Due to its small size, the Raspberry Pi 4 board has Ethernet and USB ports on one side, and micro HDMI ports, AV port, and USB-C port on another side. This may not be an issue for most people, but having all ports on one side may make cable management easier.
Argon One case for Raspberry Pi 4 makes that feat possible thanks to an adapter board that brings HDMI and AV ports on the left side of the USB ports, and an extra power expansion board does the same for the USB-C port plus adds a power button.
Argon One comes in a kit with the following components:
- Aluminum top cover, black bottom
- AR1 power board
- AR1 AV board with micro HDMI inputs and outputs, AV port input and output
- Fan
- Power button
- Thermal pads for the processor and memory chip for passive cooling via internal heatsinks built into the top cover.
- Four rubber pads, and screw set.
Note that since the aluminum case will cool the board, the fan may be optional depending on your application load and environment (ambient temperature). If you do connect the fan, the rotating speed will depend on CPU temperature with 10% speed at 55°C, 55% speed at 60°C, and full speed when the processor temperature is over 65°C as explained in the Wiki.
IMHO, it would have been nicer to have the power button on the front, but at least it allows for a clean, software-controlled power off of the board. Another nice touch is that you can lift a magnetic cover on the top part of the enclosure to access the GPIO header.
I first found out about Argon One enclosure on Banggood’s new arrival feed where it is sold for $29.99, but the Raspberry Pi case has been around for several months already and can be purchased from other sources including Amazon or Waveshare directly.
Jean-Luc started CNX Software in 2010 as a part-time endeavor, before quitting his job as a software engineering manager, and starting to write daily news, and reviews full time later in 2011.
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