Why use a heatsink and a case, when you can use a heatsink case?! This gold, anodised aluminium case for the Raspberry Pi 4 will give you 10-15°C of passive cooling under a full CPU load. This case is great for situations where you want completely silent cooling, like home media centers.
It comes with a thermal pad to provide thermal contact between the CPU and top case, and a handy Allen Key and set of hex bolts to attach the case together.
The case gives you access to all of the ports, pins, and connectors. You can just about get away with using low-profile HATs and pHATs (those without bulky components on the underside) using one of our tall headers, but be extremely careful not to short any components on the metal top case!
Whether it's for assembling a kit, hacking an enclosure, or creating your own parts; the DIY skill is all about knowing how to use tools and the techniques associated with them.
Skill Level: Noob - Basic assembly is required. You may need to provide your own basic tools like a screwdriver, hammer or scissors. Power tools or custom parts are not required. Instructions will be included and easy to follow. Sewing may be required, but only with included patterns.
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Based on 2 ratings:
I read a lot of the other reviews that mentioned not being able to use the camera/display ribbon connectors and poor quality thermal pads, but decided to try it out anyway.
It is true that you won't be able access the camera or display ribbon connectors after installing the heatsink because the cutouts aren't big enough. For the same reason, you can't access the 4-pin PoE header either (maybe if you have some super low profile connector).
Other clearances seem fine.
I didn't have issues with the thermal pads. I just made sure I removed the paper (white) side first and applied them to the ICs. You want to this first to get the right coverage on the ICs since the heat sink contacts are different size. The paper side is a lot stickier and tweezers helped removing the covering. The other side is protected by a thin plastic, which helps to provide some rigidity while applying the pad.
This case works well for my Raspberry Pi using it as a 3D slicer machine with a display, keyboard, and mouse. It's true that the cutouts aren't very good if you want to access anything more than a few GPIO pins (using female jumpers since a ribbon cable won't fit). But for my use I didn't need any of that and this case feels very robust and protective. It seems like it would provide great thermal dissipation but I haven't run any tests or anything. I like how it's a warm hunk of aluminum instead of your typical plastic case with small heatsinks and maybe a fan.