The Montech Air 100 ARGB gets a whole bunch of things right, but also comes with a few unfortunate oversights. Starting with the good, there is the clean glass side panel with hinges, as well as the metal front cover with a fine mesh. Then there are the four included ARGB fans alongside the universal, expandable 4-port controller, all of which sounds great for a case of $70 at first glance, as that price point is quite attractive in general. Internally, the case manages to impress with a good storage capacity mix and very good cable-management possibilities with a few nice, unusual touches, like Velcro strips and pre-routed cables. Upon further reflection, that price tag is not quite as clear as you can choose to go ATX instead of Micro-ATX with a similar fan setup for just a few more dollars. This makes the Air 100 ARGB more of a deliberate choice should you want to have a compact chassis first and foremost.

There are also several issues with the Air 100 ARGB. Most of them revolve around the basic top cover. While essentially all brands employ an embossed top panel where a magnetic dust filter sits on top that covers fans and provides a clean look, the top on the Air 100 ARGB is completely flat, with the dust filter sandwiched between any cooling and the ceiling panel. Thus, the benefit of additional space is lost, and you have to sweat a little when securing the units as the mounting holes are bigger than they need to be, weirdly enough. Also, while Montech advertises 240 mm liquid cooling support in the ceiling of the chassis, it is limited by the motherboard you use. CPU power connectors become inaccessible on most boards and VRM cooling elements may get in the way as well. This could have been solved by moving the mounting towards the left edge of the chassis—there is plenty of space to do so. On the upside, there is just enough space for tall memory to clear a traditional 53 mm AIO.

So in the end, everything points towards buying a mid-tower chassis for a couple of dollars more or taking a long, hard look at the Air 100 Lite, which comes with two classic fans and no controller at $55 for a better bang for your buck. Don't get me wrong, the Air 100 ARGB delivers plenty for $70, especially if you don't plan on an AIO in the ceiling, but Montech's own X3 Mesh clocks in at just a few more dollars.