ADATA is best known for its solid-state drives, but the company is working diligently to expand into new markets.
In 2019, ADATA announced it would enter the desktop tower case segment with two new ATX chassis, the XPG Invader and the XPG Battlecruiser.
Today we take a look at the former, the firm's first midtower computer case.
Not to give everything away in the intro, but for a first attempt, ADATA's $129.99 XPG Invader is mighty impressive.
Airflow, design, and detail combine in a good out-of-the-gate chassis, with just a few possible areas of improvement.
The Design: Here Comes the Horde
The XPG Invader is constructed mainly out of SPCC steel in your choice of black or white.
The right side of the case stands out thanks to a fairly large air vent, which is covered by a magnetic air filter on the inside of the case.
In addition to being practical and bringing extra airflow into the case, this also improves the case's aesthetics.
Plus, it's a nice change of pace—some cases decorate the right panel with a logo or other image, but most just leave it as a plain sheet of metal.
The left side of the case is covered by a steel-lined tempered glass panel.
In addition to letting you view the internal hardware components, this also lets you see a red image emblazoned on the bottom compartment.
The front of the case is fairly plain, apart from an XPG logo stamped in red near the bottom.
The front panel is secured by fairly strong magnets and can be pulled off to give the case an altered look.
Underneath is an air filter that runs down the full length of the front to allow air in without letting too much dust pass through.
You shouldn't need to remove the front panel, however, as there are gaps down the side and at the bottom of the front panel that permit plenty of airflow with the panel still attached.
Also, it's worth mentioning that when the system is powered up there is also an RGB LED light at the bottom of the front panel to add some extra character.
There isn't much in the way of decoration on top of the case, either.
There's another air vent toward the back that is once again covered by a magnetic air filter, and the case's front I/O panel rests here as well.
The panel is rather limited, with just two USB 3.0 Type-A ports and a 3.5mm audio jack along with a triangular power button.
The Building Experience
The experience of building a system inside the XPG Invader is exceptionally easy.
In one key area, the new ADATA chassis actually surpasses Be Quiet's new Pure Base 500, despite that company's long-standing involvement in the case industry.
Like the Pure Base 500, the bottom of the Invader has a removable mounting bracket for the power supply unit (PSU).
After removing this bracket from the case, you then bolt the PSU to it and slide it into its proper position.
This mounting system is the easiest I have yet encountered.
With traditional bottom-mounted PSU cases, it can be difficult to hold the power supply in its proper position while screwing it into place, with the presence of cables and storage mounts often making it harder still.
With ADATA's mounting system, these issues are avoided.
Be Quiet uses a similar design with its Pure Base 500 case, but they made the hole the PSU slides into too narrow, which scratched up my power supply and made installing or removing the PSU extremely difficult.
By contrast, I encountered no problems putting the power supply into the XPG Invader.
Fitting my motherboard into place was a little difficult, but I can't hold this against ADATA: Officially, the XPG Invader supports up to ATX motherboards, but not Extended-ATX (E-ATX) boards.
Not realizing this at the time, I went ahead and squeezed MSI's X570 Godlike E-ATX motherboard into the case.
Typically this would not be possible in a standard ATX case, but the Invader's interior was able to handle the board with just a few millimeters to spare.
Attempting to mount a smaller standard ATX motherboard should be quite easy in comparison.
While getting the power and data cables connected to the motherboard was easy, putting the graphics card in place was unfortunately challenging.
ADATA left insufficient space between the top of the PCI Express mounting brackets and the rest of the case.
This, along with the shroud over the motherboard's audio circuitry, made it impossible for me to mount the graphics card properly; the top of the card's I/O plate kept getting caught on the case with the bottom caught against the motherboard's audio-circuitry shielding.
Ultimately I was able to install the graphics card, but I had to remove the rear I/O plate from the back of the card to make it fit.
An extra centimeter of clearance would have made all the difference.
The MSI motherboard also comes with an Ethernet add-on card and an M.2 controller board, and mounting them went smoother—I couldn't mount the full-height M.2 controller in the second or third PCIe slots, but I was able to mount it in the fourth slot because the audio shroud on MSI's X570 Godlike motherboard doesn't extend all the way to the bottom of the board.
MSI's Ethernet add-on is just a half-height card, which made it possible for me to bend the bracket and fit it into place without damaging the card itself.
I don't think you'd encounter the problems I did with a motherboard that lacks a cover over the audio circuitry, but since most high-end boards do have such covers, it's something that ADATA should have anticipated and been able to avoid.
The XPG Invader also has plenty of places to mount storage devices.
The case can hold up to four 3.5-inch hard drives, two mounted vertically in the front of the case and two in a drive cage in the lower compartment.
Naturally, the cage can also be used to hold two 2.5-inch drives if you prefer.
Then there are two additional 2.5-inch mounts on top of the lower compartment and two more behind the motherboard mounting tray.
Impressive, if Imperfect
Overall, for the company's first try at making a computer case, the XPG Invader is an excellent chassis, especially at a street price closer to $89.99 than $129.99.
Still, the problem with mounting PCIe devices is a troubling hurdle.
That issue isn't serious enough that I'd recommend you avoid buying this case, but you probably should proceed with caution if you're also buying a motherboard with an audio shroud that can't be removed.
I should say the end result also looks less neat than some of the other builds I've made recently while reviewing PC cases.
Unless you mount two 3.5-inch drives in the front of the case, many of the cables behind the right panel will be clearly visible.
(They can be hidden away with a bit of effort.)
Even so, in the XPG Invader, ADATA has made a solid debut in the PC case arena.
The Bottom Line
ADATA's aptly named XPG Invader is an admirable, aggressive debut from a company just entering the tower-case market.
Tasteful glass, just enough bling, and good airflow combine in a solid chassis.
