The Raspberry Pi 5 Case & Active Cooler Install Concerns 

The case is meant to be a protective housing for use with a fan and/or heat sink. I've searched high and low and no where is it stated or mentioned that the active cooler works in conjunction with the included fan. Its one or the other. Most videos and reviews will state the active cooler is enough. however under demanding applications such as over clocking or running demanding applications for 3-4 hours or any length of time the cpu will be at throttle levels of 77-85. this has been tested with the active cooler within the case. Using it outside the case with open airflow will give you better temps. My stress test included several bench marks and ps2 emulation on the raspberry pi 5 which is one of the most demanding things you can run right now. you wont find this info anywhere because not many people have ran ps2 emulation or demanding apps for more than an hour or even while overclocked. im using the microcenter acrylic case from the pi4 with the additional. fan. my idle non clocked temps are 28 degrees. in over clocking and running ps2 emulation my temps reached 56 degrees. normal idel temp for a pi 5 is 45-55 degrees non overclocked. if I was not applying my cooling method with thermal paste I would have exceeded the thermal threshold. The stock case could have been designed for better air flow. Im aware the top comes off but you need an additional fan with the case to keep it cool. Especially under demanding circumstances which most customers have not ran. running a 15 second bench test to establish temps on a case means absolutely nothing. try 6-8 hours ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-ruXQ4eYh4dA.htmlsi=xOoB6Fv5DFtgfF0n

You have to pop out the transparent part of the case to use it with the active cooler !!! That's how it's designed !!!

The clear part of the case comes off easily. The case comes with a cooler and a small radiator that you can use. You have to choose the bit cooler bought separately or the one that comes with the case. Pretty simple.

Yeah - maybe have a version of the case that just has a hole positioned directly above the official heatsink’s fan. Could actually cut some acrylic to make one, or even print a new top. Or include two more heatsinks in the regular kit lol.

That's why they've made it so that the clear part pops out so you can use it with the active cooler if you want. That's how mines set up overclocked and hasn't gone above 55c (might get hotter when used for retropie)

Duck tape it!! 😂😂😂😂

Bad design. no screws. im finding other cases online that has the correct design for use with an active cooler. why may the dumb decision for people customers not to use the active cooler with there protective case....

A little more effort and they could have designed it to work. I bet it gets really hot

Raspberry Pi has a RU-vid channel. You can get answers for some of those questions over there. The videos are a bit lengthy but i think that they're worthwhile. In summary, it's all about if you're going to use a hat or not. The new POE hat is 'L' shaped but other hats won't be. They say they know other manufacturers will make all sort of cases but they want peopple to have one more option. About the cooling, the heat sink you showed is really small, too small in my opinion, however, just to get things straight, usualy, only CPUs need cooling, unless some other chip has some issue like the USB controller on the Pi 4, or a power regulator overheats. What i mean is that we've been shoved with cooling solutions that are not needed in most cases.

I thought the same thing guess I’ll have to cancel one or keep the other. They look like they are suppose to work together. The case is suppose to protect it. Does look strange when they could have incorporated the design by making it sit higher for a custom fit

They may comer out with an extension that goes in the middle to add room for both, or maybe someone will make a 3D printable one.,

For very basic use, (No Overclock and nothing Stressful) that case is at least Cheap. Other than that, I find it one of the worst cases ever for Pi4 and now Pi5. Try a CPUBURN stress test and watch it throttle.

I get where you’re coming from, but the official case top comes out specifically for use of the active cooler. If you didn’t buy the active cooler, then cool you got a single fan and heat sink. If you do buy the *upgrade* active cooler, there is no need for the single fan and you get the multi-chip heat sink. I do wish they had added a separate top in the box for use with the active cooler instead of leaving an open top.

A couple of other videos have discussed this. One guy modded his case with a clear top to work with the active cooler. Raspberry pi should have been much clearer with their info on this though. Obviously that's why they sell the active cooler separate. The active cooler is designed to work without the case, but you can use it inside of the case if you remove the fan.

I can see your frustration as most of the videos only show the active cooler without a case but they did make a video about the new case which explains that the official case was designed to use the fan as improved venting and you can remove the clear plastic cover that houses the fan for passive cooling. A comment mentioned that the active cooler can be used inside the case if you remove the clear plastic but not recommended as they went with the metal heatsink + fan for better cooling which makes sense. The active cooler fan is rated to 50,000 hours of use so should see long life and I expect no different as it will get regular use since the thermals from the new chip aren't great compared to similar ARM chips. The case is also stackable so you can make a tower with a few PIs and the HAT can be installed on top or inside the case if you remove the clear plastic cover.

Just take the piece off the top. It fits. I did it with mine

I ordered the active cooler and the power supply but I 3D printed several different cases in a few different colors. I will mount this under a shelf I have and connect ALL my ham radio gear to it with a 55" monitor. Looking forward to it being in operation.

They are not designed to work together but you do need the active cooler and a case, it can be any case, or else you risk shorting something out on the SBC. I've had that happen in the past and lost a Pi3b+. The case fan is nearly useless, though, so you definitely need the active cooler or a huge hitsink. I've seen an all aluminium case that doubles as a passive heatsink which works well as long as you have good contact between the aluminium block and the processor.

Take out the clear plastic piece works perfect.

More evidence of a rushed release. Costly for the customer too. You should provide a kink to the clear open case option.

my case came with plastic screews, but they did not fit inside the holes of rp5. it was official set mind you

In my opinion the missing screws are perfect. My smartphone, remote control, ... have also no screws and they never opens by chance, even both accelerate sometimes pretty strong. While my pi never accelerates. So I can't see why screw should be added for the case. Maybe if you are installing the Pi on a ship that is running through a storm in the sea, but i guess those guys know how to fix items on a table. hmm... maybe If you want to attach it up side down under a table, then screws might be in fact nice. On the other hand in that case you probably also fix the cables and fixed cables are already strong enough to hold the Pi. I am using the Pi with the official case only. Also under heavy work load (a few days with 100% on all cores) and that is working fine if you don't add the top-cover. I didn't tested it in the summer with top-cover yet, but currently it is fine. The active cooler looks like a nerd item, like guys that use an "normal!" PC with water cooling, even air cooling can do the same. If you only do "normal" office stuff only (Like writing documents and sheets) you even don't need to cool it at all.

I saw another video where they easily popped out the clear section and fan, do it will work with the active cooler. Looks like it was designed that way

It was very obvious from looking at these two that they dont work together. Idk how you didnt figure that out yourself. Yes, bad designed case. But. Do some research of what youre buying and you wont be dissapointed.

Thanks for the vid. Mine just showed up and I bought both the case with fan and the active cooler. Found this vid because I was wondering what the F.

Raspberry Pi 5 official Case is just garbage ! Pi 5 Case is just cooking my Pi 5 😖Really poor design & im Really disappointed :( wish I saw your video bit earlier before buying Raspberry Pi 5 official cooler + Case

In my case you can remove the component with the fan, so i can use it with the active cooler. Just remove the original fan and the case should close.

I got mine to fit. Just took off the small fan and clear plastic. Looks good.

Err. The clear plastic with the fan pops out so you can put the top on. All that being said. No screws and the top doesn’t click to the base securely. With a bit more thought they could have designed a nice case with a bit more room to allow for a pi hat to fit a nvme drive at no extra cost.

For the overclocking you are doing you may be better looking into a peltier cooled heatsink, if using an external power source for the peltier works for you

Just pop the clear part with fan away right? Seems like a no brainer.

No case use the active cooler. If you use the case no active cooler, use the included fan. Easy. You can unclip the clear tray with the fan on it if you want to use the active cooler in the case, although it's the most expensive option.

Thank you for the video! It was very helpfull!

Why didn’t you pop out the CLIP-ON case fan, it does work. You need to pop the case fan out though. How did you miss that?

use the turbine case problem solved edit: just remove the fan on the top too if you wanna keep the case

Just got mine this morning and I fully agree with you. Nobody has mentioned that this is the first raspberry pi with an on/off button but with no access to it.

They were never meant to be used together. Hty go into detail on this, on the official RPi RU-vid cahnnel. The video title is "Designing a bespoke case and cooling for Raspberry Pi 5".

I commented to Eben and the engineers that the case falls apart which is handy if you need to press the power button from the inside. They blocked my comments. Clearly modern designers don't know how to put a hole to insert a tool. Great video.

Sorry if I missed it on the video, but is it possible to use the larger active cooler and the case if you remove the case's cooler? Also is the plastic where the case's cooler is connected removable? I mean the light/white/a bit seethrough plastic.

Just didn't do enough research. The active cooler works with other cases. But this case is meant to work in lue of. Thats why the active cooler is sold separately.

My active cooler constantly runs smh. My pi is a brisk 95 degrees though lol but how do I stop it

So I am not going crazy. Got mine today and was thinking how on earth does this fit? Waste of a case. Thanks for the video!

It’s either/or. Not everyone uses the case so they opt for the active cooler. The case fan easily pushes out anyway and the active cooler is much better at cooling.

ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-ruXQ4eYh4dA.htmlsi=xOoB6Fv5DFtgfF0n

Keep scratchin' 😊 you saved me $10

If so please could u tell me thanks in advance

Saludos camarada, llegue a este video pues iba a comprar ambos pensando que se podían usar juntos y al buscar en las siete tiendas que raspberry pi foundation muestra en su página oficial como los vendedores autorizados en Estados Unidos pues sólo en uno de ellos me percate que al añadir su bundle pues si escogía el case no te dejaba añadir el activate coler y eso me creo suspicacias y vine a RU-vid a buscar y por eso estoy aquí viendo tú video el cual admiro mucho a los que crean contenido y hacen estos reviews que si de mayor conocimiento que esos canales que las compañías les envían los productos entonces su reviews no son imparciales y no soy de suscribirme a canales pero con este video y los detalles que nos brindo pues si me suscribo. Saludos desde Puerto Rico.

best option is to use the case fan and buy 2 more cheap heatsinks. The original cooler is designed to be used either open or with any case and can be used with the official case. The original cooler in the official case with its fan removed is slightly more efficient than the case cooler fan and quieter. The case cooler is better if 2 added heatsinks are used. The case cooler also allows the potential to put small heatsinks wherever you want on the board to seperate the heat sinking per part or use one large low profile heatsink to pull the heat. Depending on how you operate the pi, different solutions may be more applicable. For something like astrophotography, where the pi is mounted to the telescope outdoors and where fan vibration can ruin long exposure shots, these options are great. The original cooler inside the case will most likely be the best option.

This short shows you that you can remove the fan on the Pi5 official case. ru-vid.comcurly1UNaSs

My guess is It's for the versions Without the heatsink and fan

Just remove the transparent part where the fan is placed. No worries

cant you use the GPIO pins for 2nd fan?

if you use the Active cooler, you have to remove the fan module from the case.

just take the clear plastic AND the top off

The clear section pops out and the case will close over it.

you can snap the fan part of the case off to make room for the active cooler as shown in this video ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-J9cqMyxV_m8.html

You are not supposed to used the heatsink with the official case. You put a smaller heatsink on the SOC. With the Waveshare POE HAT G it works great with official case as it were designed.

you can pop the clear part of the case out you know? i did it and i have the active cooler in the case

U can remove the transparent window.

Has anyone here found a case that goes in conjunction with the active cooler

Just remove the fan with that clear plastic on the case.

The clear piece pops out.

I thought the same but i got this case, the Hailo AI Kit and Berry Pi5 and it all fits in the case, with this fan and heat sink.. So it does fit, and you are wrong. Actually if you use a tweezer or knife point there is a lip on the inenr transparent plastic outer shell on the inner side. You can remove the fan and you can also remove the lid of the case, and remove the fan. and then it fits.. Derrrrr...

I had a different issue with the official Pi case. When the Pi5 was seated in the case and I plugged in the official power supply I received a message indicating there was insufficient power being received to power all of the ??? devices. When the official power supply was plugged into the Pi5 when not in the case, this message didn't occur. I wondered if the official case needed a slightly larger hole for the power plug. Just FYI.

I just made this mistake man

look like a rpi 4 case,

its only 10 dollars

Hey, you are supposed to remove the fan from the case, for it to be able to be used with the active cooler. I am still waiting for my raspberry pi 5, but you can look in LivingLinux's video from a month ago, where he removes the fan from the case to use the active cooler.

The case design is a flaw

Uh the active heatsink/fan is for if you don't have a fan. You obviously wouldn't want two fans right inline with each other. No one is talking about this because its assumed knowledge

Very good video.

that part with the fan on the official case can pop out so you can remove the fan, and pop the rest of the case on it. it is not that hard...and t he active cooler does a better job than that one heatsink and fan combo. there are many options, but not everybody buys the active cooler, and the case coming with a heatsink and fan is good because than they have a cooling solution better than no cooling solution...

You don't need all 'three' (two actually) and is common sense. The active cooler with heat-sync already has a fan and you can either remove the cooler from the case or use another case :))

30 seconds to see the problem, 10 seconds to pop the clear insert with the fan out. Problem solved.

Also the Pi5 with the cooler attached doesn't fit in the case. The plastic push pins protrude too far through the board for it to sit in the case right. If it sat in the case right you could remove the clear part of the midsection but it sits to high and case will not close.

To answer you the case has a fan and HEAT SINK so if you don't get the active cooler you have better cooling(very good of them except for the only one HS. It actually need 3 more not just 2. The USB chip also get hot) and if you did a little due dilagance you would know that for those with the active cooler, you can completely remove the translucent fan holder insert. This was A VERY WELL THOUGHT OUT CASE. There are and will be many better but at release this is a very flexible case for the two primary use cases. See this video ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-vYUF1H-_7TQ.html I'm waiting for the official PCI hat and a case that is designed for that like that GEEEK PI case but whit 2 fans on top.

I ordered the same set.😢😢

Take the entire, cloudy clear piece out along with the fan in it. Voila! Enjoy.

You can use the case, just pop out the fan assembly from the case.

If you look closer on Raspbery Case you can easily remove the transparent part of the case together with the fan. In that case the Active Cooler nicely fits in.

The fan and the clear plastic part is REMOVEABLE.....

Remove the fan that was free with the case. Takes 2 seconds. Get over it.

Its not rocket science, the fan supplied with the case clips off.

Are you thick remove fan from case

Bro it seems like your assuming a lot.

You are not supposed to use both.

You take the clear part out and don't use the case fan. It's one or the other.

Dude you are hilarious. You should just know what you are buying. Make sure you do not put diesel in your petrol car and go blame the car manufacturer. Well no. That is a bit dumb. If you use a passive cooler on the chip you can use the case fan. If you decide to have an active cooler you do not also use a case cooler. It is very clear. So that rant of yours is at best "illogical''. You just do not understand the difference between active cooling and a passive cooler with a case fan. Your best solution is to understand what you have instead of thrashing what you do not understand. LOL

This video is pointless. The design of the case is fine. Its allows you to remove the fan and have the active cooler. Or, you can not have the active cooler, have the case fan and your own heatsinks etc. All this is clearly explained in the literature or websites selling the Pi5 and its accessories. Having watched a good few of your videos, its quite clear that you have an agenda with RPi, and are consistently negative about their products without sound reasoning.

What are you doing man?!