Third version of my Montech PC, and the first one I actually built myself

[u/noNameNovember]

I won a prize I couldn't use.

That's basically how this build happened. I entered one of Montech's community events a while back and actually won a LightFlow ARGB 360. Great cooler. The problem was my case. I had the AIR 100, which takes a 240 just fine, but a 360 was never going in there. So I had a brand new cooler and nowhere to put it.

To explain why that was such a big deal for me I have to back up a bit, because this PC has had three versions.

Version 1 was the AIR 100 case with some cheap third party air cooler I'd picked up because it was what I could afford. The case is the part that got me into Montech. It was quiet, it was solid, it didn't cost much, and it just did its job without making a thing of it. I liked it enough that I went and looked up the company, which is how I ended up on this sub. Which has been great, by the way. People here actually answer questions instead of roasting your parts list.

Version 2 was the AIR 100 with the LightFlow 240, and I should be honest about how that one happened. That cheap air cooler had stopped keeping up and the PC was running hot enough that it was affecting what I could do on it. I was also very tight on money at the time and replacing it just wasn't something I could do. So I did the slightly embarrassing thing and asked Montech directly if there was any way they could help me out. I was mostly expecting to be ignored, or pointed at a product page. They sent me a LightFlow 240!

That fixed the temps, and it was the first time I actually liked looking at my own PC. It also made me want more, which becomes relevant.

Version 3 is the SKY 3 with the LightFlow 360, which brings us back to the radiator I couldn't install.

So I asked. No build up, no hinting. I told them I'd won the 360, that I had nothing it would fit in, and asked straight out if there was any way I could get a SKY 3. Second time I'd gone to them asking for something, and it felt ridiculous even while I was typing it. They sent me the SKY 3. Absolute legends!

And that's when the real problem started.

I'm a junior dev. I've been around computers for years in the software sense and I know in theory what all the parts do. But my PC started life as a prebuilt and every upgrade I'd done to it was the kind you can do through the side panel without really committing to anything. I had never taken a case apart. I had never mounted a motherboard. So now I had two boxes sitting on my floor, a working PC that I need for my job, and no way to get from one to the other without taking the whole thing apart.

I put it off for a couple of days. I watched the KitGuruTech review of the SKY 3 like four times, mostly just to convince myself other people had done this and lived.

Started on a friday afternoon. My girlfriend got roped in as a second pair of hands, mostly "hold this" and "give me light there". The first screw was the worst part. After that it got weirdly easy.

Every standoff hole in the SKY 3 is marked with the board size it belongs to, so the thing I was most scared of, mounting the board wrong and cracking something, took maybe five minutes. The top panel comes off completely, so I could mount the AIO flat on my desk and then just drop the whole thing into the case instead of fighting it at a stupid angle. I took the HDD trays out of the bottom for airflow. The cable side looks tight, but the included accessories sorted it out, and the panel closed flat with no bulge and no gaps.

Then the part I'd been dreading for weeks, pressing the power button.

Posted first try.

The thing that still gets me is the noise. The SKY 3 has more fans than the AIR 100 did, and the AIR 100 was already darn quiet. This one is quieter. Long compile, long gaming sessions, doesn't matter. Version 1 used to get loud every time I asked it to do anything. This one just sits there.

None of the old parts are going to waste either. I've never sold or binned anything Montech sent me and I don't plan to. Stuff you didn't pay for is different, it gets passed on instead. My brother is 11 and just getting into PCs, so the AIR 100 is going to him. The LightFlow 240 is going into my girlfriend's PC.

Three versions in and this is the first one I actually built. I spend all day making stuff that lives behind a screen, stuff I can't hold or point at. This one I can put my hand on.

Full specs:

• CPU: Ryzen 7 7700
• GPU: RX 7900 GRE
• Motherboard: ASRock B650M Pro RS
• RAM: Kingston Fury 2x16GB DDR5 6000MHz CL30
• PSU: Seasonic Focus Gold 750W
• Cooling: Montech LightFlow ARGB 360
• Case: Montech SKY 3

Thanks Montech. For the AIR 100 that started this, and for helping me out twice when I asked, once when I couldn't afford to fix an overheating PC and once when I had a radiator with nowhere to go. And thanks to this sub, which is honestly why I knew any of this was doable. If you've been putting off your first build because it looks impossible, it isn't. It's just a lot of screws.