Should the plastic feet on a PEP-66 be filed down for..

..using the PEP-66 on an original PPGA Celeron in Socket 370 form factor? I'm having difficulty cooling a C366 Celly that's mounted on an Asus CUBX-E. I'll spare you all of the details!

I modded the PEP-66 to work vertically. I broke down and installed a FOP on it yesterday--hoping to see better CPU temps than those reported in BIOS(35C to 40C, at idle) while using the PEP-66. This FOP with a 92 mm case fan on top of it has the original GlobalWin SK7 Clip From Hell. BIOS reported CPU temp was 65C with the FOP! I ruined a Slocket when the jeweller's screwdriver slipped while mounting this HS. As mainboards are more costly, I'd rather use the Alpha!

S370 mobo's don't let you eyeball the HS/CPU junction, at least when they're mounted in a case. I hate losing the PEP-66's ability to mount properly on a Slocketed PIIIE. I'll live with it.

So, should I file down the PEP-66's plastic feet, so that the copper square contacts the PPGA Celly correctly? The thing is, I can't tell if the plastic feet are preventing full contact with the C366. This is an old PEP-66 with non-removable "feet."

Thanks muchly for your expertise!

Where are you getting the temp reading from? I am about 90% sure that the old C366 does not have a built in thermistor and none of the 5 or 6 slocket adapters I have had did either. I have dual C366's (running at 572) on a BP6 and the mobo has a thermistor in each socket for reading cpu temps. With Alpha pal 6035's the cpu's run in the mid 90's F under load and your HSF's are better then the 6035 so you should be ok.

The fact that the FOP did so bad makes me think that it is possable that the temp reading you are seeing is mobo temp from a thirmistor on the board someplace and the FOP may be blowing hot air from the cpu on it.

I may be wrong or missunderstand here but I just haven't ever seen a way to get a temp reading in bios from an older Celeron on a slocket.

I guess I missunderstood. On the first read it sounded to me like you were using a slot 1 board with a slocket adapter but I see now after checking Asus's site that the CUBX-E is a socket 370....sorry about that!

That FOP should be more then enough to cool a C366. With the large die size it is not hard to cool them. Have you checked to see how flat the core is? Many of the .25 micron Celerons were very uneven. I have had some that when placed on a flat surface you could see light through almost the whole core, just the 4 corners touching and the whole center concave. I wonder if this could be the case and maybe you had a little more grease on with the Alpha and it filled the void giving you a better heat transfer.

It almost has to be something like a bad thermal transfer between the HSF and cpu or a out of wack thermistor because the FOP will do the job.

there could be something in the way like a resistor that will not let them sit flat

If you mount the cpu and unmount it you should be able to tell by the way the thermal paste appears if the cpu is making contact with the heatsink or not.
If not then yes either remove some off the plastic feet or remove all of them and use a non-conductive shim for socket 370.