I suspect you need the part for an 80B power supply.
I think I still have a few genuine parts I bought from GPE ages ago but being on the wrong side of the Atlantic makes shipping a bit tough.

I've come to the conclusion that it's just better to buy a new power supply that is based on a different regulator. They aren't that more expensive than the cost of a known genuine LM338.
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Chris Hibler - CARGPB #31
http://www.ChrisHiblerPinball.com/Contact
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ebay.com link: itm

I think these are good.

But no guarantees

Some of The fakes are printed horizontally inline with the holes. I believe the originals are printed vertically between the holes

Real ones are effectively NLA, unless you find a small stash that someone has squirreled away.

GPE was basically the one source I trusted for hard-to-find and often faked parts. G-P-E may be able to offer some tips on sorting real from fake, but the simple and unfortunate fact is that the component has been discontinued and legitimate sources have dried up. I imagine we're going to be seeing more and more of this in coming years.

If you are trying to repair an 80B power supply, an aftermarket board it is almost the same price as a genuine LM338K now:

https://nvram.weebly.com/gtb-80b---sys3-5v-ps.html

Spendy but Digikey has them: https://www.digikey.nl/nl/products/detail/texas-instruments/LM338K-STEEL/6224

Yes, it works ...
Edit: picture is from Bally pinball, if you look for a replacement for Gottlieb 80B take a look on my website
https://lisy.dev/psy80b.html

pasted_image (resized).png

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B091343QH2/ref=ox_sc_act_title_1

$13.85 for 10 of them; I'm sure they are straight from China and they will either work or not, but at that price its worth trying IMO.

Those are fakes.

as I said ...

Perhaps the 5amp LM1084 and a heat sink with a little mounting creativity?

Cool them to near absolute zero and they’d handle 5A without any problem. I’d be curious to mount it to an adequate heatsink, add bypass caps to the input and output and then connect a power supply (9 - 12 v) with at least a 5A rating and then measure the output voltage across a 1 ohm load (25 w resistor for example). I’ll bet, if it doesn’t fail immediately, the output will be near zero

Yeah, but will it blend?

I had an entire eBay order of regulators, many years ago, test good using diode test. But as soon as it was used in a real application, pulling the necessary current, it failed. At least they were cheap….

I got what I paid for.
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Chris Hibler - CARGPB #31
Http://chrishiblerpinball.com/contact
Thank you for checking out the PinWiki - http://www.PinWiki.com/

That’s a great image for the PInWiki.
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Chris Hibler - CARGPB #31
Http://chrishiblerpinball.com/contact
Thank you for checking out the PinWiki - http://www.PinWiki.com/

It looks like the active part of a TO92 regulator, like the 7805. The LM1084 with a heatsink or any modern 5 volt regulator would be better than the fake.

Not sure why everyone is ignoring the NTE replacement. I used only one so far and it is great replacement. Make sure to get them from authorized resellers.

Will this one work?
Looks like a slightly more expensive version with higher temperature tolerances.
https://www.mouser.com/datasheet/2/389/CD00000548-490721.pdf

ebay.com link: itm

Maybe some vintage new stock?

https://ka-electronics.com/shop/index.php?route=product/product&product_id=157

The ST parts on ebay - they are shown in packaging that is not provided by ST. I wouldn't trust that one.
The link to the Linear Tech equivalent provided by mbwalker - those do look to be legitimate.

Good Catch, you would need to change R115 on the Whitestar board to use that one.

Would need a very good heat sink. Pretty sure these Gottlieb 80b have the biggest 5v load out of any system except maybe WPC.

For a switch mode replacement, I'd probably of try to put an efficient buck regulator inside of the foot print of the heat sink, not try and squeeze it into the TO-3 package. Some of the SMPS regulator chips are pretty much jelly bean status now, cheap, and should have better availability from more than a handful of brands in the future.

On the stern whitestar boards, check the screw mounting on the heat sink. They connect the case through the screw mount and those black anodized heat sinks are not very conductive. When the screw starts to loosen the 5v drops outs. Fixed 3-4 stern games with that same issue just by tightening the screw.

Thanks for the images Inkochnito
Added: https://www.pinwiki.com/wiki/index.php/General#Counterfeit_Integrated_Circuits_.26_Blacktopped_Parts
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Chris Hibler - CARGPB #31
http://www.ChrisHiblerPinball.com/Contact
https://www.youtube.com/c/ChrisHiblerPinball
http://www.PinWiki.com - The Place to go for Pinball Repair Info

G-P-E Curious, was this comment about my e-bay link as ST absolutely made this part in a TO-3 package; just not in the last 10 years.

Just curious, would the LM317 be an option? The TO-220 has the output on the mounting tab, just like the LM338.

The LM317 is only 1.5A. If the OP wants to go down that path, I'd look at a LT1083 series: https://www.analog.com/media/en/technical-documentation/data-sheets/108345fh.pdf

That was just from a quick google search, didn't look into if that was the best choice or not.

I'd have to check. Being these are both linear regulators, efficiency will suck regardless, but I can look at the numbers as a sanity check.

So being linear, whatever the input voltage is, minus the output voltage (x the current) is what will be dissipated. For example. 12V in, 5V out= 7 V across the part. Power is V * I. 7V (across the regulator) and let's use 5A: 7V * 5A = 35 watts as heat. That's a given regardless of the part.

However, the parts are different and there's a chance that one could be better at getting the heat out of the part vs. the other. That's due to the thermal resistance of the part (which ultimately determines the die temperature). i.e. The die being the 'part' (no case) - it has to remain below a certain temp. See below.

Sorry, got a little technical there.
pasted_image (resized).png

I have no experience with Gottlieb boards so this information is NOT directed at Gottlieb but rather just general information to help with heat dissipation from regulators in general.

My advice would be to use a switching regulator. Avoid linear regulators unless you intend to contribute significantly to the thermodynamic death of the universe.

• 96.2C. LINEAR regulator LM350 with 5298 heat sink.0_linear_lm350.jpg
• 88.3C. LINEAR regulator LM1084 with 5298 heat sink.1_linear_lm1084.jpg
• 63.5C. LINEAR regulator LM323K with 500403 style heat sink.2_linear_lm323k.jpg
• 46.2C. SWITCHING regulator LM2576 with 6021 style heat sink.3_switching_lm2576.jpg
• 32.8C. SWITCHING regulator LM2678 with 6021 style heat sink.4_switching_lm2678.jpg

If you don't measure then you don't know.

Deleted - I saw a NTE395 at Digikey, but noticed it was discussed earlier.

Why continue with the old linear regulators ? Replace them with a decent dc-dc converter: more efficiency, cheaper, little heat and easy to find with a 5V/5A output.
Did it for several machines already: Bally, D.E., Gottlieb ...

You mean like this one that was already discussed? https://pinside.com/pinball/forum/topic/replacement-for-the-ml338k-wanted#post-7638156

yes, sort of. They come in many flavors. Once used a 5V/10A converter to replace the regulator on a D.E. power supply, has been working fine for years now. If interested i can look for the photo's. Also did a similar replacement as in the photo for Bally power boards.

More times mentioned the better

Yes, I have used them in several machines, works fine. Very nice that you can adjust the voltage.

I'm sure that many owners like myself prefer to keep their machines original. I say, if you want a machine with the latest technology, I.E. such things as high efficiency switching mode power supplies, LC Displays, LED's, etc.etc. etc. buy a modern machine. The now, "old school" technology in earlier models is part of their charm. If the original power supply was designed around an LM338K, then that's what it should be replaced with (at least until the very last one has been depleted, or hoarded)

I like original boards for the most part because most are well documented and repairable.

However, I think you may have overlooked the point of this discussion. The main problem is the LM338K *isn't* readily available, hence the need to find a substitute or alternative solution. Otherwise it would be a no brainer to drop in the same regulator as a replacement.

Here's a Bally/Stern power board with a 5A DC converter and a D.E. powerboard with a 10A DC converter
On the D.E. board several other components of the 5V regulator circuit where removed because not needed anymore. The display was for testing and removed after a while. I also added a larger capacitor on the outgoing 5V line. Not the best looking but it was a first attempt

Bally (resized).jpg

D.E. (resized).jpg

Although I was looking at a drop in replacement (NTE395) for the OP, personally I wouldn't have any qualms using a quality DC-DC switcher. But I don't know the OP's skill level, so I'm always a little leery of suggesting making electrical mods. We've all seen the hack thread.

One of the best reasons to use a linear regulator is when you need a very quiet supply. But even then, I've used a switcher to get the voltage dropped to a lower voltage, the clean it up w/a linear regulator after that.