Final Thoughts
The Montech X3 is a very interesting case. When I first received it I sort of thought “I’m really not going to like this”, but after getting my system installed and seeing what the case looks like all lit up it is hard to argue with a price tag of only $70. Sub-$100 cases with more than one or two fans are hard to find these days and the Montech X3 comes with six! On top of that these fans do light up! While not technically RGB fans, these fans have red, green, and blue LEDs that do give you that “RGB” look. Also since you have six of them they really light up the inside of the case to show off your hardware so it is not like you’ll really need to add more hardware to your system.
Besides not technically being RGB fans another way Montech was able to give you six fans in this case is that these fans are 12V Molex only. This means no fan speed adjustment or PWM, these fans will run at the same speed all of the time. So during idle the case is likely to not be as quiet as others. Also you do not have 3-pin fan connection to say connect to your motherboard so you can’t control the fans with your motherboard’s software. The fan lighting can only be turned on or off, these are no effects or anything like that.
If you are building a pretty simple system with a normal ATX (or smaller) motherboard, not a massive graphics card, and not too much storage this case is going to be pretty easy to build in. Installation was pretty straight-forward although I was a little disappointed to see that not all of the standoffs were pre-installed and no standoff tool was included which would have made installing the ones we needed for our ATX motherboard much easier. It would have also been nice to have a few cable ties included with the case.
As with most cases in this price range you are not going to have the fit and finish you’ll find on more expensive cases. The back side panel and motherboard tray use very thin and cheap steel, the thumbscrews on the case side panel are half plastic, the I/O covers once removed cannot be put back on the case, and we do have two USB 2.0 ports on the case instead of USB 3.0.
I think this is a case that would be perfect for someone who doesn’t plan to add much more to it. No watercooling, no adding different or more fans, just use that case as it is and you’ll be pretty happy with it. Again at the end of the day you can’t argue with the price tag. Right now on Amazon the black version of the case is $69.99, while the white version is a few bucks more expensive at $72.99. Overall ThinkComputers gives the Montech X3 Mesh case a 9 out of 10 score and our Good Value Award!
Pros:
– Price
– Tempered glass side panel that is easy to open
– Six included fans
– Fans light up, giving “RGB” effect
– Fans pre-wired
– Easy installation
– Front mesh allows for high airflow
Cons:
– Fans are 12V molex only, not speed control
– Fans are not technically RGB
– Thin metal on side panel and motherboard tray
– No zip ties included
– Not all motherboard standoffs preinstalled
