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As you may have noticed, we usually review either premium or mid-range air coolers and liquid cooling solutions on our website. After all, people are naturally curious about what massive tower coolers or all-in-one liquid coolers costing hundreds of dollars can deliver. Today, however, we are taking the opposite approach, as I will be reviewing the ID-COOLING SE-904-XT.
Read also: Reviews of cooling systems (coolers) for PCs
TABLE OF CONTENTS:
Specifications
- Compatible sockets: Intel LGA1200/LGA115X/LGA1851/LGA1700, AMD AM4/AM5
- Dimensions: 105×73×123 mm
- Weight with fan: 430 g
- TDP: 180 W
- Fan model: ID-COOLING AS-10025 ARGB
- Fan dimensions: 100×100×25 mm
- Fan bearing: hydrodynamic
- Operating noise: up to 29 dBA
- Maximum airflow: 47 cubic feet per minute
- Maximum air pressure: 1.94 mm water column
- Cables: 4-pin + ARGB, 35 cm + 5 cm daisy chain
Pricing and Market Positioning
This is the least expensive CPU cooler I have reviewed in the past three, if not four, years. Its price is just $20. Surprisingly, ID-Cooling offers even more affordable models. One example is the ID-COOLING SE-903-SD V3, which costs nearly 50% less.
Package Contents
The bundle is basic, but complete. All required mounting hardware is included, with support for Intel LGA1200, LGA115X, LGA1851, and LGA1700, as well as AMD AM4 and AM5 sockets. The package also contains a small packet of ID-COOLING Frost X25 thermal paste, a set of fan retention clips, and the fan itself.
The included fan is the ID-COOLING AS-10025 ARGB. It is a 100 mm model – not 120 mm, not 140 mm, but 100 mm. In fact, the only smaller fan I can recall seeing was the chipset fan on the aging ASRock X570 Extreme4 motherboard.
Fan
The fan itself is surprisingly capable. It features rubberized anti-vibration corner pads, a fluid dynamic bearing, and an operating speed range of 500 to 2,500 RPM. Rated noise levels range from 14 to 29 dBA, while airflow reaches up to 47 CFM. Static pressure is specified at just under 2 mmH₂O. For a 100 mm fan bundled with a $20 cooler, these specifications are better than one might expect.
The cabling is also well thought out. The fan includes both a 4-pin PWM connector and a 5V ARGB connector, and both support pass-through connections for daisy-chaining.
The cooler itself measures just 123 mm in height, 105 mm in length, and 73 mm in width. Given its compact dimensions, it should fit into cases that typically have room only for low-profile tower coolers, and RAM clearance is unlikely to be an issue.
Despite its modest 430 g weight, the ID-COOLING SE-904-XT is rated for up to 180 W of heat dissipation. How does it achieve that? The main reason is its four heat pipes, all of which make direct contact with the CPU heat spreader, improving heat transfer efficiency.
Installation of the ID-COOLING SE-904-XT
When installing on the AMD AM5 socket, the procedure requires using the motherboard’s stock CPU backplate.
The mounting rails are first attached to the standoffs, after which the cooler itself is installed. A tall Phillips screwdriver is required. A taller one specifically, since one of the screws sits quite close to the heatsink, leaving limited access.
Test bench
- Processor: AMD Ryzen 9 9900X
- Motherboard: ASUS ROG Strix B650E-E Gaming WiFi
- RAM: Kingston Fury 16 GB 6000 MT/s
- Case: ASUS TUF Gaming GT502
- Power supply: be quiet! Power Zone 2 1000 W
The cooler was tested in a case without side panels, so acoustic damping was not applied. Still, the fan turned out to be less noisy than expected. The sound profile was higher-pitched compared to 120 mm fans – closer to a whine than to airflow noise. However, even at 2500 RPM, it was not particularly intrusive or easily noticeable.
And in terms of temperatures… 87 °C at an ambient of 21 °C. The AMD Ryzen 9 9900X was running an OCCT stress test, drawing up to 137 W, with 0.881 V core voltage and a stable all-core frequency of 4200 MHz.
Just to be clear – I didn’t even try any overclocking or fixed-frequency tuning, and the AMD Ryzen 9 9900X has a boost clock of 5600 MHz. But this is a 12-core CPU. It was cooled by a ~$20 cooler, and it handled it well enough that I could comfortably both play games and work without issues.
Conclusion
In conclusion, this cooler demonstrates how relatively easy it can be to cool a processor when it is not a flagship model, without overclocking and without extreme requirements. More importantly, the ID-COOLING SE-904-XT does not feel cheap in practice. It includes RGB lighting, direct-contact heat pipes, relatively straightforward installation, and a fan noise level that was significantly lower than expected. Overall, for budget-oriented builds (and not only), it can be reasonably recommended.
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