Packaging

MonsterLabo shipped The First in an unassuming brown box with nothing but a single sticker. Once you open the box, you are immediately greeted by a long screw driver, hex tool, and a piece of paper telling you where to find the manual. MonsterLabo recently published a PDF, available online, to help you through the trickier parts of assembly also described in this review, but you will have to figure out some other elements on your own, or dig through some of their YouTube videos.


We received the white version of the The First, which comes encased in foam and is further protected by a thick plastic bag. Fun fact: That plastic bag is the same the heatsink ships in from China, reused to keep their waste footprint as low as possible.

Contents

We got a lot of extras with the MonsterLabo The First. There is a 140 mm Noctua NF-A14 and a tube of Noctua thermal paste along with a bag of mixed screws and fan-mounting parts. It is nice that we received the fan, but it would be a separate purchase if you were to buy the chassis in retail. We also received the MonsterLabo branded PCIe riser cable, which is required for some but not all motherboard and GPU configurations.


On top of that, we received a lot of mounting hardware, including a set for AMD boards and six different GPU-mounting brackets, of which you will only need a specific one. MonsterLabo will provide you with the one you need when you contact them as part of your purchase. On top of that, we got all types of VRM heatsinks and mounting hardware.


As all the connections for both the GPU and motherboard will remain inside the chassis, you will need a set of cables to route them out the back of the case. MonsterLabo sells these individually, so you can just order those you need or want. We also received a 3D printed I/O panel, which replaces the pre-installed metal one. You can ask MonsterLabo to print you a custom one based on your needs, and even get to pick between orange and black as color options.


Last but certainly not least, as was quite apparent upon opening the package, to help you assemble your system, the black hex key and extremely long screwdriver are also part of the package.