ADATA XPG Invader X

Two predictable questions when looking at showcase PC chassis of the last few years: Does the PC case support vertical video-card mounting? (Yes, probably.) And does the case maker include the necessary GPU riser cable for it in the box? (No, probably not.) Including that Gen 4 riser cable in the box might seem like it gives ADATA's new chassis, the XPG Invader X, an edge for value and one-stop shopping.

Most under-$100 chassis that support vertical GPU mounting require you to pony up for both the bracket and a data cable to fill out that final feature, and many sub-$150 cases are only a cable away from full support. Compatible PCIe x16 Gen 4 cables tend to cost between $35 and $60 depending on who made and who sells them. The Invader X lists for $169.99, though, and considering the rest of the case, make no mistake: You’re paying for the vertical-mount gear here. It’s no casual throw-in, though it will help you put together a PC with prime visibility for the GPU without hunting down additional parts. You may value the convenience, but be sure you'll use the riser and mounting gear, and that your GPU is something you want to show off, before spending the money.

The Design: Show Card

The amount of hardware required to install a video card vertically in a case ranges from basic and expensive to complicated and expensive. The XPG Invader X includes the entire kit, as shown below...

(Credit: Thomas Soderstrom)

As you can see, it's far from just the specialized ribbon cable. The case’s installation kit also includes a full replacement-slot apparatus and three replacement slot covers: That four-slot vertical card bracket is made to replace the standard seven-slot unit visible through the wraparound glass seen below. You're changing out the whole PCI Express card mounting area wholesale if you go vertical.

(Credit: Thomas Soderstrom)

The XPG Invader X starts us off in a perplexing predicament, in that it needs those replacement slot covers, because the ones on both the add-in and factory-installed brackets are the break-away disposable kind, which are the hallmark of a cheap case. But the Invader X is far from a cheap case, given its $170 price includes both the $50 data cable seen in the first image and the five mounted ARGB fans seen in the second. None of that is cheap.

Flipping the case around, we can see the vents on the steel right-side panel that feed the three included ARGB side fans, the four thumbscrews that hold the removable card bracket in place, and four more thumbscrews that allow the power-supply bracket to be removed from the rear.

(Credit: Thomas Soderstrom)

The top is also vented, and its removable panel hides yet another fan mount. Eagle-eyed readers will have noticed by now that the side fans are all so-called inverted models (pulling air in through the frame), and the rear a standard model (pushing air out though the frame). The bottom is also inverse, so that the case is configured with a 4:1 intake-to-exhaust fan ratio. XPG likely expects its builders to add three more 120mm fans to the top panel, as exhaust, to balance things out.

(Credit: Thomas Soderstrom)

Here’s a glimpse of that bottom intake fan as it sits behind the front-panel ports. A gap next to the fan shows that this mount is also designed to hold 140mm models, though it might not make much sense to mix things up in a case that’s already equipped with four other 120mm fans you paid for. Front-panel ports include two USB 3.x Type-A and one Gen 2x2 Type-C, and the front audio jack is a microphone/headset combo type. The power button includes a power indicator LED, and the reset button a drive-activity indicator LED.

(Credit: Thomas Soderstrom)

A second look at the bottom fan gives us a view of the other two mounting holes required for its 140mm mounting option, but the star of this image is really the slide-out dust filter. Making it slide out from the side is a neat trick that will save users a great deal of maintenance hassle, and it’s long enough to cover both the intake fan and the power-supply air inlet.

(Credit: Thomas Soderstrom)

After loosening two screws, the top panel slides back and lifts off to show another dust filter, though we’re going to treat this one as more of a shroud, not an intake filter, since the factory fans are configured to use the top panel as exhaust. Magnetic strips around its edges secure it to the top panel’s underside.

(Credit: Thomas Soderstrom)

The fan mount underneath has more than 410mm of end-to-end radiator clearance—enough to clear the end caps of most 360mm-format models—but it sits only an inch above the motherboard. This makes factoring in horizontal offset significant, as a 120mm-wide cooling system (including 240mm- and 360mm-format radiators) sits around 58mm from the motherboard’s surface: This greatly exceeds the 44mm height of our memory modules.

(Credit: Thomas Soderstrom)

The steel-sheet right-side panel slides back and off just like the top, but things get weird with the glass left side. You must first loosen the screws that secure it to the XPG Invader X's rear panel, and then lift it out of vertical sliding tabs at both the top and bottom of its frame. Since the glass is framed in at the bottom and front, the easiest way we found to grab the panel and slide it up was to wrap our hand around the top-panel radiator mount with a thumb on the outside and fingers on the inside. Sliding it up, we were then able to place our free hand in the gap between the bottom of the panel and chassis frame to hold it more securely.

(Credit: Thomas Soderstrom)

Surprisingly, the front panel has only two screws as well. Those attach beneath the front edge of the right side panel, and removing these allows the panel to be pulled out of four snap fittings. Oh, and in case you’re wondering, that does mean that someone could pull the front panel half-way off from the opposite side before realizing that there are screws behind the right-side panel. (Don’t ask how we figured that out.)

(Credit: Thomas Soderstrom)

Here’s how the XPG Invader looks with all of those panels removed. Notice the drive tray that’s covering the area behind the CPU cooler plate's access hole.

(Credit: Thomas Soderstrom)

The tray can hold three 2.5-inch or three 3.5-inch drives, or any combination of those, on three bay mounts.

(Credit: Thomas Soderstrom)

Removing the tray gives us a much better look at the cable-access holes that extend above and in front of the motherboard, along with the far larger access hole that’s designed to ease the installation of socket support plates for large CPU coolers.

(Credit: Thomas Soderstrom)

Did you happen to notice the front-panel cable cover in other photos? A view of the bottom details what you were seeing, and why you were seeing it.

(Credit: Thomas Soderstrom)

Building With the XPG Invader X

We led off with the installation kit this time because it contained an expensive part that helps justify the XPG Invader X’s price, and we’ll just summarize here that the case uses silver screws (rather than black ones) to better blend with the white finish of this case sample. The kit also includes cable ties, a quick start guide, a sticker pack, the kit to adapt our graphics card to vertical orientation, and a brace to support our graphics card in horizontal orientation. (That said, if you're paying full freight for this case and not using the vertical video card mount, you probably chose the wrong case.)

Cables include the full button and LED group (which is to say: no missing leads), HD Audio for the front panel’s combined headset jack, a first generation 19-pin USB 3.x connector for the two Type-A ports, and a Gen 2x2 USB 3.x internal connector (now called Type-E) to feed the front-panel Type-C port.

(Credit: Thomas Soderstrom)

Upon viewing our full ATX hardware installation, you might notice that we forgot to spin the lock nut up to the body of the horizontal card brace, that the front edge of our 9.6-inch-deep motherboard sits 1.3 inches behind the rear edge of the side fans, and that our 240mm-format radiator is short enough to allow us to reach though the remaining radiator mounting hole to grasp the side panel, as described a few paragraphs back. Those last two details mean that users of smallish EATX motherboards (i.e., enthusiast models that tend to be 10.6 to 10.8 inches deep) can fit the board without intruding upon side-panel radiator space. Also note: Horizontal graphics-card length is also limited to just under 11 inches (we measured 10 7/8) when adding a radiator to the side fans. (XPG quotes 270mm, or 10 5/8 inches.)

(Credit: Thomas Soderstrom)

With our radiator being only slightly thicker than the 1-inch gap between its mount and the top edge of our motherboard, the entire edge is concealed behind our 240mm-format cooler. The approximate 58mm of horizontal clearance allows our cooling fans to extend downward well past the upper edge of our memory without interference.

(Credit: Thomas Soderstrom)

Testing the XPG Invader X

Fortunately, we finally have a large enough collection of glass-wrapped vented-top side-fan cases to make today’s comparisons direct. Anyone who would like to compare the results of other case types should know that we’ve been using the same hardware in most of our ATX case testing for over a year. We will be comparing here against three comparable glassboxes: the Xigmatech Aqua Ultra, the Hyte Y40, and the NZXT H9 Elite.

With much of its positive airflow exiting the top of the case through our CPU’s radiator, the XPG Invader X led the competitive pack on our CPU temperature chart.

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Unfortunately, the XPG Invader X also places our CPU cooler’s fans well to the left of our motherboard’s voltage-regulator heat sinks, reducing the effect that our cooler’s fans have on cooling those components. It finished third out of four similarly configured examples.

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We were hoping that the bottom intake fan would help extra-cool our graphics card despite not being pointed directly toward it, but that didn’t work out. The XPG Invader X placed fourth out of four.

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The XPG Invader X is, however, the quietest case we’ve tested in quite a while, and that's especially impressive given the five installed house-brand fans. With the fans measuring only around 1,240rpm at full speed according to the tachometer output, the low noise of the fans becomes indiscernible behind the whir of our CPU and GPU coolers.

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Verdict: A Silent Invasion, Half Successful

The XPG Invader X is a mixed bag. If the snap-out PCIe slot panels and the overall pricing put us off, the inclusion of five quiet, chainable ARGB fans and all the vertical-mount gear brought us back, only to discover that the glass side panel is inexplicably difficult to grasp. Our build and analysis session was a seesaw of pros and cons.

In short, it comes down to how enamored you are of the case design, and how determined you are to vertical-mount your GPU. If it's a green light on both factors, the XPG Invader X might earn a four-star recommendation for you, especially as it nets you all the needed gear in one box. But if you will be leaving the vertical-mount riser cable and its supporting hardware in a drawer, you can do better for less money