Argon NEO 5 M.2 NVME PCIE Case for Raspberry Pi 5 | Aluminum case with Built-in Fan

A little challenging to assemble from the manufacturer. Shipping was fast. Item was as described. Works great at keeping my Raspberry Pi 5 cooler than the conventional covers. Also has a slot for the M.2 SSD for added storage.

This case is well made. The heatsink for the NVME attatched storage is also very well designed. I had a problem when running the RPI 5 at full load. In the OEM stock plastic case and active cooler installed my RPI 5 failed my "burn-in" test.All it took was playing 4k video off the NVME for about an hour. The NVME would heat to a point where the drive went "offline". Also the CPU was throttled back, even when the active cooler ramped up. With the Neo 5 M.2 NVME PCIE case all those problems are gone. Also the case is designed the way I like to design my projects, overkill. The device runs extremely cool, even running my "burn-in" tests. The only thing I wish it had was a real power switch. I really don't like the way Raspberry PI implemented the power switch on the RPI 5. I prefer "off" is "off", not "standby". No biggie for me, I am just going to buy an inline USBC power switch. This case definitely gets the job done. Not only does it run cool, it also has a nice small footprint.

Well designed, well constructed and aesthetically pleasing. Much of the case is metal which works great as a passive heat sink, meaning the fan rarely runs and only during heavy loads. My RP is overclocked from the base of 2.4GHz to 2.8GHz and the GPU from 800MHz to 1000MHz. Even under a full load it never breaks 70C. Impressive.Having a NVME drive over a SD card is so much faster. The Micro SD card read speed (buffered disk read) was 88MB/sec, a USB 3 flash drive was 200MB/sec, the NVME drive set at the stock NVMe v1 was 443MB/sec and finally the NVME drive set at NVMe v3 was 880MB/sec which is ten times faster than a SD card. A 2TB drive works just fine.Tips: if you can cage your NVME drive and use Raspberry Pi Imager to load the OS, install will be very fast. If you use a Micro SD card taking it in and out requires the case to be disassembled. If you have built a Linux box (both hardware and install) before you should have no problems with assembly. If not there's plenty of videos showing the process. My kit had two ribbon cables, a black one and copper color one. I used a black one.I really like this case which is close to the size of the case sold by RP. While a little bit of process to assemble it was very, very much worth it. For the price it's also very much worth it for the drive speed and potental size increase alone.

This is a very well made case. The rpi 5 fits perfectly and the built in cooling and heatsink is nice. My only reasons for 4 stars instead of 5 are that it is advertised as an aluminum case when it is actually only partially aluminum. The bottom part of the case is plastic. The second reason is that there is no access to the SD card slot without taking the case apart. Aside from this, I am pleased with this case and the ability to use a larger size NVME drive with it.

The Argon 5 case is great; in fact, it is exceptional. It checks all the boxes. However, there is a significant issue, which is why I’m giving it only one star. This case requires total commitment to an NVMe solution. You are giving up the Micro SD slot altogether.There is no external access to the microSD slot. If you want to use it, you have to unscrew the whole case, place the SD card, and screw it back on. If you don't, you lose thermal contacts. If I want to try other OSes like Batocera or LibreELEC, you either have to burn NVMe from a different Pi or add a USB NVMe reader to it. Of course, I can use a USB stick as an alternative, but I would have to change the EEPROM boot order to boot USB first, then NVMe. This is poor planning and shows why it requires total commitment to NVMe.If only Argon would make a 45-degree cable to clear the microSD port and have an external SD opening, I would give it 5+ stars without hesitation.Arguably, if I just want to have a Pi 5 that does one thing and not tinker with it, this is the best solution ever. But I am a tinkerer; I buy the Pi because I want to tinker.Argon, if you are reading this, please fix it in V2. I will replace all my cases with yours.

Build: The PCIe ribbon takes some care. the case will not sit open flat when attached on both side. So if you are re-working the setup be careful. The ribbon can pull out even when clips are in. There is also a slot pictured on the case in front of the Pi's PCIe. You may be tempted to run the ribbon through this, but it is slightly off center from the port and will pinch the side of the ribbon.I was missing 3 of the screws in the NVME cooling plate, fortunately I have a whole bin of various loose screws to work with.during setup with OS, I suggest doing it from USB Boot. The less you open the case and risk pulling ribbon, the better off you will be. Before putting in the case I used SDCard to raspi-config USB Boot. Assembled, and ran the setup from USB, rebooted with USB and changed to NVME boot, remove USB and reboot again.The Fan wire has a channel guide, but nothing to hold it in place. I used some tape. And RTC Battery I stuck to lid. just keep the wire away from the fan.

Very nice case. Easy to assemble with Pi. Easy to work on after assembly.Power switch broke, but it really isn't that useful on a Raspberry Pi, so I use it only for the LED power indicator.

Very high quality case! I probably should not have paid this much money for a pi case, but it's really nice!