Transform Your Raspberry Pi 5 Into Miniature Desktop Gaming Rig With These Tower Cases
The bare Raspberry Pi board has a different appeal but I prefer keeping my Pis under cover, in protective cases.
Now, there are tons of interesting cases available. You can also build your own with a 3D printer.
The official Raspberry Pi 5 case and other small box design cases are okay for protection and they don't cost much.
However, lately, I have been fascinated with the tower cases. With the semi-transparent design and RGB lightings, they look dope. Like those customized gaming rigs people spend hundreds of dollars on.
Thankfully, the Raspberry Pi is a small device so their tower cases are also not that expensive.
Let me share a few of such beautiful mini tower PC like protective cases you can get for your Raspberry Pi 5 in the buyer's guide.
Pironman 5: Full mini PC experience
Pironman 5 is the ultimate case that got me into the tower PC fetish. It's my prized Pi accessory, beautifully sitting there on my secondary work desk.
The Pironman 5 case transforms your Raspberry Pi 5 into a sleek aluminum mini-tower with advanced cooling, NVMe M.2 SSD support, customizable RGB lighting, dual standard HDMI ports, and a secure power switch.
Yes, you read that right. It upgrades your Pi 5's mini HDMI ports into full HDMI ports and also allows you to use NVMe M.2 SSD. Do check the list of supported SSDs.
Key Features:
- Adds a NVMe M.2 slot for SSD
- Tower cooler
- Dual RGB fans with dust filters
- 0.96" OLED display showing real-time system metrics
- Safe shutdown functionality and IR receiver
- Dual full-size HDMI ports and external GPIO access
- Active support and community
- US duties and EU VAT included in the pricing
💸 Price: $79.99
Tom's Hardware found it could handle overclocked Pi 5s at 3GHz while maintaining excellent temperatures. I didn't do such extensive testing but you can still read my full experience of Pironman 5 in the review I did earlier.
Abhishek Prakash
Pironman 5 Max: NAS/AI option
Pironman 5 Max is a slight upgrade to the previous entry. What's different here? Well, it primarily adds an additional NVMe M.2 slot so that you can use it as NAS RAID 0/1 setup or add Hailo-8L AI accelerator.
There might be a few small differences, like the OLED screen has the tap to wake feature, but the main difference is that Pironman 5 Max has an additional NVMe slot. Oh, the black design gives it a more badass look.
Key Features:
- Dual expandable NVMe M.2 slots with RAID 0/1 support
- AI accelerator compatibility (e.g., Hailo-8L) for advanced edge AI applications
- Smart OLED display with vibration wake-up and tap-to-wake functionality
- Advanced cooling with tower cooler and dual RGB fans
- Sleeker black aluminum chassis with semi-transparent panels
- Dual full-size HDMI ports and external GPIO access
- Active support and community
- Safe shutdown functionality and IR receiver
💸 Price: $94.99 (Early bird: $71.24 for first 500 units)
Clearly, it is suitable for NAS builds, AI edge computing, and Home Assistant hubs.
💡 And at the moment, the pre-order discount makes it cheaper than its predecessor. Grab it before the pricing goes back to normal.
GeeekPi Tower Kit: Classic Pi plus M.2 NVMe
The GeeekPi Tower kit comes into two variants: with and without N07 M.2 NVMe SSD PCIe peripheral.
The design is not a lot different from Pironman cases, at least from the outside. But here, you DO NOT get full HDMI slots. You access the usual Pi 5 ports. That makes it cheaper than Pironman cases.
You have one Ice tower cooler with RGB lights to keep the Pi cool.
Key Features:
- ICE Tower Cooler with LED fan for effective temperature control
- 0.96" OLED screen for displaying system status information
- Two acrylic panels offering clear view of internal components
- N07 M.2 NVMe support in the upgraded model
- RGB lighting that cycles through colors
- Regular Pi 5 ports, no full HDMI slots
💸 Price: $49 for the basic model
Yahboom CUBE Pi: Boxed Tower
Ignore the quirky Yahboom brand name 😉
The CUBE Pi features a boxy aluminum alloy construction with 270° panoramic view that clearly displays internal components.
There is only one fan with blue light at the top but it has ducts at top and bottom for better ventilation. The top is covered by a magnetic mesh.
You also get programmable RGB lighting to add the oomph factor. The mini-HDMI ports are converted into full HDMI, so that's a good thing.
There is an OLED display to show you the system stats hidden inside the case instead of being on the exterior.
The case has enough space for adding an active radiator or M.2 SSD, you have to make those purchases separately.
Key Features:
- Metal chassis with three highly transparent acrylic side plates offering 270° panoramic view
- Blue light cooling fan with dual cooling ducts
- Full HDMI ports
- Dust-proof magnetic nets to effectively block dust intrusion
- RGB lighting
- OLED display inside the case
- Scope for NVMe M.2 SSD slot (sold separately)
💸 Price: ~$49
ElectroCookie: The Minimalist Champion
Sometimes less is more. ElectroCookie's aluminum mini tower combines a large heat dissipation structure with an RGB-lit PWM fan that automatically adjusts speed based on CPU temperature.
There is scope for the NVMe SSD HAT but you have to purchase it separately. There is a separate model that comes with the HAT.
And that's it. It's just a case and doesn't add extra ports or slots to it. There is no OLED display, either.
However, the case comes in five different colors to choose from. Now that's something, right?
Key Features:
- Large active cooler with RGB PWM fan
- Compatible M.2 HAT NVMe SSD support (sold separately)
- Easy access to GPIO pins, SD card slot, and all ports
- Soft-touch power button
- Available in silver, black, red, blue and pink colors0-40 (M.2 HAT sold separately)
Price: ~$32
Which one to choose?
Pick Pironman 5 if you want the complete package with professional features and don't mind paying premium pricing.
Pick Pironman 5 Max if you need extra storage slot for a NAS or AI options to an overall mini PC build and don't mind the price tag.
GeeekPi if you want a cool looking mini tower PC with focus on tower cooling and not focused on additional slots.
Pick Yahboom if you don't necessarily want extra features but agree to pay a premium price for just a beautiful RGB lit tower case.
Pick ElectroCookie if you want a tower case in your choice of color and don't need fancy features to keep the pricing in check.
All these cases transform your Pi 5 from exposed board to desktop-class computer. Well, a miniature desktop computer.
The cooling performance across all options is pretty good - you cannot function a Raspberry Pi as a desktop computer without proper thermal management.
I am a fan of the Pironman cases. They are on the expensive side when compared to the rest but they also provide more features than the rest of the lot.
Source: It's FOSS