A Closer Look - Inside

The interior of the Montech Air 1000 Lite is pretty standard, with a metal shroud that sports the company brand. There is the possibility to mount fans here, but doing so would considerably reduce access to the headers on the bottom edge of an ATX motherboard That said, there are four cable-routing holes, so you should have no issues making this a clean build in the bottom half of the chassis.


On the backside of the motherboard tray are the case cables, routed and held in place by three pre-installed Velcro strips. If you look closely, you will notice mounting holes for SSDs here, so you can add drives to show off next to your motherboard. There are two individual 2.5" hard-drive trays as well. Montech also added grommets to the two main openings on the side of the motherboard area for cleaner cable routing, and the tray offers plenty of hooks and holes to apply zip ties as well.


In the front, on the bottom, you will find the hard-drive cage. It comes with a removable plastic tray, and the whole contraption may hold either two 3.5" or two 2.5" drives by placing that second unit on top of the cage itself. This makes the maximum number of drives within the Montech Air 1000 Lite a solid six. Above that, you can see the two 120 mm intake fans. the front of the Air 1000 Lite can hold three 120 or 140 mm unit, or you may go for a radiator setup of up to 360 mm instead.


In the rear, the PSU bay is pretty standard, with four foam tips on which the unit will rest. Above that are the seven expansion slots for the ATX motherboard. Each cover is reusable and held in place by a classic screw. Montech also applied a sliding thumbscrew-equipped cover to the side to close the gap in the frame. In the very top is the third 120 mm fan with a 3-pin connector, identical to those in the front. Nice to see is that Montech has not opted for breakout covers, and the fans are of retail quality as well.


Looking at the ceiling, you can clearly see where fans or an AIO would fit. The Air 1000 Lite has loads of room above the motherboard, so you should have no issues with such cooling systems and their ~55 mm thickness including fans. Montech even included a plastic guard that separates the I/O PCB from the vent, so its cables won't get in the way during assembly.


All the leads within the Montech Air 1000 Lite are sleeved black and of the default variety. Even though you only get that one rogue USB 2.0 port, the connector will take up all the pins for two ports. That said, it is nice to see a dedicated 2-pin header for LED control, which means you can include an ARGB controller of your choice with that connector and utilize the built-in button.