ID-Cooling's SE 224 RGB is an interesting offering but comes with many issues that have little to do with its quality or performance. The biggest problem is availability and pricing. Currently, the cooler is not available anywhere stateside except for eBay, at which point you will be paying a hefty $48.99 at the time of writing. At this price point, there are far better-performing coolers, which limits its appeal. However, if availability improves and the price drop into the $35–$40 range, it would be a much more appealing option.

With that out of the way, I can say that performance was honestly surprising with the SE 224 RGB managing to survive our overclocked torture test with a few °C to spare. It essentially nips at the heels of the heftier Thermalright True Spirit 140D and Be quiet! Dark Rock Slim; however, it is louder than both of those options. In general, I wouldn't recommend the SE 224 RGB for a heavily overclocked system, although it does still offer enough headroom for mild overclocks. When it comes to noise output, the cooler hit 44 dBA with the fan at max RPM, which is below the 45 dBA threshold we like to see as coolers above that point become a bit intrusive. Regardless, its typical operating range under light to moderate loads was sub 40 dBA, making the cooler quiet enough to be inaudible in most situations.

In regards to build quality, It was quite good. I noticed no bent fins out of the box or any problems to speak of in that regard. The mounting hardware was also straightforward to work with, which is always a plus. When it comes to negatives, the base is the only thing to come to mind as it had readily apparent machining marks, and while I was not able to feel most of them, a few were noticeable. With a bit more attention to the base, the overall build quality would be exceptional.

The only other issue that crops up is the lack of memory clearance, which has more to do with the design of the cooler and far less the build quality. That said, standard-height DIMMs will fit just fine; it's the taller modules that will run into problems with the fan exerting pressure on them. Other than that, clearance for the motherboard heatsinks and the graphics card were stellar.

Overall, the ID-Cooling SE 224 RGB is a good-looking air cooler that offers above-average performance for its size while also remaining fairly quiet. It just needs better availability and a stabler price to really shine.