ADATA’s XPG Valor Air series of PC cases has always been about doing the basics on a budget—but the Valor Air Pro aims a little higher. The line moves more upmarket in ADATA’s latest iteration, the $89.99 XPG Valor Air Pro. Compared with the earlier Valor Air and Valor Air Plus, the Pro is noticeably sturdier and more fully featured—but it also costs about 50% more. That higher price reflects thicker materials, expanded radiator support, quieter stock fans, and the addition of a front-panel USB Type-C port, shifting the Valor Air line from bare-bones bargain toward entry-level mainstream. For a budget ATX case in this price range, we like the Thermaltake View 270 TG ARGB, but the Valor Air makes a case for itself if you like the look.

Design: Shallow and Skinny Wins the Day

Though it easily falls within the typical 17-to-21-inch height of mid-tower cases, the relatively short 17.25-inch depth and 7.25-inch width of the Valor Air Pro’s face tricks tricked me into thinking I was seeing something taller. Part of that illusion is down to beveled edges that cut an inch off both of those planes. (Rear hardware makes up the remaining 0.75 inch of charted depth.)

I found the height-to-depth ratio less visually impactful from the right rear, even though the beveled corner still visually shortens the sides. From this angle, functional details stand out: vents on the right side panel, knurled screws that secure both side panels, a 120mm exhaust fan with height-adjustable screw slots, and a removable slot panel that can be rotated 90 degrees to support cards vertically. (Just add your own PCI Express x16 riser cable, sold separately.)

(Credit: Thomas Soderstrom)

Slightly larger, noticeably heavier, and better equipped than the Valor Air Plus that preceded it, today’s Valor Air Pro adds the USB Type-C port that was missing from the Air Plus. The USB 3.x Type-A ports remain, as do the headset (headphone/mic combo) jack and illuminated power and reset buttons.

(Credit: Thomas Soderstrom)

A dust filter sheet covering the power supply air inlet on the Valor Air Pro’s bottom panel is secured by tabs around its periphery. While this type of attachment is often awkward to remove, a few small fingerholds have been added to make the process easier. I also spotted a knurled screw at the front of the bottom panel that secures a tab at the back of the face panel, dual rails designed to hold a removable internal drive cage, and four rubber pads on the feet.

(Credit: Thomas Soderstrom)

XPG installs three 120mm ARGB intake fans on a double-pattern mount that also supports up to three 140mm fans, with enough clearance behind the mount to accommodate a 420mm-format radiator. 

A plastic bar located above the front fan opening acts as a catch, allowing the front panel to hang in place during installation.

(Credit: Thomas Soderstrom)

A 66mm-deep gap at the front of the power supply shroud provides space for radiators up to 460mm long behind the front fan mount. A second radiator, up to 412mm long, can be mounted under the top panel, though builders should subtract the thickness of that top-mounted radiator from the maximum front-mounted radiator length, since the two spaces overlap. 

The power supply shroud is also drilled and tapped to support up to two 120mm fans using #6-32 screws (not included). Additional mounting holes secure the bracket at the end of a PCIe x16 riser cable, working in conjunction with the included riser screws for vertical graphics card installation.

(Credit: Thomas Soderstrom)

A dust filter covering the side panel vents is secured with flexible magnetic strips, while the filter inside the front panel uses permanent magnets. The front panel itself is also magnet-mounted, making the hook and screw at the top and bottom largely redundant.

The top panel filter, not shown, is the same type as the one shown covering the inside of the side panel below.

(Credit: Thomas Soderstrom)

Fan and Drive Support: Radiator Gymnastics

A twin 120mm fan mount to the right of the motherboard tray could theoretically support another radiator, but mounting a radiator on the front makes this impractical. A 360mm radiator leaves roughly an inch of clearance for side-mounted 120mm fans, while a 420mm (or 280mm) radiator reduces that space to around 16mm—just enough for slim 15mm fans, nothing thicker. 

The side fan mount also removes a portion of the motherboard tray that would otherwise support 13-inch-deep EATX motherboards, the format’s upper size limit. While two additional EATX standoff holes remain above and below the side mount, the included hardware is insufficient: XPG installs only six of the nine standoffs required for most ATX boards, and the accessory kit includes just three more.

(Credit: Thomas Soderstrom)

The back of the Valor Air Pro’s motherboard tray holds two 2.5-inch drive trays, with the remaining space dedicated to cable management. 

The removable drive cage, visible below, is drilled to support the builder’s choice of 2.5-inch and 3.5-inch drives and ships with a single tray preinstalled that holds a second drive of either type. The cage limits power-supply depth to 200mm in its default position, according to XPG. (We measured just over 230mm.)

(Credit: Thomas Soderstrom)

A second mounting position moves the cage forward by about 27mm, increasing PSU clearance by the same amount while reducing front-radiator clearance to roughly 38mm.

(Credit: Thomas Soderstrom)

Building With the XPG Valor Air Pro

The Valor Air Pro includes an installation guide, five zip ties, two long standoffs for vertical GPU riser brackets, three motherboard standoffs, a standoff socket compatible with #2 Phillips drivers, eight combo-head power-supply screws, eight pan-head 3.5-inch drive screws, and 28 flange-head M3 screws for motherboard and 2.5-inch drive installation.

Since the factory installs only six motherboard standoffs, the three included extras complete a standard ATX installation—assuming your ATX motherboard doesn’t require the occasionally needed tenth standoff along its rear edge.

(Credit: Thomas Soderstrom)

Motherboard-to-case connections include a nine-pin combined front-panel connector for buttons and LEDs, a 19-pin USB 3.x Gen 1 header for the two Type-A ports, and a USB 3.2 Gen 2x2 header for the single Type-C port. Each fan cable includes both male and female connectors, allowing pass-through chaining so all four ARGB fans connect to a single ARGB header and a single fan header on our motherboard.

(Credit: Thomas Soderstrom)

Assembly using our standard test components was uneventful. For reference, there’s roughly 28mm of clearance between the side fan mount and the forward-facing edge of our 12-inch-long graphics card.

The finished build looks far more like a high-value option for budget builders than its cheaper Air Plus predecessor ever did.

(Credit: Thomas Soderstrom)

Testing the XPG Valor Air Pro

The above photos show our latest ATX case testing hardware, which I used in the below configuration to evaluate heat and noise control...

I used dimensional similarity and fan count to pick the four closest cases from my previous reviews to compare the XPG Valor Air Pro (standouts include the pricier Lian Li Lancool 217, MSI MPG Velox 300R, and Fractal Design Meshify 3), then added the also previously reviewed Valor Air Plus for good measure.

The XPG Valor Air Pro cools the test components almost exactly as the Valor Air Plus did, with both cases running several degrees warmer across multiple measurement points than the comparison group.

The Valor Air Pro fares much better in noise testing, finishing a close second overall behind the Meshify 3. 

After reviewing the thermal results, I placed my hand behind the rear exhaust fan and found the airflow very weak. The stock fans appear tuned primarily for low noise, which aligns with the charts. Their inability to move large volumes of air—combined with the case’s numerous vents—likely explains the middling cooling results. Removing the top dust filter to improve CPU-cooler airflow had no measurable effect.

Builders less concerned with maximum noise levels can replace the stock fans to achieve whatever thermal performance they want. A 280mm radiator up top and a 420mm radiator up front would finally give the case’s extensive 140mm fan support a reason to exist. And at around $90, some builders may find it easy to justify ditching the included fans entirely.