Some of the most effective PC cases we’ve tested act like ductwork to deliver air from a cooler place to a warmer one. Visualizing a case as an air guide helps us to understand why some design decisions (say, having extra ventilation holes that cover empty fan mounts) may not always translate to better cooling. For example, we thought the vented mesh face of Montech’s previously tested HS01 Pro might have bled cooling air away from its bottom intake fans that might otherwise have reached our test system’s hot CPU, GPU, and chipset coolers. For a mere $10 more than the HS01 Pro (at least, at MSRP), the company’s HS02 Pro flagship case replaces that mesh face with a curved-glass panel that also helps to put a bigger spotlight on your system’s internal components. Is it more effective? Not really, in our tests—plus, the HS02 Pro has some of the very same "own goal" installation stumbles as the HS01 Pro. Still, this model makes for a slightly better value overall, and a good-looking build, if you’re willing to work with the quirks.

Design: Leaving Less to Your Imagination

Concealment of a chunky full-size power supply behind a small portion of its front fan grille was probably the HS01 Pro’s biggest aesthetic accomplishment. PC builders who prioritize the appearance of their internal components, however, may appreciate the way the HS02 Pro’s curved-edge glass face reveals its layout. One simple change helped Montech to target an entirely different market niche: showcase PC builders.

On the mini panel at the bottom of the front face are two USB 3.x Type-A ports and a single Type-C port, separate headphone and microphone jacks, a windowed power button that illuminates when the system is powered on, and a small button for adjusting the integrated ARGB controller. The diffuser of an ARGB light strip is visible above this panel, while beneath it, parting lines for this case’s removable feet are visible.

(Credit: Thomas Soderstrom)

The HS02 Pro rear panel features seven replaceable slot fillers on a removable subpanel, two 120mm ARGB fans in exhaust orientation, and a receiver jack for its internal power supply extension cable. Though a bit harder to discern at this distance, the rear feet come off in the same manner as the front ones.

Also visible from this angle, a pattern of vents extends down the steel side panel from the HS02 Pro’s up-front internal power supply bay. (More about that later.)

(Credit: Thomas Soderstrom)

The reason the HS02 Pro’s feet part from the case at the lower edge of its peripheral panels is that Montech designed this chassis to be invertible. Builders may swap the case’s feet onto the vented top panel if they’d prefer their window to face right rather than left. Doing so also places the port section at the top of the case and causes all the components to sit upside-down, which incidentally makes it easier for most users to see their GPU fans. The two magnetic rings seen below are part of the set that attaches the top panel to the bottom, with the other four hidden beneath the feet.

The magnetically affixed dust filter, which covers the bottom panel’s intake fans, can only be removed by tipping the case. Also visible from this angle, the inner side of the top panel’s fan mount is designed to support the same triple 120mm fan configuration.

(Credit: Thomas Soderstrom)

The rectangular gap between all the trim plates is just big enough to hold a MicroATX motherboard, and removing the lower trim plate opens the hole up to full-ATX size. Two sets of holes matching the periphery of ATX and MicroATX motherboards are designed to accommodate the reverse-facing connectors of motherboard designs employing Asus BTF and MSI Project Zero. Meanwhile, the large hole in the motherboard tray, behind the motherboard’s CPU socket and bridged by a drive tray, is designed to allow the installation and removal of CPU-cooler support plates when uncovered.

The 3 5/8 inches of extended space above the motherboard tray allows builders to fit top-mounted coolers up to 92mm thick, including 120mm/240mm/360mm format radiators up to 415mm in overall length.

(Credit: Thomas Soderstrom)

Removing the right-side panel allows us to better see the drive tray that covers the access hole for the CPU cooler plate in the motherboard tray, as well as the power bay cover and the fan hub cover. (That access-hole tray, to the right of the cable cluster in the picture below, is designed to hold the builder’s choice of one 3.5-inch or two 2.5-inch drives.) The power bay’s cover (located on the left side of the case, as shown in the image below) can also accommodate drives, with its lower portion provisioned for two 2.5-inch or one 3.5-inch and one 2.5-inch unit.

(Credit: Thomas Soderstrom)

We’re not sure why Montech put all that effort into hiding things that are already hidden by the side panel, but here’s how the power bay appears when opened.

(Credit: Thomas Soderstrom)

And here’s a picture that shows how the power supply's mounting bracket sits next to the top of the HS02 Pro’s ARGB controller/fan hub. The controller/hub feeds three ARGB signals to the lower fan chain, rear fan, and integrated light strip, plus two PWM signals to the lower fan chain and rear fan, leaving three ARGB and four PWM headers open for additional devices.

(Credit: Thomas Soderstrom)

Building With the Montech HS02 Pro

The HS02 Pro includes a decently detailed user guide, a bundle of zip-style cable ties, and a bundle of hardware. We inventoried 34 #6-32 panhead screws, five #6-32 countersunk screws, a #2 Phillips-to-hex-adapter socket for installing and removing standoffs, one centering and three standard standoffs, two replacement sockets for side-panel ball snaps, eight #6-32 screws for attaching 25mm-thick fans to threaded holes, an adjustable graphics-card support bracket, and five hook-and-loop cable straps.

(Credit: Thomas Soderstrom)

Power button and LED, HD audio, a 19-pin (Gen 1) USB 3.x, and a Gen 2x2 cable connect our motherboard to the case’s front panel. Powered by a Serial ATA power input, the ARGB controller and fan hub connects to our motherboard via PWM and ARGB cables. Finally, a C13 cable end connects the rear panel’s power input to our internally positioned power supply.

(Credit: Thomas Soderstrom)

The HS02 Pro’s ATX power-supply bracket includes a fold-in SFX adapter that we wouldn’t want to employ. There are simply too many good full-size ATX PSU options out there to justify leaving a smaller, often pricier SFX alternative hanging from one side.

(Credit: Thomas Soderstrom)

One of the things that stood out to us during our Montech HS01 Pro review is that the inset tab hole, which holds in place a lower (MicroATX) trim panel, prevented our full ATX motherboard from seating all the way. That’s in part because our standard ATX test board has a decorative backplate that extends a quarter inch past its standoff holes, but mostly because cases are supposed to provide a quarter of an inch of clearance to the back of the board. Had Montech chosen to use a flat hole and offset hook tab, this cover plate wouldn’t have presented this problem.

(Credit: Thomas Soderstrom)

We also had to ditch the drive tray shown below, because its tabs protruded into the same space occupied by our motherboard’s decorative backplate. Had Montech instead pushed the hooks out the back side of the motherboard tray and used less offset on the tray’s hook tabs, this would not have been a problem.

(Credit: Thomas Soderstrom)

Although the HS02 Pro’s slot panel is designed for removal by those who want to outfit the case with a graphics riser cable and mount their video card vertically, we had to use the feature to help us position our graphics card in the normal orientation. That’s partly because our test motherboard has that thick backplate, partly because it has a front cover, partly because the case has an obstruction, and partly because the case’s hole for expansion card tabs (above the card screws) is not big enough to accommodate installation with any of those other issues. However, it’s mostly due to the inferiority of designs that place the card tab screws on the outside of the case; inset slot panels never require such considerations.

(Credit: Thomas Soderstrom)

One thing that users who wish to add a bottom radiator should note is that the plastic piece covering the ARGB strip’s cable as it crosses the case’s corner is removable. Removing it will make room for the end caps of most radiators. The case even includes countersunk-head screws, should that screw head become the final barrier to your dream build.

(Credit: Thomas Soderstrom)

Our installation looks so clean and spiffy that you’d never know the pain we went through to get our motherboard and graphics card to fit!

(Credit: Thomas Soderstrom)

Of course, it looks even better all lit up...

(Credit: Thomas Soderstrom)

Testing the Montech HS02 Pro

Here’s a breakdown of the standard ATX parts used in the test build shown above, along with the settings we employed during our testing...

We mentioned that the vented face of the HS01 Pro might have allowed some of the air from the case’s intake fans to escape without benefiting our components, but it appears that it had little negative impact after all. For better or worse, the stock HS02 Pro’s cooling profile is a close match to the HS01 Pro’s, and the HS02 Pro is, of course, 100% glass up front.

The HS02 Pro’s glass face did bounce some of our internal component noise away from our sound pressure level meter, though, benefiting the case’s cooling-to-noise ratio.