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.
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.
(Image credit: Tom's Hardware)
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.
(Image credit: Tom's Hardware)
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.
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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.
(Image credit: Tom's Hardware)
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.
(Image credit: Tom's Hardware)
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.
(Image credit: Tom's Hardware)
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.
(Image credit: Tom's Hardware)
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.
Garrett Carver is a contributor for Tom’s Hardware, primarily covering thermal compound comparisons and CPU cooling reviews; both air and liquid, including multiple variations of each.
Page 3, last sentence:
"Just keep your expectations in check, or opt for something more-expensive (and lager) if you’re after the highest possible overclocks on high-core CPUs."
Besides not having had a beer in a couple years, I guess that was a typo for larger.
This was an excellent review. It's actually compared to all the dual tower coolers that you would expect, even Noctua, which usually gets left out. I like that everyone's old standby the 212 is on the list too, sort of helps gives a baseline (or determine if it's money well spent?).
Would like to see the Scythe Fuma 2 in there. It's the same price. Most of those are a little more.
I agree. The Fuma 2 is a formidable dual tower cooler despite its price and size when compared to dual tower cooler from brand like BeQuiet. In my own experience using both the Fuma 2 and Dark Rock 4 Pro, the latter only edges out by around 2 to 3 degrees cooling my 3900X with an ambient temp of around 27 degs.
I suspect the issue with this cooler from ID Cooling is the fan used. Swapping out the fans will cost more money, but I think should help improve cooling. Perhaps the review can include tests to see if it is a problem with the fan or with the heatsink itself that is limiting cooling performance.
Because what's the point of dealing with the difficulties of a big, twin finstack cooler that only performs as well as a premium single stack cooler? If I'm going to deal with a giant cooler, I'd better get giant cooler-ish performance, or else it's absolutely not worth it and I might as well use a smaller premium cooler like the U14S, U12A, Direct 140, etc., which can usually be had for around the same price AND come with higher quality fans that likely will offer a longer lifetime of performance anyhow.
Hmm, how does this compare to Thermalright Frost 140? In my area the ID Cooling and the Thermalright are virtually at the same price (52-55 USD after VAT). I have yet to see a proper review on the Frost 140 , though...
That's probably because you haven't defined WHICH of them you are looking at. There are a variety of different models of "Frost 140" and they all perform differently.
