Tom's Hardware Verdict
The ID-Cooling SE-207-XT is a great option for builders looking for the performance of larger-air cooling on a budget. It isn’t going to perform like a $100 premium air cooler, particularly in the highest-end CPUs, but it does provide enticing performance for a lot less.
Pros
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+ Budget pricing
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+ Easy to install
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+ Simple, aesthetic design
Cons
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Fan noise at full speed
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Lags behind larger, premium air coolers
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ID-Cooling’s SE-207-XT is a seven-heatpipe, dual-tower assault on large air cooling with a name that makes it difficult to remember--but that might all soon change. Making use of a pair of 120mm cooling fans with zero RGB capability, the SE-207-XT is menacingly matte black, making for a no-nonsense approach for system builders seeking a stealthed-out PC.
The SE-207-XT isn’t as large as some of the behemoth heatpipe coolers we’ve seen in recent years. And while it is true that it isn’t going to jump to the top of our cooling charts, it isn’t lagging that far behind the leaders, either. This makes the SE-207-XT a great mid-range, budget-priced, large air cooler for those looking for the cooling benefits of a huge CPU cooling tower, while focusing the majority of their build budget on other components.
ID-Cooling SE-207-XT Specifications
| Height | 6.125" / 155.6mm |
| Width | 4.88" / 124mmmm |
| Depth | 4.0" / 101.6mm (5.63" / 143mm w/ fans) |
| Base Height | 1.75" / 44.5mm |
| Assy. Offset | 0.0 (centered), 1.0" / 25.4mm w/ front fan) |
| Cooling Fans | (2) 120 x 25mm |
| Connectors | (2) 4-pin PWM |
| Weight | 40.1 oz / 1138g |
| Intel Sockets | 115x, 1200, 2011, 2066 |
| AMD Sockets | AM4 |
| Warranty | 2 years |
| Web Price | $60 |
Features of ID-Cooling SE-207-XT
The SE-207-XT is accompanied by a modest set of mounting hardware to accommodate most current AMD and Intel desktop CPU sockets. The Intel backplate features pre-assembled mounting posts, making it very strong and eliminating tedious assembly steps which we normally find for backplate setups. A third set of spring wire clips are provided and can be used to allow the cooler to have an additional fan for a push/pull/pull configuration, if you are so inclined. Likewise, an included 3-way PWM splitter is ready to handle the default 2-fan setup out of the box, or ythat triple fan layout.
An included syringe of ID-TG25 (ID-Cooling) thermal compound means system builders won’t be left ordering in a tube of thermal paste or making an extra trip back to your local electronics supply store.
ID-Cooling covers the SE-207-XT with a 2-year warranty.
The SE-207-XT makes use of seven copper heatpipes which snake through 44 individual stacked cooling fins on each divided tower. The heatpipes are offset for dissipation and airflow throughout each cooling tower and collect at the base within the solid cantilever mounting brace. The cooling fins on each cooling tower allow air to flow both straight through as well as out the lateral sides of the tower, rather than ducting air all the way through the cooler.
The solid base collects the seven heatpipes and encapsulates them within the cantilever mounting plate with a milled-copper base to make direct contact with the CPU IHS. The machine screws on the mounting plate are permanently affixed and align over the mounting bars, which are secured to the motherboard socket hardware mounting locations. The mounting screws help align the SE-207-XT when it comes time to tension the cooler down and finish the installation process, which we will detail shortly.
The base of the SE-207-XT is milled perfectly flat, as there is not any visible ambient light seen between a steel rule and the milled copper baseplate. Additionally, the offset of the heatpipes and the fixed tension screws can be seen a bit more clearly from this angle.
The base of the SE-207-XT makes for a consistent thermal compound spread patch during installation and seems to be a bit more ‘clingy’ to residual MX-4 compound than usual, although nothing alarming.
Cooling for the SE-207-XT comes from a pair of included 120mm ID-Cooling ID-12025M12S series, 4-pin PWM fans rated up to 1800 RPM and 76.1 CFM. These fans also feature rubber noise -educing mounting pads on each corner of both sides and utilize a hydraulic bearing.
During installation, the mounting crossbars are affixed atop the SE-207-XT’s plastic offsets to the backplate mounting posts. And chunky, machine-cap nuts hold everything securely to the motherboard. The center of the image shows the tension screws secured to the threaded studs on the mounting cross bars, which help align the cooler directly over the CPU and simplify installation.
Once the SE-207-XT is mounted, each of the 120mm PWM fans are secured to the cooler to move airflow right to left toward the rear case fan, providing a direct channel of air through the cooling tower. While the fan positioning on the cooler via the spring clips can be adjusted to account for taller memory DIMM modules, be advised that RAM height can be an issue in some instances, where those sticks of RAM might cause interference directly beneath the cooling tower itself.
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