Montech Air 900 ARGB Case Review: Cheap, Cool & 8-Slots
A Closer Look
Contents
Montech Air 900 ARGB | |
Type | Mid-Tower |
Motherboard Support | EATX, ATX, Micro ATX, Mini ITX |
Max Motherboard Depth | 15.1″ (38.3 cm) without front fans |
Dimensions (HxWxD) | 19.0 x 8.5 x 17.7″ (48.3 x 21.6 x 44.9 cm) |
Air Cooler Clearance | 171mm from standoff, Rated 165mm |
Card Length | 383mm (measured) without front fans |
Power Supply Format | PS/2: 238mm/203mm with movable HDD cage (rated 190mm) |
Weight | 14.3 lbs (6.50kg) |
External Bays | X |
Internal Bays | (2) 3.5/2.5″, (6) 2.5″ |
Card Slots | 8 |
Ports/Jacks | (2) USB 3.0, (2) USB 2.0, Headphone/Mic |
Other | ARGB Lighting Strip Controller |
Included Fans | (1) 120mm Front, (1) 120mm Rear |
Front Fan Mounts | (3) 120mm or (2) 140mm |
Rear Fan Mounts | (1) 120mm |
Top Fan Mounts | (2) 140mm/120mm |
Bottom Fan Mounts | (2) 120mm above PSU |
Side Fan Mounts | X |
Top Rad. Clearance | 28mm verticle, +24mm/44mm offset for 140/120mm |
Front Rad. Clearance | 33mm/65mm with movable HDD cage |
Front Filter | Magnetic perforated sheet |
Top Filter | Magnetic perforated sheet |
Bottom Filter | Tab-secured perforated sheet |
Damping | None |
Price | $71 |
A rarity among cases in the Air 900 ARGB price range, the eighth slot provides space to mount a double-slot graphics card in an ATX or EATX motherboard’s bottom slot. The lack of drive cages in front of the motherboard gives this case far more space than it would need to mount a full-spec (13″-deep) EATX motherboard, and the motherboard tray even has the extra mounting points for the extra three standoffs. Having said that, the case includes only a total of nine standoffs where 12 would be required to hold a full-spec EATX board. Are extra standoffs really all that expensive?
A greater peculiarity is that Montech miscounted the number of 2.5” drive mounting point on the forward portion of the motherboard tray, going so far as to show only three of the four sets of holes in its web illustrations. Not that we’d prefer to use any of these, since mounting a drive on one side while using a screwdriver from the other requires long arms and a great deal of dexterity (or patience).
Two additional 2.5” drives can more easily be attached to a removable tray behind the motherboard, and two more can be screwed to the bottom of the lower drive cage’s 3.5” trays. The 3.5” trays also slide open a bit when removed, to ease installation of the larger parts using each tray’s built-in locator pins.
Moving the lower drive cage to its rearward location provides up to 65mm clearance for radiators and fans by reducing power supply space to around 200mm. The default location provides 35mm additional power supply clearance but only 28mm of front panel radiator clearance.
The separator between the motherboard and power supply compartments has two 12mm fan mounts just in case you’re interested in using some of that space under your motherboard for something other than a double-slot graphics card.
Even though it has three 140mm fan mounts, the Air 900 is officially limited to a maximum radiator size of 3x 120mm (360mm) or 2x 140mm (280mm). That’s because the center fan mount has two sets of holes at 140mm spacing, allowing it to be used with a second 140mm fan either above or below it. If that sounds a bit strange, we also found that the stock 120mm fan will fit between the upper and lower 140mm fans, and that there’s enough space above the floor of the chassis to mount a 3x140mm radiator behind that possible 140-120-140mm fan configuration.
Photographed laying next to the case, the magnetic front filter resides within a 44mm gap inside the plastic face panel. Because that filter can only stick to the chassis, builders who would like to take advantage of the cavernous space to mount fans on the outside of the chassis can do so only by forgoing the stock filter sheet.