Montech’s XR Wood is a nice-looking case with wood strip accents, available at a reasonable price of only $79 in the U.S. – that’s cheaper than many AIO coolers.
Pros
+
Reasonable price
+
Good thermal performance with pre-installed fans
Cons
-
“Wood” is limited to two small strips on the front
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Montech’s XR Wood is the latest PC case is a mid-sized tower that picks up with the trend started by Fractal Design, incorporating wood accents into the case. The XR Wood is available in black or white and features a relatively budget price of only $79, making it even cheaper than the HyperFlow Silent 360 AIO cooler we recently reviewed from Montech.
Will Montech’s XR Wood make our list of best PC cases? Let’s take a look at the specifications and features of the case, then we’ll go over the features and wrap up our review with thermal testing.
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Product Specifications
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Motherboard Support
ATX, Micro ATX, Mini ITX
Color
Black or white
Type
Mid-tower
Case Dimensions (D x W x H)
475 x 230 x 456 mm / 18.7 x 9.1 x 17.95 inches
2.5-inch Drive Support
Up to 2x 2.5-inch drives supported
3.5-inch Drive Support
Up to 2x 3.5-inch drives supported
PCI-E Expansion Slots
7
Fan Support
Up to 12
Pre-Installed fans
Four Montech GF120 ARGB fans
CPU Cooler Clearance
175mm
GPU Clearance
420mm
Vertical GPU Support
No
PSU Length
Up to 230 mm
Radiator Support
360 mm supported in top, 280 mm supported in front
The build quality of the Montech XR Wood is good, with no obvious major weaknesses.
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▶️ Side view and customization options, GPU Holder
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At first glance, things might seem fairly typical for a medium-sized mid-tower case, but there are two things that stand out to me: In addition to front-mounted fans, the Montech XR Wood supports two side intake fans and three fans on the PSU shroud.
▶️ Radiator and fan support
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This case can be equipped with up to 12 fans. Up to 360 mm-sized radiators can be installed at the top of the case, and a 280 mm AIO can be installed in the front.
▶️ Dust filters, Bottom View
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The case features multiple dust filters, which are simple to remove and magnetically attached. The dust filters are located at the top, side, front, and bottom of the unit.
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On the bottom of the case is a small dust filter for the PSU intake and four feet with rubber bottoms.
▶️ Rear side view, storage, and cable management features
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The default configuration has velcro straps along a middle routing path to keep cables tidy and organized. Storage support is highlighted in blue above. You can install two 3.5-inch drives or one 2.5- and one 3.5-inch drive in the storage drive at the bottom of the case, and one 2.5-inch drive on the plate located behind the motherboard.
▶️ Front view
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The front of the case has a mesh grille protecting the front fans, with wood strips accenting the tops and bottoms of the unit. It’s not much wood, but it does look nice if you’re into this current case trend.
▶️ IO Panel
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The included IO panel has (from left to right) a power button, power and storage activity indicator lights, a reset button, separate microphone and audio jacks, two USB-A ports, and one USB-C port.
▶️ Rear view
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The rear view of the case is pretty standard, with not much out of the ordinary.
Thermal tests, test setup, and testing methodology
Ocypus Iota A62 WH dual-tower cooler, configured with a single fan
System fans
Default Pre-installed fans Ocypus Gamma F12 BK ARGB
Motherboard
ASUS Z790-P Prime Wifi
GPU
MSI RTX 4070Ti Super Ventus 3X OC
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Our thermal tests are presented to give you more information about the product’s performance, but aren’t intended as the sole judgment of the chassis. The style, price, features, and noise levels of a case should also be considered, and we all have different preferences. What I might like in a case, you might not, and that’s OK. My goal with these reviews is to give everyone, no matter their preferences, enough information to decide whether or not a product is right for them.
With today’s review, I’ve updated the configuration and testing methods I use for testing compared to previous reviews. For example, I used to use a single tower air cooler, but I’ve decided to use a dual-tower air cooler in case reviews going forward.
The measurements I’ve benchmarked this case against focus on the efficiency of the case’s thermal transfer.
We’ll test the system with its pre-installed fans at full speed and noise normalized at 38.9 dBA. For standardized testing, we’ll show one set of benchmarks with Ocypus fans set at full speeds for maximum potential. The other set of benchmarks will show performance with fan speeds set to 30% for those who prefer silently running systems.
tbf to montech, they provide nice stuffs at a budget cost, the size and the GPU compatability, nice built and kinda good look is great, just that when the name states wood, I kind of try looking for something in my Fractal North, and it's so tiny that on a phone it is difficult to spot at first
If you think about it, thin wood veneer on metal is even less "wood" than the usual wood veneer on cheap particle board furniture is. It's like just one layer from plywood.
And I've seen more wood veneer than that on phone cases.
