Conclusion
To sum up the ADATA XPG Defender we looked at today in one word, we’d use the word ‘decent’. Neither above nor below average, and with no issues discovered that would prevent or even frustrate building a high-end system in the defender, we submit that the ADATA has a solid ATX mid-tower entry here.
Summary of Features
ADATA’s XPG Defender is a decidedly decent case. It looks good, or at least, ‘reserved’ in a way that doesn’t stand out in some whacky way. Every feature needed to build a modern system is available save for a USB-C port on the top I/O cluster, and all tolerances are generous save for the vertical GPU mount.
That said, the vertical GPU mount is troublesome due to the marketing materials as well as the lack of an available riser cable designed to make use of it. ADATA does not appear to offer an accessory for this purpose, nor is there direction for third-party hardware despite an apparent set of mounting holes on the top of the PSU compartment.
Our Experiences
Like many cases with intake air filters and specific plastic structural patterns for air to flow through on the back of mesh panels, airflow can be more restricted. While the filters and stock fans do not appear to introduce noise, between all of these factors there is reduced airflow for more adventurous builds, using the hardware shipped. For more adventurous builds, you will have to customize your cooling outside of the shipped fans and introduce a more robust airflow, which can be done.
Between initial function testing with the case panels and front panel removed and our testing for record with everything in place, the XPG Defender struggled to keep both the CPU and GPU cool, with both parts throttling under the heat load. Adding a third intake fan and two exhaust fans at the top did help but didn’t really alleviate the heat buildup. Keep in mind we are using air-cooling on our CPU. The situation does change if you are using an AIO, at that point the CPU cooling is contained better via the AIO, and case cooling here does not affect the extreme CPU overclock we have running. Therefore, how you build your case, will be important. We suggest an AIO for this case.
Further, we do need to mention some of ADATAs marketing materials, which appear to have a GPU in an unavailable position that’s further away from the tempered glass panel. This mounting style is possible in some cases through the use of brackets, where the normally horizontal expansion card slots are replaced with vertical slots. This is not possible in the XPG Defender as the horizontal expansion card slots have support bars between each of the slots, meaning that a vertical layout here would require modifying the case.
In another marketing shot, a GPU is installed in the stock vertical mounting position, so this may just be a rushed marketing release that did not get properly reviewed. The main concern here is that the shot with the infeasible GPU mounting is the first shot shown – and unless viewers look further, and specifically at the black XPG Defender listing, the error could easily go unnoticed.
And with higher-end GPUs pushing the limits not only in terms of power draw and card length but also card height and card thickness, such oversights are definitely setting end users up for disappointment.
Final Points
For a decent performance at a decent price and flexibility to grow without any glaring flaws, the ADATA XPG Defender is worth a look for your computer building needs. The price point of $79.99 certainly makes this case more appealing, considering you can build up-to E-ATX motherboards, and have a front MESH panel for cooling and lots of cooling options for customization. If you demand extreme cooling for high wattage or overclocked systems on air-cooling for your CPU we would recommend looking at all options available for your specific use and build considerations, especially if the stock fans or the vertical expansion card configuration are planned to be used with this case, else us an AIO.