Montech XR Wood: Budget King or Airflow Nightmare?

Update: Montech contacted us and said UK pricing has just increased 20% to £60 on SCAN - even though we were assured £50 before the review started. Montech also told us that the magnetic front dust filter was intended to be installed on the inside of the front panel, though James has said this is really difficult to install and doesn't seem to fit properly on his sample so further investigation is required, but it won't affect airflow regardless. This was not communicated by Montech before publication - however in our sample it just doesn't work properly. For those interested - our front panel filter and fitting issues (on inside) over here:    • Montech XR Wood - Front Panel filter fitme...   (this video is open to public, just not listed). Wood is usually a material we associate with premium and expensive products, but Montech is challenging that perception with its latest budget PC case, featuring real wood accents. The new Montech XR Wood is a wallet-friendly ATX mid-tower available in black or white. It supports ATX motherboards, large graphics cards and up to 360mm radiators. Premium wood accents aside, does this affordable new case from Montech live up to the company's usual high standards? Read more here: https://www.kitguru.net/components/ca... We never offer affiliate links or take percentages of product sales. If we say the product is good or bad we mean it. Our Editor in chief wrote about why you should value this and how the industry is rife with fake reviews from 'influencers' - read here https://bit.ly/3pXzaw4 00:00 Start 00:49 Colours and Pricing 01:08 Overview / Sizing 02:00 Front I/O 02:12 4 Included Fans 02:24 Panel Removal / Dust Filters 04:13 Front panel and filter 05:40 Behind the panel 05:55 Cooling Support 07:17 Motherboard Support 07:59 PSU Shroud 08:09 GPU and CPU Cooler support 08:23 Back of Case 08:53 Right Side Of Case 09:18 Cable Management Features 09:37 Drive support / bottom 10:26 Floor Of The Case 11:02 Accessories 11:42 Test System Hardware 12:29 Methodology and Thermals 13:43 Noise Output 14:17 James' thoughts on the build 16:06 Real World Noise tests with filter on/off 16:43 Closing thoughts / Good Value Price and availability: MSRP - $69.99 Black / White Scan Prices – £60 in black and white Features: • Montech XR Wood features a blend of sleek and natural look on the front with real wood highlights and steel mesh. • It supports the installation of up to 12 fans for maximum airflow and seamless integration for large graphics cards, ATX motherboards and up to 360mm AIO radiators. • It is also equipped with a dust filter all around and comes with four pre-installed 120mm Montech GF120 ARGB PWM fans. Build Specification • CPU – AMD Ryzen 7 9800X3D • Motherboard – MSI MAG X870 Tomahawk WiFi • Graphics Card – Sapphire Radeon RX 7900XTX Nitro+ • Memory – 64GB (2 x 32GB Modeuls) G.Skill RipJaws M5 RGB DDR5-6400 • Storage – 1TB Corsair MP600 Elite PCIe Gen4 x4 NVMe M.2 SSD • CPU Cooler – Montech HyperFlow Silent 360mm AIO • Power Supply – Montech Titan Gold 1000W • Case fans – Stock • Chassis – Montech XR Wood • Operating System – Windows 11 Pros: • Budget price tag. • Available in black or white. • Decent hardware support. • Easy to build a high-spec gaming system with. Cons: • Dust filters are restrictive and odd-looking at the front. • No back-connect motherboard support. • No GPU anti-sag bracket. • No official front radiator support. • Black front I/O cables in the white case. Buy our merch from here: https://kitgurutech.myspreadshop.co.uk Discord invite link:   / discord   Steam Community https://steamcommunity.com/groups/kit... Be sure to support us on PATREON   / kitgurutech   and read our MANTRA on HONEST REVIEWS Here: http://bit.ly/2BopnF9 Visit our facebook page over here!   / kitguru.net   Visit our Twitter page over here! https://twitter.com/kitgurupress?lang=en #montech #woodpc #XRwood #pcbuild #pcgaming #pc