirc there were definitely CPU HSFs made of this design that would fit Pentium and Pentium MMX (at least the ceramic design).
If you want I could go up and see if I can make some (crummy) pics? Iirc mine was actually green instead of blue. I should have both s3 and s5/s7 variants.

Alternatively I've successfully used those steel-plastic wires from thrash bags. Just make sure the plastic is not damaged.

I know, it's not bulletproof and some may think it's questionable but the plastic is not conductive enough to cause problems.

It just occurred to me that maybe you could try strapping the heatsink to the processor using a fishing line, I think it's thin enough that the pins on the processor are still making contact with the socket and non conductive.
Many people attach fans to graphics card heatsinks using zip ties the same way.
Also if I'm not mistaken you have a swollen capacitor below the socket.