“This feels very solid and study. It fits together precicely. My previous Argon case enlarged the native micro HDMI to normal sized ones which I liked. This does not. However it makes the case more rectangular and a bit like a pack od cards or cigarettes. I have not stressed the RPi5 and I have no interest in overclocking. With that in mind, I can say importantly that it runs for me silently with the fan on only in the POST phase. The thermal transfer pads should be bigger. The micro SD card is tucked away and is accessible but only with the tinyest of cross head screwdrivers and the screw and cover could easily get lost. I'm sure an improvement could be made here. The on/off works well and the LED gives feedback.
I enclose three thermal camera photos of the RPi5 in the case with the power supply and a USB 3.0 regular hard disk in a caddy. Then I flipped them all over. Then the mouse and bluetooth keyboard are in too.”
“The case is thoughtfully designed, allowing easy access to all the GPIO pins, and camera and PCIe IO as well. The addition of an SD card cover is welcome, for those who are worried about opportunistic compromise of their Pi. Overall, cooling appears sufficient even without the fan, and when it does kick in it's almost inaudible at the RPMs it runs at(for my Nextcloud workload at least). The metal bits of the case have a nice, industrial look and feel to them.
My main gripes with this case are cosmetic - the low-quality-feeling plastic base, the lack of colour options, and the power button which feels kinda kludgy. In terms of functional performance however, this case is great.”
“Generally ok but a couple of observations:
1. Need to be careful with the routing of the fan cable to ensure that it is not trapped when the case is assembled.
2. I found that the case can impede the extent to which the HDMI connectors are inserted. As a result they do not make full connection to the HDMI output sockets and are prone to disconnecting the device outputs from the monitor. I assume this may be due to tolerance build up across the various items. I resolved by fully inserting two micro HDMI connectors into the sockets before final assembly and screwing the base in place.”
