Montech Sky Two Review

Introduction

Montech's Sky One was a great case! But now it's time for the second generation. In this review, we will take a closer look at the Montech Sky Two and determine if it is just as good, better, or even the best case out there yet!

What's in the Box?

Montech's newest Sky Two case comes inside a brown carton box featuring some Branding and light imagery. The case itself is wrapped in some plastic foil with two blocks of styrofoam for additional protection.

Once the case is completely unboxed, a box of goodies can also be found inside the hard drive cage behind the PSU location. in order to get to it, we are required to remove the right side panel. In order to do so ( similarly to the Tempered Glass side panel ), we simply need to unscrew the side panel screws located on the case's back and pull them out towards the back.

Once everything is unboxed, we will find ourselves with the following items:

• Sky Two Case
• Zip Ties
• Velcro Strips
• Mobo/HDD/SSD/... Screws
• Build-in Speaker

Specs

The Sky Two's spec sheet is quite a lot different compared to the previous two versions named "Sky". This is mainly due to the vastly different cooling setup that Montech decided to go for. This will be further discussed down below, however, there is a short summary of the Sky Two's specs right below:

Compatibility

Motherboard

Similarly to the previous Sky One Lite model, Montech's newest Sky Two iteration can support ATX, microATX, and miniITX motherboards. Although the Motherboard area seems to suggest a very similar form factor, the new Sky Two has completely different proportions. Esthetically, the Sky Two looks a lot taller while the older models look longer.

CPU Cooler

Although the case's dimensions changed quite a bit, the CPU cooler lost just a tiny bit of clearance compared to the older version. Inside Sky Two, up to 168mm high coolers can be installed.

GPU

In contrast to the CPU cooler, the maximal GPU length won significantly. However, this is not only due to Montech making the case longer. Thanks to the completely different Fan Airflow design of the Sky Two,  there are no longer Fans or Radiators installed in the front of the case. Due to this, there will never be any obstruction other than the case end itself. The absolute maximum GPU Length that the Sky Two can support is 400mm. 

This also means that the newest RTX 4090 cards will fit in just right.

PSU

The is supposed to be installed inside its own separate compartment at the bottom of the case. It is accessible through the back of the case.

By default, we can install up to 210mm long PSUs inside the Sky Two. However, if the user decides that Hard Drives are not going to be needed, the HDD Cage in front of the PSU can be removed in order to expand this length to the full case length.

Below the PSU, we will also find a dust filter that is removable by pulling on it from behind the case.

Cable Management

Compared to previous generations of Montech's Sky series of cases, the second version did not reinvent any wheels, however, Montech did manage to make it even more beautiful.

The last quarter of the motherboard panel features two slightly pressed Fans that are spinning in reverse in order to suck in the air through the back into the main compartment of the case. The angled part of the case which connects the main piece which holds the motherboard to the two fans is also the location for the "main" motherboard cable holes.

Due to the angle of these rubberized holes, the bends created by the cable look significantly better compared to the previous generation. This effect is only amplified by the color-matched rubber.

Right next to the bottom right fan spot, there is another rubberized hole in a matching color for the GPU power cable.

The last few holes are rather standard. Above and below the motherboard area, we will find the last few leftover holes.

A small detail that might greatly help with cable management is the double position of 120 mm-based fans or radiators at the top. Thanks to a second rail that can be used to mount down these fans, we can slightly offset it/them in order to create a little bit more space for us to route cables through.

Behind the case, we have roughly 2mm of space. The central part of the case features two plastic fails with 3 pre-attached Montech velcro strips. Although this might seem like a great utility to cable manage all of your cables, it turns out that the rails are already pretty much filled with what the case comes with by default.

However, one aspect we a truly thankful for is the combined front-panel connector. This might not greatly benefit cable management itself, but it makes things a lot less complicated.

IO

The Sky Two's IO is located on the right side of the top panel.

On there, we will find 2 USB 3.0 Type-A's, 1x USB 3.1 Gen 2 Type-C, 1x Audio In, 1x Audio Out, and the mandatory Start button.

Additionally, there is an LED button in between the Start button and the first USB connector. By default, this one is pre-connected to the ARGB/Fan Controller installed in the back of the case. Pressing this button will toggle the case through different modes or allow the controller to pass through the signal from your Motherboard.

Cooling

The cooling concept behind the new Sky Two does not resemble the older generations in any way. Instead, the Sky Two is much closer to the Lian Li O11 Dynamic.

By default, there are 2 included Montech ARGB Fans installed on the side right next to the Motherboard. However, although the fans seem like they are pulling air out of the case, Montech builds the fans with their wings in reverse orientation. Therefore, the fans are sucking air through the back panel, inside the main compartment.

The included fan and another optional one can be installed on top of the PSU shroud. This Fan is another reverse-spinning fan sucking air in. However, instead of having to fight for the centimeter of air that the Case's feet provide, the Sky Two is built with the PSU compartment acting like a giant mesh filter with enough clearance, mesh area, and overall volume to let the two fans on top of the PSU shroud function at maximum capacity.

The included fan installed in the back is back to normal again. This one is supposed to be sucking the air out of the case.

The same counts for the optional 3 fan spots on the top side of the case. This area is accessible by removing the single screw at the back end of the top panel. After removing the screw, the whole metal mesh filter can be removed by simply pulling on it.

Depending on the Users needs and preferences, up to 3x 120mm or 2x 140mm fans can be installed here.

Examining the case's overall air-path concept, it becomes clear that the case is supposed to pull air in through the bottom and side and push it through the top and the back. A concept that has not been previously used by Montech, however, it comes with great advantages such as the bottom-top path benefiting from natural heat-convection.

Another aspect that we have not yet missed in a Montech Case review is the "ready-ness" of the case. In contrast to many high-class cases, the Sky Two comes completely ready to be used without the need for additional fans. Although an upgrade is always possible, the Fans which come with the average Montech case are more than enough to get most systems going at a good temperature without any obscure amount of noise.

Water cooling

Although there are multiple possibilities to install a radiator inside the Sky Two, we can only recommend a single one to be used.

By spec, we can install up to 3 radiators inside a Sky Two. An up to 120mm on the side, up to 120mm in the back, and up to 360 or 280mm in the Top.

The top 360/280mm seems like the perfect place. The Pump will always stay below the radiator, and thanks to the air being pushed straight up by the bottom-mounted fans, it seems to be the most intelligent way of mounting an AIO.

Regarding the side and back spots, however, we would suggest ignoring them. Although radiators can be installed in these positions, both come with their own sets of constraints. Firstly both limit the maximum radiator size to 120mm, which is an issue on its own. But the biggest issue comes from the fact that using a radiator at all on the side spots might not leave enough space for the GPU to be seated properly.

In retrospect, there is only a single usable radiator mounting position inside the Sky Two, the top -up to- 280 or 360mm.

Design 

Keeping in mind that "Design" will always be something up to the end consumer, we must say that we are absolutely stunned by the latest product Montech has sent out.

The combination of the massive mesh filter in the bottom with the side-mounted fans and color-matching rubberized cable holes just looks perfectly fit for our taste. However, the most eye-candy aspect for us is the color of our model. 

The Sky Two is available in all-black, all-white, and Morocco Blue, a color that we have not seen being used before and it absolutely blew our minds.

Remind ourselves that our taste might not be your taste, we believe that the Sky Two is the most beautiful case released in 2022.

Installation

Before filming the final review, we finished multiple builds inside the Sky Two. In none of the instances did we have any hard time building the system inside it.

Small GPU, big GPU. Small cooler, big Cooler, AIOs, nothing created any substantial issue.

Although every build went fine, there were some hurdles to jump over, and some gimmicks that helped us.

On one hand, there we very handy companions like the included ARGB/Fan controller, Cable holes, and repositionable top 120mm fans. On the other hand, the cable management option on the back side turned out to be relatively useless. 

Although it was a nice feature of Montech to include two plastic rails with velcro strips to keep cables in place, they are not really useable if they come completely filled out by default. The only aspect that helped us get over this was having roughly 2mm of space to tuck cables all over the place.

The most notable aspect, however, was the combined front panel connector. The true holy grail of PC Case cable management. 

Conclusion

Design-wise, we are absolutely in love with Montech's newest release. The beautiful color paired with the amazingly thought-through airflow path powered by the giant Mesh bottom of the case makes the case look both esthetically pleasing and powerful.

The Sky Two also came in an all-Montech-styled fashion of included goodies. Ignoring the usual Zip ties and Velcro-Strips, we got 4 included Fans, 3 of which are reversely built. Using them may not give us the perfect noise-to-performance ratio, however, it will definitely get most systems running without adding any extra cost.

Quality-wise, there is also not much to nag about. The Sky Two feels just as stiff as previous generations. 

The feet on the other hand seem to have gotten an upgrade. Instead of regular stamps, the Sky Two comes with Tower-like structures keeping the case a bit higher than the usual case without losing any of the older approaches' stability.

Price-wise, the Sky Two does come with a couple of asterisks though. 

The default version in all Black comes with a 99$ MSRP price tag. Going for an all-white approach pushes the price up to 105$. 

The Morocco Blue special edition we reviewed in this review tops this list with 119$.

Compared to previous generations, this might sound more complicated, however, considering that the Sky One is listed on Amazon.com at 128$ as of writing this review puts things back into perspective.

All in all, there is just little to nag about the Sky two. The most memorable aspect is the already full cable management rails in the back. But other than that, the Sky Two is an amazingly looking case with a very good thought-through airflow-path concept. Due to all of the positives that the case comes with, we can absolutely recommend the case.

+ we also recommend having a closer look at the Morocco Blue edition. The color looks stunning.