The Sky One series chassis of Montech Monarch Technology has always been a popular choice for entry-level and budget-conscious players. This year, an entry-level version of the Sky One Lite has been added to the series, and the upper I/O port is equipped with USB3. 1 Type-C redefines the standard of entry-level chassis, supporting 360/280mm all-in-one water cooling, 170mm air cooling tower, and 35cm long display card installation.
Montech Sky One Lite Specifications:
Dimensions: 416 (L) x 220 (W) x 490 (H) mm
Color: white
Material: steel, tempered glass
Motherboard: ATX, M-ATX, Mini ITX
CPU air cooling: up to 170mm
Graphics card: 350mm
Power supply: ATX 180~200mm
Pre-installed fans (front + rear): 120mm 2+1
Fan installation position (front + top + rear + power compartment): 120mm 3+2+1+2 pcs, 140mm 3+2+0+0 pcs
Water cooling row support: 360/280mm in front, 280/240mm above, 120mm in rear
Upper I/O ports: USB 3.0 x2, USB3.1 Type-C x1, HD AUDIO+MIC, ARGB light bar control keys
Hard drives and storage bays: four 2.5″, two 3.5″ (2.5″ compatible)
Montech Sky One Lite Case Unboxing
The Sky One Lite is a narrow and tall mid-tower case. Visually, the length of the case itself is shorter. The dimensions of the case are 41.6 x 22 x 49 cm. The most striking thing at first glance is the full front panel. The area of the punched mesh plate design and the ARGB light bar located on the center line like Moses divides the sea, so that the heat dissipation performance and RGB aesthetics are both at the same time, and there are two styles of all black/white for color selection.
∆ The Sky One Lite in white has its own measurements of 41.6 x 22 x 49 cm.
The front panel has a large-area air intake mesh design, which almost includes the installation position of the entire front fan. The front panel is composed of meshes with a diameter of 1.5 mm. The distance between the meshes is 2.25 mm and has a ventilation rate of 40.3%. This provides enough cold air intake to dissipate heat inside the case, but unfortunately, there is no dust filter in the front. If you care about the dustproof performance, players need to purchase it by themselves.
∆ The full area perforated screen has a ventilation rate of 40.3%.
∆ It is a pity that there is no dust filter inside the front panel.
The ARGB light bar on the front panel is composed of 18 light beads. If you use the upper LED control key to switch the lighting effect, there are 21 lighting mode changes by default. Of course, it can also be connected to the motherboard to synchronize the lighting effect with other devices. Compare In particular, the ARGB light bar adopts a contact-type design, and the entire front panel has no wire and internal connection, so the disassembly and assembly are more user-friendly.
∆ After power-on, the embossed logo above the light bar will also have ARGB lighting effects. It has 21 built-in modes and supports motherboard synchronization.
∆ The interior of the light bar uses a touch-point design, so that the entire front panel can be free from any worries about materials.
The fully transparent tempered glass on the side uses a relatively safe side-opening design of the glass door. This switching method can save energy and at the same time greatly reduce the risk of breaking the glass. The thickness of the tempered glass itself The 3mm with plastic pull ring is fixed by tenon and magnetic suction, which is much more convenient when replacing hardware parts. The fully transparent glass design allows players to appreciate the appearance of the hardware itself, or display the firepower. RGB lighting effects can be fully displayed.
∆ Tempered glass with full transparency of 3mm, which can give a clear view of the internal configuration.
∆ The side-opening design is fixed by the rear shaft, which is convenient for switching and completely avoids the risk of falling.
∆ There is a switch pull button on the right side, which greatly improves the overall convenience of use!
A 12cm fan is pre-installed at the rear. The Sky One Lite is a bottom-mounted power supply design and has a seven-slot PCIE device installation position. It uses a reusable PCIE baffle, and the lower power supply dust filter is from the rear. Pull out to clean.
∆ A 12cm fan exhaust is pre-installed at the rear, and a 120mm water cooling exhaust can also be installed in this position.
∆ There is a power supply dust filter at the bottom to reduce the amount of dust entering the power supply during operation.
The upper I/O port provides two USB 3.0, one USB3.1 Type-C, HD AUDIO+MIC, and ARGB light bar control keys. The top-mounted design needs to pay attention to the natural dust in the air entering the interface, and the masters at home. Whether you will step on and press when heating, but you only need to use the dust plugs provided in the accessories to avoid poor contact.
The top of the case supports two 12/14cm fan installation positions, and provides a magnetic dust filter to prevent dust and foreign objects in the air from entering the inside of the case.
∆ I/O ports provide USB 3.0 x2, USB3.1 Type-C x1, HD AUDIO+MIC, RGB light bar control keys.
∆ Two 12/14cm fans can be installed on the top of the case, and there is a magnetic dust filter.
Sky One Lite interior at a glance
The Sky One Lite is pre-installed with two 12cm fans in the front and two in the rear, forming a front-to-back cooling airflow plan. The internal hardware installation supports ATX~ITX size motherboards, 170mm air-cooled tower fan installation height, and a maximum of 350mm. The installation position of the graphics card will be reduced to 310mm if the front water cooling is used. Players need to pay attention to it before installation!
∆ The pre-installed 12cm fans are powered by DC 3Pin.
∆ An overview of the installation space inside the chassis, which can install 170mm air-cooled towers, 350mm graphics cards, and ITX~ATX size motherboards.
The pre-installed fans in the case are all 12cm DC 3Pin power supply fans. Three 12/14cm fans can be installed in front of the fan support section. The front water cooling installation supports a maximum size of 280/360mm, and there is about 6cm of water cooling installation space in the power compartment. Depth, but the front water cooling will eat up the space for the graphics card installation as mentioned above, and there are two 2.5-inch hard disk installation positions next to the front fan, but the wiring will be a little more tortuous.
∆ There is 6cm of water cooling installation space in front of the power supply compartment, and it is also possible to use the hamburger steak installation method.
∆ There are two 2.5-inch hard disk installation positions on the right side of the motherboard, but you may need to think about the wiring planning.
The cable management space on the back has a depth of about 2cm. There are three devil felt cable ties near the front of the chassis to help the cables assemble. The upper I/O cables have been pre-bundled and sorted. There are two cables behind the motherboard. With a 2.5-inch hard drive mounting bracket and a composite hard drive bay in the power compartment, the entire Sky One Lite can be installed to a total of six 2.5-inch hard drives.
∆ An overview of the entire cable space at the back, the I/O cables above have been pre-arranged with devil felt straps.
∆ There are two 2.5″ HDD mounting brackets on the back of the motherboard.
Sky One Lite adopts the design of the under-mounted power supply compartment. The power supply compartment is preset to provide 22cm of power supply installation space. After removing the composite hard disk rack, more space can be hidden for cables, and the composite hard disk rack can be installed. The bottom of the two 2.5/3.5-inch hard disks is fixed with a tray and a tenon, and the top floor of the composite hard disk rack can be illegally built and covered with a second hard disk.
In addition, there are two 12cm fan mounting holes above the power compartment, and a large area of ventilation mesh is also opened for the fan to take in air.
∆ The bottom-mounted power supply compartment is pre-set with a space of 22cm for the installation of the power supply.
∆ The composite hard disk rack can install two 2.5/3.5-inch hard disks, and the lower installation position can be pulled out and fixed by using the tray.
∆ Two 12cm fans can be installed above the power compartment.
∆ Accessories provide sub-packaged and marked various screws, devil felt cable ties, disposable ties, I/O interface dust plugs, buzzers, motherboard copper column sleeves.
The actual installation of Sky One Lite
This installation configuration uses i9-12900K, ASRock Z690 Taichi, Cooler Master PL360 FLUX, RTX 2070 White Mini for installation and display. Since the 360mm size integrated water cooling is used for installation, the water cooling row is fixed in front of the case and installed in the front. The upper part cannot support 360mm water-cooling installation, which is a common limitation of narrow and high type cases such as Sky One Lite.
The author changed the two pre-installed 12cm fans in the front to the top-mounted exhaust to simulate the installation situation of most users. From the photo, you can see that the Sky One Lite is installed in the upper fan and the water-cooling row, and enough is reserved. The height avoids conflicts with the installation of the motherboard and the memory heat dissipation armor. The installation position of the whole coffee is sufficient. Even after the ATX size motherboard is installed, the wiring hole on the right is still intact, but it is a pity to install the power supply. After the power supply, the wiring hole in the lower left corner of the motherboard is occupied by a large part, which will cause the I/O cables, fan power supply, RGB and other cables to be installed in a detour.
∆ The actual installation shows that the installation of water cooling in the front mode will shorten the installation length of the display card to less than 31cm.
Summarize
As a new model of the entry-level price series, the overall quality and installation design of Sky One Lite are not bad. It supports up to eight 12cm fans and supports 360mm integrated water-cooled radiators. The 170mm air-cooled tower can be installed at a height even for the flagship model. The air-cooling can be straight up. The 35cm display card and the ATX~ITX motherboard installation position are compatible with the mainstream consumer hardware size. The upper I/O port is also equipped with USB 3.1 Type-C as standard so that consumers do not need to use it. Purchase additional DLC.
However, the height design of the power compartment of Sky One Lite is a pity. After installing the power supply, it will block the wiring hole of the wire in the lower left corner of the motherboard. Players need to pre-pull the wire before installing the power supply. Only then did I find that the cable could not survive the predicament, and the front water-cooling installation method will cause the length of the display card to be compressed to less than 31cm.
The side-opening glass side panel is matched with full-transparency tempered glass. Whether it is hardware adjustment or installation or enjoying RGB firepower, it is very convenient to design. The ARGB light bar on the front panel is also quite eye-catching. If players want to use If you don’t have a lot of budget to install an all-white PC, maybe Sky One Lite is a good choice!
Further reading: