thats a small HSF. the xigmatek that thirdshift linked is much better, part of that being the size, and part of it being that the xigmatek is direct-touch.
and no matter which you get, try and get a bracket that mounts on the rear of the mobo to support it. you get more support, and much better contact.
Yes, he's one of the few people that enjoys getting new things to break them. But yeah that HSF looks heavy enough to rip the cpu right out of the board
That won't happen. The HSF bolts to the mobo, not the cpu. It probably fall off first. There isn't any upward tension on the cpu, although there is considerable downward force.
Dude, Vista is great, better then XP if you have not tried it you should not judge vista. The main reason why people hate vista is because of apple and there commercials that are about someone using Vista without SP1, but SP1 makes vista awesome so don't worry.