Introduction

ID-Cooling has been around for a while now and looks to further its market share in the PC-cooling space. Getting off to a solid start back in 2013, the company has come a long way with their plethora of liquid and air coolers having secured them a solid foothold while they go toe-to-toe with the bigger names in the industry. Each revision of a product or new product release has shown marked improvements or additional features, including RGB LEDs, everyone's love-it or hate-it trend of the moment. With a drive to succeed, the company continues to show a great deal of tenacity in a highly competitive market.


In today's review, I look at ID-Cooling's SE 224 XT Basic and SE 224 XT ARGB. Both use the same single-tower, single-fan design with four heat pipes, and at first glance it appears to be fairly similar to many other offerings in the entry to mid-range market, meaning it will face some stiff competition. So you might be asking why two similar products have been released? Well, not everyone wants an illuminated cooler, and the Basic version offers a clean-looking heatsink with solid specifications, while the ARGB version swaps in a nicer top plate, black coating, and ARGB fan for those more focused on appearance. With that having been said, it's time to see what these two coolers can do.

Packaging

The orange and black colors make a return on the boxes ID-Cooling has packed these two coolers in. On the front, the ARGB version shows off its stately looks with the ARGB fan in rainbow mode, while the basic model shows off a more simple design. Turning to the left side, we find a simple list of features and some company contact information. On the back is where the product specifications are listed in numerous languages and include overall dimensions, weight, fan speed, airflow, and even the fan bearings, which happens to be a double ball bearing for the ARGB cooler. The Basic version, on the other hand, uses a hydraulic bearing.


The right side of the box lists the rated TDP of 180 watts and the various supported sockets. Finally, the top just has the product name and its designation as either the Basic or ARGB version.

Contents

I certainly do love foam packaging over the more typical cardboard inserts, and ID-Cooling surprised me here by going with foam. Part of buying a product isn't just what you got, but knowing it will arrive safely, and I have far better luck when manufacturers use foam inserts. As such, I am quite happy with ID-Cooling for going this route with their packaging.


The mounting hardware is extremely simple because of the universal design, which is nice for ease of use. Better yet, the design is all metal and feels quite solid. Both coolers use the same hardware, and both come with extra fan clips as well, giving users the option of adding a second fan if they wish.

Common parts supplied for mounting include

• 4x Fan clips
• 4x Plastic spacers
• 4x Thumb screws
• 4x LGA2066 screws
• 4x AM4 screws
• 2x AMD brackets
• 2x Intel brackets
• 1x Intel backplate
• 1x 120 mm fan
• 1x Tube of thermal paste
• 1x heatsink
• 1x Installation manual