Montech Sky One Lite Review

Introduction

While the Montech Sky One was already a very impressive case, Montech went back to the drawing board and improved quite a few details while also making sure to push the price down with their newest Sky One Lite! Let's find out if the Lite is really Lite, or if it turned out even better!

What's in the Box?

Montech's newest Sky one Lite is delivered in a similar fashion as 99% of cases out there. A grey carton box containing the case itself is wrapped in some protective foil and two styrofoam blocks protecting it from any shipping damages.

Once the complete case is unboxed and the additional box of goodies is removed from the HDD bracket we will find the following items:

• Montech Sky One Lite
• Zip Ties
• Motherboard/PSU Screws
• Velcro strips
• Build-in Speaker
• Dust Caps for all the IO Ports

Although we have seen a lot of cases, this is the first instance that we've seen an additional bag containing anti-dust caps for all of the ports. At first, we didn't fully understand why they would not come pre-installed in the ports themselves. However, after further thinking, we came to the conclusion that Companies/People building PCs as a business, will need to remove each individual dust cap, test the port, and install the cap back on. This hassle can be shortened by a step by adding the caps in a little bag. Due to the protective film on the case covering the IO, there will be no dust entering the ports anyway. Therefore, this can make sense in a specific use case. 

Specs

Although the new Montech Sky One Lite contains the word "Lite", the compatibility list suggests otherwise. Down below we added a summary of its spec sheet:

Compatibility

Motherboard

Although the name clearly suggests otherwise, the Montech Sky One Lite is not necessarily smaller than the original non-Lite counterpart. On the inside, however, the motherboard placement lost a bit in width. Therefore, we can (only) go with standard ATX, microATX, or miniITX boards inside the Lite. Though, considering the price and form factor of the case, this will most probably cover every possible use case.

CPU Cooler

For CPU cooler support, the Montech Sky One Lite ended up quite the surprise. Inside, we can go with up to 170mm high cooler. This covers basically all of the now available High-End Coolers.

GPU

In terms of GPU support, there is room for an up to 350mm long card. This number, however, is dependent on the usage of front-mounted radiators. For each mm radiator thickness, the same amount is lost in GPU length. The same applies if the originally outside mounted fans are repositioned or replaced with inside mounted fans.

PSU

The PSU inside the Montech Sky One Lite is located in a separate PSU compartment at the bottom of the case.

Below it, there is a big dust filter removable from behind. Although the maximum length of the PSU is limited to 180mm by spec, upon removing the HDD cage located behind it, we can use PSUs as long as we like, as there is none available to our knowledge that exceeds the depth of the case.

Cable Management

If we compare the Montech Sky One Light to the original non-Lite counterpart, the most obvious change would probably be the cable hiding bracket. Instead of an NZXT-Styled bracket going from top to bottom of the case, inside the Lite we will find two cable holes on the right side of the motherboard with rubberized protection. Additionally, there are several other cable holes distributed across the case for each cable that needs to be routed. 

Although the loss of this bracket is a significant (and negative) step in our opinion, we believe it to be justified considering the price downfall. However, we are also thankful for the newly added cable hole at the front of the PSU shroud sitting just behind the tempered glass side panel. Thanks to this new hole, it was easy to route the GPU cables in an optically pleasing manner. Something that is often missing inside cases.

IO

The IO panel located at the top (front) of the case features the usual Start/Restart/Mic contestants as well as 2 USB 3.0 Type-As and 1x USB 3.1 Gen 2 Type-C.

Additionally to that, there is a little ARGB button that allows you to control the ARGB stripe and Montech Logo on the Front Panel.

Although we were quite delighted that Montech re-used the cable-less ARGB mounting approach they already used in the original Sky One case, we were not so happy with the fact that the ARGB controller doesn't allow you to connect additional devices. Inside the case, there is a single ARGB 3-Pin female connector sticking out. This can be used to pass through the original controller and let your motherboard software take care of the lightning show (activatable by a 5-second RGB button press). Although this is a nice touch, we would have appreciated the option to use more devices with the integrated controller.

Cooling

The cooling capabilities of the Sky One Lite are another example of- not-so-lite. The front panel of the original Sky One was plastered with a high airflow let-through mesh structure. For the Sky One Lite, however, the little holes were widened by 1.5mm, making the new Mesh structure even better at letting air through.

Fans

The Fan mounting options inside the Sky One Lite are quite big, but not perfect. At the top, we can go with up to 2x 140mm or 120mm fans. In the Front, this is expanded to 3x 120mm or 3x 140mm. In the back, we are back to the regular 120mm Fan.

A quite big advantage of the Montech Sky One Lite is the amount of included fans. In the front, there are 2x 120mm

 fans, while the back comes with another 120mm fan pre-mounted.

Although the fans' performance is more than enough as far as case-fans can go, we believe they could have been controllable over a 4-pin PWM connection instead of the 3-pin voltage control that they come with.

Even if the fans could have gotten a better connection, there is no doubt that the case comes in a ready-to-use state. Perfectly designed for budget builders or people who just forget that case fans exist, there is no actual need for additional or replacement fans when getting a Sky One Lite. Sure, you could get a bit of a performance boost when going for top-of-the-line fans, however, this is not necessary as the case will set you up out-of-the-box!

An additional feature inside the Sky One Lite is the 2x 120mm fan spots on top of the Power Supply Tunnel. Often in the budget case category, these spots are just plastered inside without any actual benefit as there is no air that can be sucked inside the case using this path. Inside the Sky One Lite, Montech made sure to enlarge the bottom air filter to a point where it reaches further than most power supplies. This leftover filter sticking out from behind the PSU can therefore be used by those two fans and suck even more air inside and push it straight into the GPU fans.

Water Cooling

If you are a water cooling enthusiast, the Sky One Lite got you covered too. With an up to 360/280mm radiator in the front, 280/240mm in the Top, and 120mm radiator in the back, there is more than enough radiator real-estate to work with.

Although you could potentially also mount an up to 240mm radiator on top of the PSU tunnel, this is not specifically designed, thus you might run into motherboard clearance issues.

Design

Looking from far apart, the Sky One resembles the new Sky One Lite. The prominent mesh front panel structure gives the Sky One Lite the iconic powerful look while the swivel-based tempered glass side panel allows for some peaks inside.

Although we are missing the white cable hiding bracket that marked the high-quality feeling of the original model, the Lite is not far behind. The rubberized cable holes do provide the Lite with some feeling of premium while the color matches of the plastic vs metal pieces are barely noticeable.

The front panel features a thin line of ARGB power going from top to bottom while the glowing Montech Logo on the top acts as fine detail.

All in all, the Sky One Lite looks solid, powerful, and nicely detailed. However, we cannot say that it looks "better" than the original as the missing cable hiding bracket looked phenomenally.

Installation

The installation process inside the Montech Sky One Lite did not bring any negative aspects to light. The cable management options in form of rubberized holes and the space behind the motherboard were more than enough to make it a pleasant experience. The most positive aspect, however, was the additional cable hole specifically designed for the GPU power cables. Although the CPU power cable is still the most annoying part of finger squishing, this newly added hole made it incredibly easy to make the cable look "pretty".

But the most important aspect for us was the grouped IO Panel Button connectors. Clearly, an option that should be defaulted for any existing case, this is a mini-aspect that upgraded the installation process to NZXT-like levels.

Conclusion

All in all, we cannot say that the Sky One Lite is a "lite" version of the original. Although it is true that cost saving measures have taken place to get the price down, such as the missing cable hiding bracket or vertical GPU support, it is hard to argue when the price fell by 20%.

Additionally, it is necessary to say that the cooling performance inside the Sky One Lite is clearly an upgrade compared to the original one. By widening the mesh holes in the front panel, the Sky One Lite can move a lot more air through the case.

Quality-wise, there is little to nag for a case in this price category, the metals and tempered glass side panel feel relatively stiff while the swivel mechanic for opening and closing the side panel turned out to be a positive experience. The only point that we need to address is that on the back right side of the case, where the back panel top screw is located, there was an indentation of the back panel. This indentation of the back panel was pressing on the case itself, making its removal a forceful process. This issue boils down to quality control which could have gotten a bit more attention, however, considering the price, we have seen worse.

All of that said, we do not consider the Sky One Lite to be a "budget" downgrade of the original one. Actually, we believe the Lite to be an upgrade. Sure, we would have loved to have the cable bracket back inside, but the upgraded cooling mesh structure is too much of an upgrade to place the Lite behind the original one.

This fact is further strengthened by the fact that the price decrease to the Lite can be as big as 25€, a significant difference.

Due to all of these reasons, we can only recommend the Montech Sky Ony Lite and we believe that it is the best fit for people looking for an out-of-the-box experience for a build up to 1500€.