Montech Metal 120 Review

Introduction

Montech's newest Metal 120 PWM fan promises solid performance inside a solid frame. Looking pretty indestructible, Montech is trying to win over the Case Fan market. Let's find out if they managed to do it!

What's in the Box?

Montech's newest Metal 120 PWM fan comes in a rather small carton box with some imagery and a short spec sheet.

Once everything is removed from the box, we will find the following items:

• Montech Metal 120 Fan
• 4x Fan Screws
• 4x Radiator Screws

Pretty simple and ready to go!

Down below you will also find a summary of the Metal 120s specs:

Installation

Installing Montech's newest Metal fan is exactly like installing any other fan. Position the Fan where it is supposed to be installed, and screw in the Fan screws. From there, we can connect the Fan using the 550mm long PWM cable and we're done!

Appearance

The name of Montech's newest addition to the fan market is clearly not a coincidence.

Most of the fan comes in a black- slightly matt-black finish. Around each corner of the fan, Montech added some rubber for additional Noise absorption no matter the installation method or orientation.

The Frame of the Metal Fan is a solid piece of plastic without any indentations or rounded-off shapes allowing potential cooling air to escape. 

The most notable area, however, is the central part. 9 heavily bend wings are responsible to push as much air as possible at a static pressure as high as possible. This design is clearly tried and tested as many other high-performance fans are looking incredibly alike.

The central part of the fan is covered with 3 stamped "Montech" Texts accompanied by 3 lines surrounding them.

In the very center of the fan, we are able to see the Metal bearing shell. A design choice that is clearly unnecessary, but it does look promising, to say the least.

The only obvious outliner in its design is the silver color edge that is going all around the front side of the fan.

All in all, the fan looks and feels incredibly sturdy, strong, and unbreakable. Just like its name suggests.

Benchmark

We benchmarked the Metal 120 using our usual Case-Fan setup.

While letting the Fan spin at its max 1950 RPM, Montech's newest example managed to keep the CPU at 45.4°C above ambient. This positions it slightly behind Noctua's 140mm NF-P14s Redux, making the Montech Metal just so reach the upper third of our benchmark chart.

Looking at the Noise-to-Performance graph revealed that the Metal 120's Fan wing design was a good choice.

While it outperformed the P12 from start to finish, the Metal 120 managed to stay slightly behind the Phanteks T30 until 50% of the fan's max speed. From there, the Metal 120 took over until the CPU reached its thermal throttling point.

Although the Noise-to-Performance ratio is nothing outstanding, the Metal 120 did manage to come pretty close to industry-leading ratios created by be quiet's Silent Wing 4 HS and Noctua's NF-A12x25.

Conclusion

The name already says it. 

Montech's Metal 120 fan is an indestructible little machine that can double as a hammer.

Its build quality allows little to wish for while the design is highly streamlined, kept incredibly simple, and looks overall powerful without being too much overbearing.

Thanks to the matt-black finish paired with the little accent in form of a silver border around it, it should be easy to integrate the Metal 120 into any type of themed build.

On the performance side, the Metal 120 showed that it is a solid performer, but not a top dog. For max-performance, the Metal 120 managed to score a spot in the upper thirds, and its Noise-to-Performance ratio was solid, to say the least.

But the fan also had some positive surprises for us. Not only was the PWM cable 550mm long, which is not something every fan comes with, but in addition to that, there is a PWM splitter attached at every cable's end. This makes it incredibly easy to daisy-chain and chunk-control multiple Metal fans without using too many of the Motherboards PWM headers.

All in all, we were not disappointed by the fan in any way. The performance is solid, the build quality is above average, and its design is something that definitely scored some points on our side. 

Therefore, we can recommend the Metal 120 for any type of build.