ADATA XPG Defender Testing
A Note on Testing
For our 2022 case testing, we’ve updated our testing thesis and test methods. By selecting a set of air-cooled components that present a very high thermal challenge for cases under review, we have moved away from using thermal probes as a point of comparison.
Instead, our goal is to show whether or not a case enhances or inhibits performance, as well as the thermal and acoustic results recorded during testing.
Our primary focus is on the performance of the installed ATX 2022 Review Rig, and our presented test results are taken under the following circumstances:
- All stock – CPU defaults on the MSI Z490, three ADATA case fans
- Overclocked – CPU set to 5.0GHz, GPU power raised to 150% (315w), three ADATA case fans
- Three additional fans (1x Noctua, 2x EKWB), CPU, and GPU at defaults
- Three additional fans, overclocked
Our tried-and-true loading method is to use a combined load of Cinebench R23 multi-core and the default Furmark GPU stress test. With the CPU overclocked to 5.0GHz and the GPU power and fan limits raised to 150% and 100% respectively, the 2022 ATX Case Review Rig is able to pull a steady 800w at the wall and produces 54dB of noise.
How we interpret the results
Things to keep in mind:
- Lower power usage directly correlates to lower system performance
- Lower temperatures at the same power usage result from superior cooling
For the ADATA XPG Defender, we found that the stock cooling wasn’t able to handle our overclocked 10900K – it was at its absolute limit and hitting 100c and pulling 245w, and was throttling to reduce temperature. Additional fans did help temperatures slightly, but not enough for the CPU to be considered safe in an overclocked configuration.
ADATA XPG Defender failed to drop the overall noise level to less than 50dB, and while the GPU is still clearly the loudest component, all fans were working overtime to cool the system.