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Raspberry Pi’s credit card-sized computers typically make use of the limited space by putting the USB and Ethernet ports on one side of the board and the video output ports on another. But sometimes it’s nice to have all the ports on one side. Enter accessories like the new Argon ONE V3 case for the Raspberry Pi 5.
It’s an update to the original Argon ONE Raspberry Pi 4 case I wrote about in 2020, and the new model is available for purchase now for $30 and up.
This case comes with an HDMI-Power board that connects to the micro HDMI and USB ports on the long side of the Raspberry Pi 5 and passes those connections through to a pair of full-sized HDMI ports and a USB-C port on the front, so that they’re next to the Ethernet port.
Once the HDMI-Power board is connected, you can insert the Raspberry Pi + add-on board inside the Argone One V3 case, which is designed to house both boards and offer enhanced cooling thanks to an aluminum body with a set of silicon thermal pads and an integrated fan for active cooling.
The new board comes in two varieties: there’s a basic model that sells for $30 and just extends the HDMI and USB-C ports inside the enclosure, and there’s also a $50 board that makes use of the FPC connector on the Raspberry Pi 5 to let you add an M.2 slot for a PCIe NVMe SSD.
The standard Argon ONE Raspberry Pi 5 case measures 106 x 95 x 32mm at its thickest point and 25mm at its thinnest, while the model with the M.2 add-on board measures 106 x 95 x 41mm at its thickest and 33mm at its thinnest.
At time of publication, the model with M.2 support appears to be sold out at both Amazon and the Argon website, but you can buy the standard model (without an M.2 connector) for $30 from Argon or Amazon.
The Argon One V3 M.2 NVMe Expansion board is also available separately for $20 though, so you could basically build-your-own Argon One with an M.2 slot by purchasing the standard case and the expansion board. And Argon also sells an optional $25 BLSTR DAC digital to analog audio converter that can fit inside the Argon ONE case.
via CNX Software
do they make one with a passive heatsink?
All fine, but it needs a bellows with a driver and a riser for the camera MIPI.
Ugly. I want stylist.
all ports 2025 and beyond should be USB-C. We should use adapters, no as if you cant grab bunches for nothing on temu or shine
USB 3*
No thanks, tried this product before. Mine failed after a short period of time and twice the vendor said they would send me replacement which never arrived
I had the Pi 4 version and had zero issues with it, when I got my Pi 5 I sold the 4 and the Argon case and eventually got this v3 with the M.2 base. So far it’s been flawless and it truly turns the Pi 5 into a usable general purpose computer (with easy access to the GPIO). It’s certainly better than the “official” RPi case which is horrible build quality, it won’t stay snapped together once the Pi warms up.
It sucks to hear that you got no resolution for a bad unit, did you order it through a reseller like Amazon or directly from Argon Forty?
I ordered from the Argon store on Amazon. The video board failed. The annoying thing is Argon told me they would send a replacement on two separate occasions but never did. Don’t trust the company any more, plenty of other companies to give money to.
It is a nice case with a few fails.
Why don’t they use rpi5s own power-circuit, it requires separate drivers.
If you have soldered in a jumper for pw-switch, it will short un a usb-updade connecter.
You’ll to follow the user guide backwards, or you’ll to disassemble it again.
But overall I really like the case.