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MonsterLabo The First Review - Making a Passive Gaming Rig Possible 14

MonsterLabo The First Review - Making a Passive Gaming Rig Possible

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Value and Conclusion

  • The MonsterLabo The First sells directly on their site for €349 new, while the B-Grade unit clocks in at a much lower €229 incl. taxes.
  • Passive gaming with a high-end GPU possible with the right settings
  • Cools well for a compact case of this size
  • Active fan option an excellent way to push the limit with minimal noise
  • Compact design
  • Can hold a GPU of up to 180 W TDP with active cooling, like a GeForce RTX 2060 or RX 5700
  • CPUs of up to 120 W TDP with active cooling
  • Up to 100 W CPU and 120 W GPU when passively cooled
  • Good mounting system for GPU and motherboard
  • Fully customizable I/O plate from MonsterLabo for your needs
  • Can hold up to one 3.5" and two 2.5" storage drives
  • Available in three color variants
  • Very accessible company—if you need anything, contact them
  • Proper planning for parts in advance required
  • Assembly not for the faint of heart
  • Tolerances like a Tesla—not quite there, but fully functional
  • A few imperfections, mostly due to B-Grade
  • All the accessories add quite a bit to the final price
  • Limited availability at the time of writing
  • Obviously, most GPUs will loose their warranty
MonsterLabo is trying to achieve something many have aimed for, but failed to achieve. You will find a slew of passive cases out there that allow for fanless CPU cooling, but lack the ability to install anything but the most basic GPU, if even that. Then there are cases that aim to offer passive GPU cooling elements with the required expansion slots, but their TDP is limited greatly, so you cannot go beyond entry-level graphical performance. The MonsterLabo The First, however, claims to allow for both a potent CPU with up to a 120 W TDP and a GPU with up to a 180 W TDP for a total of 300 W heat dissipation with just a single, silent fan, and up to a total of 220 W across the system without any cooling installed, all within a compact ITX chassis.

That said, from a performance perspective, it does deliver everything you are promised. Any scenario you throw at a system with a 95 W CPU and 180 W GPU with that single fan works in a nice and stable fashion, resulting in a silent SFF system where other similarly sized and traditionally air-cooled systems tend to be noisier and even hotter with less powerful components. Let that sink in for a second, even if the main selling point of the MonsterLabo The First is the passive operation.

In that heavily marketed passive scenario, you can still game perfectly well in absolute silence if you limit your framerate with VSync on a classic 1080P or 1440P monitor with 60 or 75Hz. Naturally, displays offering higher refresh rates will push the GPU to its edge and beyond the passive cooling capability of the chassis, which we explored by turning off VSync and gaming.

At the price of €350, this case could make an attractive option for DIY, as many boutique ITX cases sell around the €200 mark, but still require you to go out and buy CPU cooling. However, you also need to consider the additional €50 to €100 cost for accessories, like cables, custom 3D printed backplates, VRM heat sinks, or the PCIe riser cable. On top of that, building the system yourself requires pretty extensive planning and diligence during assembly because you have to strip your GPU of all its pre-installed air cooling. That said, MonsterLabo should support all but a few exotic GPU choices and is updating their compatibility list on a regular basis. Unlike many bigger brands, MonsterLabo is also easily accessible and will quickly respond and support before and after the purchase.

For most users, the best path is to buy a pre-built system from one of their partners or directly over their website instead, which will take all the headaches out of having to pick the right mountings, any worries during assembly, or the risk of breaking individual components.

In terms of build quality, the MonsterLabo The First is well built, but just like a Tesla, tolerances are a bit more lenient than we are used to. However, just like with the cars, it is nothing you will notice unless you look really closely, and considering their B-Grade unit clocks in at €230, it could be a nice way to save some money. The MonsterLabo The First achieves what it sets out to do, even if assembly is quite tricky. The result, however, is silent gaming at a level we have not seen in the mainstream segment before.
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