The name Montech stands for a PC component manufacturer that is still quite unknown in Germany. Montech was founded in 2016 and is a subsidiary of the hardware distribution company TELON TECHNOLOGY CO., LTD. The main goals of the company’s foundation was the development of PC components that should convince with quality, functional design and a reasonable price. The manufacturer’s portfolio includes PC cases, power supplies, CPU coolers and gaming peripherals..
In this review, we’ll take a closer look at the Montech Air X ARGB. Behind this name is a full-size midi tower with a sleek mesh front, tempered glass and a high level of hardware compatibility. Above all, the Air X is supposed to convince with its two pre-installed 200-millimeter fans with RGB lighting. The black variant is priced at around 80 Euros. Whether you can recommend the midi tower for this price, you can find out in this review.
Technical details
| Model: | Montech Air X ARGB |
| Case type: | ATX |
| Dimensions: | 210 mm (W) x 475 mm (H) x 425 mm (D) |
| Weight: | 7.26 kg |
| Material: | Steel, plastic, tempered glass |
| Color: | Black |
| Front connectors | 2x USB 3.0 Type-A, 1x USB 2.0 Type-A, 1x headphone, 1x microphone |
| Drive bays: | 2x 2.5″ (internal) 2x 3.5″/ 2.5″ (internal) |
| Expansion slots: | 7x horizontal |
| Shape factors: | ATX, mATX, ITX |
| Ventilation: | Front: 3x 120 mm or 3x 140 mm or 2x 200 mm. Rear: 1x 120 mm Lid: 2x 120 mm or 2x 140 mm |
| Radiators: | Front: 1x 360 mm or 1x 280 mm or 1x 240 mm. Rear: 1x 120 mm Lid: 1x 240 mm |
| Max. CPU cooler height: | 163 mm |
| Max. Graphics card length: | 340 mm |
| Max. Net part length: | 170 mm |
| Cable management space: | 20 mm |
| Price: | € 123.04 |
| Features: | Dust filter, cable management, tempered glass, ARGB fan with control unit |
Scope of delivery
The Montech Air X ARGB comes packaged in a brown cardboard box with black lettering. Inside the box, the tower is encased in two blocks of regular Styrofoam and a sheet of plastic. However, due to the weight of about 7.3 kilograms, the blocks could have been made a bit sturdier.
Pictures of the tower and all important technical data are printed on the box. The included accessories have been placed in the HDD cage and are in a plastic bag. This contains all the important screws, an instruction manual, five black cable ties, a nut for screwing in spacers and a motherboard speaker. Also included are three pre-installed RGB case fans (2x 200mm, 1x 120mm), partially pre-installed standoffs, and three dust filters.
Exterior impression
Externally, Montech doesn’t dare to experiment much with Air X, preferring to rely on time-tested materials and a timeless look. Thus, the tower is almost entirely made of steel. Only the front panel has a frame made of sturdy plastic. However, the biggest part of the front panel consists of a mesh in the shape of diamonds. There is also an additional dust filter behind the mesh, which is unfortunately firmly attached to the front panel. Pulling off the front reveals the two pre-installed 200-millimeter fans. Alternatively, three 140 or three 120 millimeter fans can be installed here.
“Form-follows-function” also applies to the lid. This consists of a large ventilation grille with mounting rails for fans or radiators offset to the outside. To maintain a sleek look and protect the interior from dust, Montech also places a magnetic dust filter in front of the grille. An elongated I/O panel is found in the right area of the lid. There are three buttons (power, reset, LED), three USB ports (2x USB 3.0, 1x USB 2.0) and two connections for headphones and microphone.
As befits a modern case with RGB effects, the left side panel is made of a 4 millimeter thick tempered glass. When it comes to the mounting system, Montech completely eliminates the use of thumbscrews on the sides and instead glues the glass to a steel frame. This allows for a clean look and simplifies the assembly. On the left side, the manufacturer relies on a side panel made of conventional steel. The side panel is 0.7 millimeters thick and has an extraction aid at the rear end as well as two normal thumb screws for mounting.
The rear of the Air X ARGB doesn’t hide any big surprises. The PSU is placed in the bottom and, thanks to the eight holes, can be mounted either with the fan facing up or down. Above it, there are seven reusable PCI slot bezels that have been screwed into the interior. In the upper area, Montech has placed the third pre-installed case fan.
The Montech Air X ARGB stands on four solid plastic feet. These each have a layer of rubber for decoupling and are finished in silver. The power supply placed in the bottom is protected from heavy dust accumulation by a simple mesh filter. In view of the price, however, we would have wished for a somewhat more maintenance-friendly solution here.
Overall, the Montech Air X has an unexciting and timeless design. The front panel does add some oomph to the design with its shape and mesh design, but it looks much simpler compared to many other “gaming cases”. We would describe the exterior build quality and paint finish as solid. We couldn’t detect any workmanship or paint defects, and our fingers didn’t have to worry about sharp edges either.
Interior impression
The interior of the Air X follows the current standards for midi-towers. Thus, a two-chamber system with a black painted interior is used. In the upper main chamber there is plenty of space for the components and behind the large front fans there are no elements that could affect the airflow. In addition, you can also see in the front that they were well prepared for the large fan format. So Montech didn’t just build big fans into a normal body. The motherboard tray has a flat design with numerous cutouts for cable management and a CPU cooler backplate. Three of these openings are even equipped with rubber sleeves.
The lower area is protected from prying eyes by a cover. However, to still allow some air circulation, there is a large ventilation grille on the upper side. Additionally, the cover has four cable management openings and a large cutout for a radiator in the front.
Let’s now turn to the back of the motherboard tray. There is enough space here with 20 millimeters, but not infinite. However, you should be able to lash the cables properly due to the many steel straps for cable ties. The manufacturer also provides the Air X with two reusable Velcro strips. The power supply is of course mounted underneath the power supply panel. It rests on four thin foam rubber elements. To the left is a simple HDD cage, which can be moved or removed if necessary.
The Montech Air X supports a total of four data carriers ex-works. For this purpose, the manufacturer installs two steel frames for 2.5″ SSDs behind the mainboard tray and above the PSU cover, respectively. Additionally, two 3.5″ or two 2.5″ storage devices can be installed in the HDD cage inside the PSU chamber. A plastic frame and various HDD screws are available for this.
System build in the Montech Air X ARGB
Now we come to the system build. For hardware, we’re using a AMD Ryzen 5 1400 on a MSI B350 PC Mate with 16GB Crucial Ballistix Sport LT gray DDR4-2666. The Ryzen is cooled by an Enermax ETS-F40 Silent Edition and is overclocked to 3.8GHz (1.25V). A GTX 1060 6GB from Gigabyte AORUS is responsible for the image output. The power supply is handled by the fully modular LC-Power LC550 V2.31 Platinum with an efficiency rating of 80 Plus Platinum.
The installation of the test system did not present us with any major challenges in the Montech Air X. Due to the spacious design of the main chamber, the motherboard could be screwed and wired without any problems despite the installed CPU cooler. The partially pre-installed spacers or the nut for screwing in the remaining spacers also significantly shortened the installation time. The space behind the mainboard tray can be described as sufficient with 20 millimeters. Due to the numerous loosening points for cable ties, all cables could be tied down without any problems. The partially rubberized cable management openings were placed sensibly and allow for a neat-looking interior. Only the colored ends of the I/O panel cables tarnish the overall picture a bit.
The hardware compatibility of the Air X is also impressive. With room for 163 millimeter high and 340 millimeter long graphics cards, hardly any wishes should remain open. Only particularly high coolers such as the Deepcool Assassin III or the Noctua NH-D15 will not fit. The PSU may be a maximum of 170 millimeters long with the HDD cage installed. The Air X does not have to hide in terms of water cooling either. A 360 or 240 mm radiator can be installed in the front or lid at the same time.
Montech installs three fans in the Air X ex works. Two particularly large 200-millimeter fans are used in the front. These have digitally addressable LEDs and rotate at a maximum of 700 rpm. In the rear, an additional 120 millimeter fan is used. This also has LEDs, but rotates at a maximum of 1300 rpm. All fans have a milky white design and are connected to the control board on the back via a 3-pin cable. Via this, their speed can be controlled centrally via a single motherboard connector. Power is supplied to the board via SATA.
Lastly, we come to the temperatures that were reached in the Montech Air X ARGB. During the stress test, Prime95 and FurMark were run for 15 minutes at a room temperature of 20°C. In addition, the test was performed with two different fan speeds.
Scenario |
Temperature |
| CPU: 50% PWM (800 rpm) GPU: 50% PWM (1650 rpm) 2x 200mm, 1x 120mm at 100% |
CPU: 63 °C GPU: 62 °C |
| CPU: 50% (800 rpm). GPU: 50% PWM (1650 rpm) 2x 200mm, 1x 120mm at 50% |
CPU: 64 °C GPU: 64 °C |
Regardless of the fan speed, the test system can be cooled well in the Montech Air X. The reduction of the speeds only leads to slightly higher temperatures. In return, however, the noise level is reduced significantly. At full speed, the fans or the generated air turbulences are namely clearly audible.
Lighting Options in the Montech Air X ARGB
As the product name suggests, digitally-addressable RGB effects are used in the Air X. These are implemented entirely via the three built-in fans. The LEDs are located in the fan hub and distribute the light outwards through the milky white fan blades. The lighting can be controlled in two ways. If the mainboard has a 5V 3-pin ARGB header, then the control board can be connected directly to the mainboard. Software solutions from ASRock, Asus, Gigabyte and MSI are supported. Alternatively, the colors and modes can also be controlled directly via the board and the corresponding button in the I/O panel. In any case, the lighting makes quite an impression.
Summary on the Montech Air X ARGB
Montech has done a lot of things right in the development of the Air X ARGB. The midi tower offers solid workmanship, a basically timeless design if you leave out the RGB effects, and good airflow. Then there is the spacious interior and of course the three pre-installed RGB fans including control unit with standard connections. Especially the latter is missing in many other manufacturers. The stability and the basic workmanship are also good.
As is often the case, the price of the Air X has to be taken into account. At € 123.04 , this midi tower ranks just below or on par with the big-name competition. Due to the rather unknown name, there is a relatively high risk that buyers will not pay further attention to the Montech brand. However, in the case of the Air X, they definitely should, even though this midi tower is not perfect. For example, given the price, the dust filter solutions in particular seem a bit out of place. The front and power supply filters are very simple and not exactly maintenance-friendly.
Overall, however, Montech does very little wrong with the Air X. It can’t always keep up with the big-name competition in all areas, but given the features, the midi tower is definitely worth a look.
Montech Air X ARGB
Workmanship
Structure
Features
Cooling
Value for money
88/100
For a justified price, the Montech Air X ARGB offers a solid build quality, plenty of room for hardware, and considerable features including the three RGB fans. Only the dust filter solutions show some savings measures.
