A Closer Look - Inside

To access the interior, simply remove the thumb screws holding each panel in place. The metal shroud inside the case is certainly a nice touch given the retail price of the enclosure. Here, you may for some unknown reason install two 120 mm fans if you like. Montech even provides the screws, but as the shroud offers no openings, there is essentially no point. However, considering the low cost of the chassis, one cannot expect to get extras like additional SSD trays, so in reality, this is no real loss, either.


On the backside of the motherboard tray are some well-placed, large hooks for zip ties around the center, but I would have loved to see some more towards the front of the enclosure as well. None of the openings come with grommets, which may again be forgiven considering the price point of the Fighter 400. On the upside, all the cutouts are well placed and should be pretty useful for cable management. You may install two SSDs to show off on the motherboard tray, with a large opening between them for cable routing.


While the 120 mm exhaust fan in the rear is not quite the boring black OEM unit, it is not retail-grade either. While the dimples and LEDs are a nice touch, especially considering the window, the whole fan utilizes a Molex connector for power, which means it will run at full throttle no matter what the load of your system. Instead, it would have been nice to at least see a 3-pin split from the Molex for fan speed control, or, even better, having a better RGB fan that is powered by a single 3-pin header instead. I would have also preferred two basic black fans with 3-pin headers instead of one tricked-out variant. Below that are the seven expansion slots. Underneath the shroud, the PSU bay is quite basic, also lacking any kind of foam or rubber tips as an anti-vibrations measure. But let's be real for a second: odds are extremely high PSU vibrations won't be an issue anyways these days.


Underneath the shroud is a basic HDD cage for two 3.5" storage units. It takes screws on one side, while the other goes for rubber-ring-equipped screws that slide in. That part in the front of the case is a solid part of the chassis frame, which also explains why Montech did not provide an opening in the shroud for bigger cooling setups. Above that is all about air intake as you may secure additional fans to the frame. As an ATX-sized chassis, you may also fit three 120 mm fans across the entire height of the Fighter 400.


In the ceiling, you can clearly see the mounting possibilities for cooling and how far these are from the motherboard. If you look closely, you will see that the mounting holes align with the rear fans, which means there is just as much room between the heatsinks and the motherboard backplate.


With the exception of the USB 3.0 lead, all the case and I/O cables within the Montech Fighter 400 are of the default variety. There is also a USB 2.0 header should your motherboard not offer a 20-pin 3.0 plug. All that makes me question the choice of I/O even more as Montech could have really just opted for two USB 3.0 ports and this type of combo cable. A nice touch is the completely black audio cable—most other implementations tend to sleeve colorful cables in a black tube.