Overall:
I like the kit, I would probably buy it again, and I would probably recommend it. It works well, looks nice, and seems to be a pretty good value. In my opinion, the instructions show the fan being installed backwards, but otherwise there's really nothing wrong with this kit. If you'd like to know all my thoughts on it, keep reading.
Pros:
-Looks great!
-Openings through case for access to GPIO pins, camera, and display connections.
-On/Off switch on USB power chord (yay!)
-Heat sinks and fan work well (provided you install fan properly, see below).
-One of the clear acrylic parts of the case nicely refracts the light from the yellow and red status LEDs on the motherboard, so power and activity status is very easy to see.
-Due to the case design, it would be very easy to stack multiple cases for stacking multiple RPi's with some very long screws or all-thread and some spacers. Would be nice for making a good-looking RPi cluster! :)
Cons:
-Nothing, really. When properly assembled, it works very well and looks nice.
Gotchyas:
-The heat sink for the small chip on the top side of the board close to the back side of USB ports will be sitting right next to the edge of one of the black, acrylic case layers when fully assembled. After I installed the heat sink and then tried to assemble the case, I couldn't fit one of the case layers around it until I removed the heat sink and moved it slightly towards the side of the board with the GPIO pins. I didn't like having to remove it and re-position it not knowing if the adhesive would be as strong, but so far it seems OK (see recommendations below).
-The instructions (almost entirely pictures), show the fan being installed upside down so that air is blowing down into the case. This could cause two issues: 1) Most importantly, it won't cool as well. 2) Since the fan and blades are exposed, anything touching the top of the case could interfere with the fan. Fan blades should never be exposed to the outside of the case.
-The instructions say to plug the fan into the +3.3v and ground pins of the GPIO, which is fine, but if you want to plug anything else into those pins, you need to figure out how you're going to handle that. There's lots of info for that if you do a web search, and solutions are not difficult, but extra hardware may be needed.
Nit picky stuff:
-It's tedious (but not difficult) to assemble. There are at least 28 pieces for the case, 8 of which are the acrylic layers that make up the case. The instructions are a little vague about removing the protective plastic, and the pictures make it look like you only have to remove one layer (there are in fact 16). You have to peel a protective layer from both sides of each of the 8 acrylic pieces, and it's hard to get the peeling started, and they don't all come off easily in one piece. Also, the layers are not labeled. If you're not careful, you could get them out of order, and then you'd have a puzzle to solve to get the case assembled properly. If I had to assemble a lot of these, I'd choose something else. It probably took me half an hour just to remove the protective plastic, and probably an hour to complete the entire assembly.
-Instructions are OK but could use some improvement. They are not 100% correct or complete, IMHO. They are also almost entirely illustrations, and I would prefer additional, detailed, written instructions.
-They include three heat sinks, one large and two small. There are no instructions on what to do with these, and while two of them match perfectly for the CPU/GPU and LAN chips, the last doesn't seem to be the right size for anything left, so you're left wondering what to do with it. I installed it on the large chip on the bottom, even though it seemed a bit small for it. There is actually a hole in the bottom of the case to allow for it, and it certainly can't hurt anything, but I still wonder exactly what it was intended for.
-The included USB power chord is separate from the AC adapter. I would have preferred the micro USB power chord to be hard-wired to the AC adapter. The one supplied plugs into the AC power adapter. A plug-in connection like this could lose a little amperage as apposed to a hard wired one, especially if the USB cable is not of really good quality. So far, I haven't run into any power issues, but I haven't really put much of a load on it yet either.
Recommendations:
-Buy this kit and enjoy. ;-)
-When handling the acrylic layers that make up the case, be careful not to get them out of order when peeling off the protective plastic or other steps during assembly.
-Before installing the heat sink on the small chip on the top of the board near the back side of the USB ports, assemble the case first (with the RPi installed), leaving the top layer off, and then install the heat sink to make sure it clears the inside parts of the case. Otherwise, the case might not fit around the heat sink if you install it first.
-Install the fan so that the label and shroud is to the outside and air is sucked out rather than blown in. (I'm not saying to install the fan on the outside of the case, just turn it around so that it sucks air out.) I tested it both ways, and having it suck air out rather than blow air in made the CPU/GPU temp more than 10-15 degrees C cooler under normal conditions. With overclocking and a high load on the the GPU, it might make an even bigger difference. It also protects the fan blades. If installed properly, you should not be able to touch the fan blades with your fingers from outside the case.
-Get your kid or some other poor sap to remove all the protective plastic from the acrylic parts (but remember to have them keep all the pieces in order!)
-The fan is rated for 5 volts, 160mA, and you might use the +5v pin (as apposed to the +3.3v pin shown in the instructions) on the GPIO for extra cooling, but I haven't tested or researched that. For all I know, the instructions show it connected incorrectly (and again, it is just a picture without explanation), but for now the +3.3v pin is working fine, and the fan is completely quiet and working great for what I'm doing. If you needed to conserve power, it might be worth it to research a way to use PWM (pulse width modulation) with the GPIO pins to control fan speed based on CPU/GPU temp.
| Brand | Smraza |
|---|---|
| Item model number | SW13s |
| Item Weight | 5.6 ounces |
| Product Dimensions | 5.5 x 5.1 x 1.4 inches |
| Item Dimensions LxWxH | 5.5 x 5.1 x 1.4 inches |
| Manufacturer | KRISLOG |
| ASIN | B01LWURJMI |
| Is Discontinued By Manufacturer | No |
| Date First Available | September 14, 2016 |
