Review System

Assembly

Installing a motherboard in the Montech Air 100 ARGB is done by traditional means, with spacers and screws. There is a bit of space in the ceiling of the chassis, but it looks like there is not enough clearance to fit a 53 mm AIO combination as the motherboard extends beyond the top edge of the rear fan. There is plenty of space for potent graphics cards, with the Palit 2080 Ti reaching the opening in the shroud. This means a little room is left even if you go for a radiator in the front.


Adding 2.5" storage may easily be achieved by taking one of the trays and screwing the SSD down on it. Once filled, simply put it back or place it on top of the shroud for added visibility through the glass side panel.


The 3.5" tray does not require any tools or screws. It is made out of plastic, so you can just clip in the drive and slide it back into the cage until it snaps in place. The only downside with this cage, which we have seen utilized by several other brands, is the recessed nature of the drive, which makes reaching the SATA power and data connectors a tad more difficult than it should be.


When attempting to install a standard 240 mm AIO, it quickly becomes apparent that it will not fit with motherboards that sport a larger cooling element for the VRMs at the top-edge of the board, so we had to remove that heatsink just to install the be quiet! Pure Loop 240. The heatsink will collide with the radiator, and the CPU power plugs will essentially be inaccessible as well. On the upside, tall memory just barely clears the room. Lastly, adding a PSU is easy enough and bears no surprises, with plenty of room for pre-routed cables and audio ports.


With everything installed, the primary side looks rather clean, but we could have probably spent a little more time with the AIO wiring instead of going across the ADATA memory. In the backside, the cabling is great because of loads of zip-tie hooks. As you can see, the picture still shows one disconnected ARGB fan, which was obviously rectified before turning the system on.

Finished Looks

Once powered on, you can clearly see the ARGB lighting from the three fan hubs in the front and the one in the back. A blue LED in the top of the case lights up to let you know that the computer is powered on.


The fine mesh lends itself well to allowing for a bit of glow as well as general visibility through the front, while being fine enough to stop most dust from entering the chassis. In the rear, everything is where you would expect it.


Thanks to the clear glass side panel, all the components within the Montech Air 100 ARGB are clearly visible. In the ceiling, you can also see the eight screws holding the AIO in place. The mounting holes are unusually big, so much so that the screws barely hold the unit securely.

As there is a built-in ARGB controller, you can cycle through a set of multi and single-color animations or pick from the standard set of seven solid colors shown below.