Other features

Jumperless? Good!

Following the current trend, this motherboard is jumperless. No more fumbling with little plastic clips the size of ants. BIOS-configurable CPU settings allows for easy configuration/manipulation of the bus speed and the multiplier settings.

Hardware Monitoring

Like many other motherboards, The LE370 features system temperature monitoring - it features the requisite thermal sensor under the PGA-370 socket for CPU monitoring. It also has a buzzer that warns you when your system is overheating. With the proper cooling setup a system overheat problem should not be a concern, but it's a nice amenity to have an alarm that can warn you of a potential problem (perhaps a fan malfunctioning). Additionally, there are some options available such as a hard drive temperature detection thermistor, and a system environment temperature detector as well.

A twist on onboard audio

The LE370, like many motherboards nowadays, comes equipped with an on-board sound chipset. This is usually a bad thing, but in this case, the audio on-board is none other than the proven Aureal Vortex chipset. This is different, and it's got a lot of potential; after all, it IS A3D. Most on-board audio comes in the form of a generic 16-bit Sound-blaster clone. Only one analog line-out is supplied, barring the possibility of 4-speaker surround. Most of the staff feels that using headphones is more effective (and less distracting) anyways.

There's more to the on-board Vortex chipset than just sound, however. The LE370 also comes with a full 5 PCI slots. With a Vortex 1, there's not too much need to buy a new sound card unless you need the added feature set of the Sound Blaster Live! or A3D 2.0 in the Montego II and MX300. Including an AGP video card, you've got room for a NIC, SCSI adapter, TV-tuner card, DVD decoder, and more! This is one expandable motherboard, given its meager Socket-370 roots.

Heavy-hitters may eventually want to upgrade to a better sound card, but in the beginning, if you're looking to save some money and PCI slots, this is the best integrated sound solution you'll find.