First Look at EK’s New SE 360mm Radiator

Let’s take a first look at EK’s new SE 360mm radiator. A big thank you to EK for giving us a pre-release sample of their new SE radiator.

EK will soon expand it’s CoolStream “E” series of radiators by adding the slim SE models to the the hugely popular PE and the recently released XE models.

The slim variant, named the SE is scheduled for a late June release.

A couple of photos were leaked last month causing some speculation around the forums about the models. A few weeks ago we published pre-release photos of the XE and then a full review prior to it’s release and with  the SE release date creeping closer we’ve decided to again bust out with some first look photos and hope to have a complete review with full thermal test data available by the time the SE hits the shelves.

Firstly we notice the same boxy design as used for the PE and XE radiators. These panels are removable which makes painting them super easy.

The SE 360 measures in at 400mm x 120mm x 26mm (L x W x T) – although this doesn’t include the 5mm bump for the primary ports where it grows to 31mm thick. The width of just 120mm is interesting as it makes it the same width as a standard fan and has 10mm shaved off the width compared to the PE and XE models.

The shroud height is an even 5mm each side (comparing to the PE’s 9/8mm and the XE’s 6/6) leaving a 16mm thick core (compared to the PE’s 21.5mm and XE’s 48mm). So the SE is slim – supa-slim even, it is in fact the slimmest rad of any we have put under scrutiny to date.

Also carried over from the PE and XE are the screw in ports. The SE is equipped with just a single set of ports and like other models have adapters which screw into the core through the casing.The core is based around a single layer of 12 x 1.5mm flat tubes running in U-Flow with single non-louvered fins having a 21 FPI count. For reference we measured the PE at 18 FPI and the XE at 15 FPI, so we see a raise again in FPI for the SE due to the thinner core.

EK’s usual 6-32 thread screws are supplied – 12x 30mm screws and 12x 5mm screws (I Measure the short screws at 6.5mm). You also get 2 allen keys – one for the screws and one for the removable primary ports. Sadly there are no protection plates under the screw holes though the tubes are well clear of the mounting holes. If you use the supplied screws with standard fans then you shouldn’t have any issues, but it might be a safe move to place a washer under the screw heads as the screw length ends up virtually touching the fins.

The SE is currently being prepped for our rigorous set of thermal tests and we will endeavor to have a full review and thermal results available prior to release!