A Closer Look - Inside

The interior of the XPG Invader X Mini is traditional but very simple. The general quality of the frame feels on the less substantial side, and there are really no frills to speak of. Even though the frame is shared between this and the Valor series, XPG did not actually advertise the ability to install on the shroud of those cases, but then goes ahead and offers the XPG Invader X Mini which makes this a USP. However, considering the basic frame body does feel a bit out of place, including fans to justify it doesn't feel like the way to go.

Moving on, it is good that XPG does not pre-install the fans here, as you will need to secure and wire up your motherboard first and then may fit these. You may also remove the front glass, which will come in handy when installing a large GPU as we will see later on.


As there is limited cable management space, the Invader X Mini employs trenches along the top and side of the motherboard area to lessen the issue. The cable routing openings wrap around the edge of the side trench, which hopefully makes cable management easier and cleaner, as there are no grommets. While the number of hooks for zip ties is limited, they are big enough and well-placed and as such should be quite useful. All these are limitations of the tooling for this frame, so we come to expect them when we see a brand use it. Underneath the opening for the CPU cooler backplate there are two individual 2.5" SSD mounting plates which actually ship with proper quality thumb screws.


Looking underneath the shroud in the front of the case, there are two mounting positions for the separately packaged HDD cage, which is a remnant shared with the Valor series, as those allow for 360 mm AIOs to be installed in the front of the chassis. The cage is meant to be secured with screws through the floor of the chassis, thus, changing your storage in this area once the system is built will mean that you have to tip the case on its side to get to the screws. In the rear, underneath the shroud, the PSU bay is pretty traditional with four foam pads for the power supply to rest on. There is enough space for mainstream units to fit, but longer variants will mean you will have to sacrifice the HDD cage.


In the ceiling, you will find two 120 mm fans with ARGB equipped hubs set to exhaust hot air out the top of the chassis. These cables are pre-routed reasonably well and there is a bit of flexibility for you to move them towards the front or back if you need the additional room somewhere. Alternatively, you may mount liquid cooling radiators of up to 240 mm in size here.


Above the shroud you will find the seven expansion slots and a fifth retail grade fan set to push air out the back of the case. This one is also ARGB equipped. By including five fans, XPG does something that most brands don't: it fills every possible mounting location. This means that you will likely want to employ air cooling for your CPU or repurpose the rear or top fans with an AIO of your choice.


All the leads within the XPG Invader X Mini are sleeved black and exactly what you would expect. As there is no ARGB controller, there is not much else to be said here. The motherboard connectors are still in individual pieces, whereas many brands have finally embraced the unified plug. Doing so for the Invader X Mini should have also been possible, while in turn also making this build step quicker and easier for those building their own system as well as system integrators. Due to the five fans each having pass through connectors for both the ARGB and 3-pin cables, there is a bit of a cable mess we will have to address. It would have been nice to have PWM variants, but one should not expect them for a chassis of this price point.