I have recently built a system consisting of the following:

VIA M2-12000 Main Board
512Mb memory
Seagate 2.5" hard drive
Panasonic CD-RW/DVD
Morex 3677 Case
Windows XP Pro

Silent Modifications: Changed the stock CPU fan to a SilenX 40mm 14dBA type, and added a Zalman Cable Resistor to the case fan (changes the 12V supply to 7V)

The system seems to be running fine but I have a few questions:

1. BIOS Update: I know this may sound stupid but I'm having trouble finding out which is the current version of the BIOS? Can someone point me the right direction?

2. I did download the latest BIOS and Flash utility from the VIA website. I booted on a floppy and ran the utility. I backed up the current bios but it wouldn't let me go any further. It could not detect the new BIN file or could not read or load it? Any thoughts?

3. CPU Fan: I noticed that the CPU fan is blowing air in towards the heatsink. Is this correct?

4. Can anyone tell me what the highest acceptable CPU temperature should be at full load?

5. Any ideas on making the system more silent as my changes (as listed above) has not made it much more silent.

Any help appreciated.