Finished Looks

With the LEDs off, the SE 914 XT ARGB cooler does little to stand out as the all-black design allows it to blend in to a certain extent. Only the white LED diffusers and white fan blades add any real contrast. From an angled front view, this is enough to help the cooler stand out a bit, but from a direct side look, it really does blend in with the surrounding motherboard heatsinks. Granted, once you enable the lighting, it immediately grabs your attention, as noted in the images and video below.


The SE 914 XT Basic, on the other hand, doesn't blend in quite as much as its sibling due to the aluminium fins and nickel-plated heatpipes adding a bit more contrast. Even so, its appearance is still rather subdued, much like its ARGB sibling.



Both coolers have no problems in regards to memory or graphics card clearance, which is a selling point of this design as it's specifically mentioned in the marketing materials.


The ARGB lighting looks acceptable on the ID-Cooling SE 914 XT ARGB. While it does the job, the lack of LEDs with the top plate diffuse is noticeable, where there are obvious sections that are bright and others that are dim. Other designs from ID-Cooling, like the SE 234 ARGB, which uses a similar design, did not exhibit as many bright/dim areas. Likely, the size of the cooler plays a role here, but if you simply want good entry-level cooling with ARGB lighting, I feel the SE 914 XT ARGB does fairly well at its intended price point.