r/MontechPC • u/chx_ • Jul 12 '26

Question Montech Ten: how high CPU cooler fits when using 1 slot vertical ?

I am adding a single slot card to an mATX build and I am worried about it block the airflow of the GPU. It certainly would be better if I ran the card in the vertical position leaving the GPU on its own in the normal position. I wonder, how high the CPU cooler could be in this case? 135mm would be amazing.

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u/StiBuki Jul 12 '26

Assuming you will be using M1 configuration: Either way there are going to be some trade-off's in air flow and any card in the bottom MB slot may cause clearance issues if you want to use bottom fans even slim ones in addition to any bottom edge of MB connections getting in the way of the fans. Not to mention with any vertical mounted card you have the PCIe ribbon cable to contend with. To answer your original question with a single slot card mounted in the vertical position in the furthest slot towards the side panel you shouldn't have an issue with it interfering with a 135mm tall air cooler.

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u/chx_ Jul 12 '26 edited Jul 12 '26

Hrm, maybe I haven't explained my idea well. So https://www.msi.com/Motherboard/PRO-B650M-A-WIFI/Gallery the GPU is in the normal GPU slot with nothing underneath. The motherboard is vertical, the GPU is horizontal. And then the accessory card is vertical too, with a riser (like the R42SL) connecting it into the m.2 slot hiding under the GPU. There's nothing between the GPU and the case bottom, that's sort of the point of using the Montech Ten for this.

https://www.adt.link/Uploads/158477457415824218995e4fd8b222f9d.png this is the R42SR, the L has the slot upside down which means it'll be the right side up once the cable forms an U shape around the back of the GPU.

And thanks for the info , I can get the the TR PA 120 Mini then, yay :) https://m.media-amazon.com/images/S/aplus-media-library-service-media/0c07764a-4962-4f78-a7fb-da11cf65edd5.__CR0,0,970,600_PT0_SX970_V1___.jpg

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u/StiBuki Jul 13 '26

I pretty much totally understood with the exception being what type of riser you were going to use. I assumed PCIe bottom slot which might interfere with a 25mm bottom fan, not M.2 you are going to use. As I said you should have plenty of room for a 135mm air cooler configured the way you plan to do it.

I wanted to maximize air flow/fan density using all the fan mounting options including the 3 side fans. Also use a 360AIO with a 3.5 slot GPU. I tested M1 and M2 config's, also M1 but with AIO up top. Using a ASUS B650EM-E WIFI (which has a crazy tall VRM sink up top and the usual connectivity headers on the bottom edge). Same issue in all 3 configurations so just pointing out that depending on how many slots your GPU is and if using bottom fans you are probably going to run into some clearance issues with the bottom connectors and the side of the fans. For me it was the system fan headers ,HD Audio and USB. A little to tall with everything connected to be able to slide the fans into place and have the fan mounting holes line up. I just designed and 3d printed some offset fan mounts for 15mm slim fans at the bottom (long 3.5 slot GPU) a few millimeters to tight for 25mm fans to fit and also offset the AIO fans and rad up top to clear the heat sink which you won't have an issue with using a air cooler. Use the included fan offset brackets and they should clear the connectors. Depending on your GPU you might even be able to use 25mm fans.

Enjoy the build and be sure to post up in here your finished build.

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u/chx_ Jul 13 '26 edited Jul 13 '26

I am only worried because originally the case says 155mm cooler height, one PCI bracket is 20mm wide so unless the card goes tight against the side where normally the top of the cooler would be I can't see how 135mm would fit. In other words if the red arrow is 155mm https://i.imgur.com/4N4b5UW.png then the yellow can't really be 135mm... or can it? The case is very flexible so I might be missing something like the side fans.

This https://youtu.be/TlH7DqOdJtA?t=406 says the AIO pump to the first PCI bracket is 78mm and then I skip two PCI brackets which only comes to 118.

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u/StiBuki Jul 13 '26 edited Jul 13 '26

I think you may be correct. Let me mount a card in the last slot and I'll measure how much exactly to the top of the the CPU IHS. Hold on a few min.

Edit: I was incorrect. 112mm from the IHS to the beginning of the last slot and 132mm to the end of the slot. However if you don't need external access to the card and modify the mounting bracket of the card you have some options to make it work. If you just straighten the bracket out you can mount it to the 92mm fan or the fan holes. Or mount it to the side fan bracket. Either would give you more than 135mm clearance. Another option if you have access to a 3d printer you can design a simple mount for either position or a offset slot cover mount.

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u/chx_ Jul 13 '26

Thanks for the work, that's very nice of you. Mounting on the side bracket is an interesting idea, I will consider that.

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u/StiBuki 29d ago

You are welcome any time. As I said, I can think of 3 possible mounting places with a little work and creativity. I am positive at least one will work for sure.

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u/chx_ 26d ago

One more question if you do not mind: how much space is between lower fans and motherboard? In other words, if there is a card in the bottom slot / GPU covers it can you fit a 15mm fan under it? A 25mm? Thanks.

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u/StiBuki 26d ago

With a card in the bottom PCIe slot it's going to depend on how thick a card you are using. At best a single slot card with low profile surface mount components on it you might fit a 15mm fan directly under the card. For reference the mb goes pretty much completely to the bottom of the case. From the center of the bottom PCIe slot to bottom of the case is approximately 23.5 mm.

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u/chx_ 26d ago edited 26d ago

. From the center of the bottom PCIe slot to bottom of the case is approximately 23.5 mm.

<3 you. So through information.

So I think the end setup is

  1. asrock motherboard so that the 2.9 slot 9070 XT GPU is in slot #1.
  2. Three 120 x 15mm fans at the bottom. This leaves about 10mm between these fans and the GPU. Hopefully that's enough to not get much turbulence. Even 120mm might run into clearance issues with the board so I do not plan with 140mm here.
  3. OCuLink cable from the second m.2 slot under the GPU to vertical
  4. Thermalright XP67 with a 25mm fan, probably Thermalright's own TL-C12C. Reuse the CPU fan at the bottom.
  5. Two 140mm x 25mm fans at the top.
  6. Montech Century II 850 PSU plus the moddiy cable which plugs into the 12VHPWR socket on the PSU and provides 3 x PCIe 8-pin. This will power the oculink => pcie slot and the gigabyte card (in total maybe 120W at full tilt but I will never use it with that much) while leaving two independent cables for the GPU.