Recomendations Wanted/needed

First - Hi all newbie meat here

Second - I have searched and I have read countless hours and hours and hours and hours ( you get the point ) and still have a lot of questions ( imagine that ) about upgrading my system - so let me start with what I know about -
my puter is a custom built so I have no manuals -
I have a Duron running @ 1 gig - did AMD make one or did the builder already overclock? the MOBO is a SiS K7SEM - SEE SPECS HERE and AFAIK the BIOS is not adjustable?

So now why? First off my cpu's fan is going bad - I figured since I'd be in there playing around I would connect the multiplier connectors on the Duron and upgrade cooling fan/heatsink accordingly. What I want to know is after I unlock the multiplier how do I make the BIOS adjustable ??? Ok - so say I got all that squared away along with the addition of some case cooling can someone recommend some voltage/speed/multiplier settings for a fairly "safe" system ???

So now some fan questions - I work as an auto mechanic and know that electric fans "pull" better than they "push" does this hold true for computer fans ???

that is all the plans i have/can afford @ this time, TIA

First off your board is made by Elite Group Computer Systems, more comonly known as ECS.

ECS does not support overclocking. On the ever famous ECS K7S5A there was "Hacked BIOS" which did support OCing. Some other boards were identical twins to PC Chips motherboards. ECS is a very large company, second largest mobo manufacturer in the world, but most of thier stuff is either for OEMs or rebranded. That is why they are so cheap. If you can find a PC Chips board that is your boards twin then you can flash to that BIOS and it will give you some FSB overclocking options. I know of no PC Chips boards that offer multiplier options.

Warning
If you try to flash your board with another BIOS and it is the wrong BIOS it can and will ruin your board. Only attempt this if someone else has tried it out first. Or better yet, several someones.

Yes AMD did make a 1GHz Duron, and since it is in that board that is most likely what it is.

You may be in luck.

you can download a copy of your manual from here. You will need to find out if you have a ver 1.0 or ver 3.0A or ver 3.0C. It is probibly silk screened on your mobo somewhere.

You may be able to set the FSB to 133MHz if you CPU can handle it. If it can't you will have to reset the CMOS.

thanks for the quick reply - and a darn good one too - I didn't have the slightest idea that the MOBO wasn't made by SiS - looks like I have 3.0C the least adjustable of the bunch - I downloaded all of the manuals and read them till I figured out which one I had I don't see no stinkin silkscreening anywhere 'cept for the K7SEM - memory not so good but last I played I don't think BIOS will allow me to change anything any ideas ???

even if your BIOS does not support overclocking, that does not mean that you can't overclock by setting the default multiplier higher.

you could try setting your default multiplier to something higher than the default 10x, using a pencil: http://www.oc-inside.de/html/workshop/socketa/socketa_resistors.html

you just need to connect the dots on your processor the way they've shown on that page. just select the multiplier you want from the drop down menu, and you'll see how fast the processor will be running.

I would try lowering the multplier and running at 133 FSB, that will give you a much bigger performance boost. But that's only if your memory can handle 133mhz.

Also you talked about upgrading your system. For a little amount of cash you can upgrade your system to 512 PC3200 (200mhz DDR memory), a nice nforce2 chipset motherboard, XP1700/1800 and a new HSF, and a nice video card like an 8500le, or ti4200 for all under 300 dollors (may need a new power supply which would be around 330 instead, but still a very nice upgrade). That combo that I listed is very overclocker friendly, you'd have to get most of the parts used, but that isn't much of a problem (atleast in my experiance.) and you could also pawn off your current setup online for a small amount of cash...may just be more wortwhile to keep around for a relative though.

turns out my MOBO is not OC friendly

SEE HERE