CamdenBoss Cube – Raspberry Pi 4 Case
The design of the CamdenBoss Cube Raspberry Pi 4 case is certainly very different from the usual small rectangular cases typically used. When I first saw it, it reminded me of the Borg Cube ship from Star Trek. Though the intricate pipes of the Borg ship are clearly for a practical reason, the CamdenBoss Cube appears to be purely aesthetic.
Construction
The case feels solid when fully assembled. When in two pieces the plastic feels rigid with nicely rounded edges.
- 4 x 7mm plastic standoffs with brass inserts provide mounting points for the Raspberry Pi 4. 4 cross-head screws are provided to secure the Pi (annoyingly non-magnetic).
- 2 x T10 security Torx bolts secure the two halves of the case after they slide together.
- The case was supplied with 4 large rubber feet.
Design
- The case lacks any form of ventilation or fan mounting.
- The main connectors on the Raspberry Pi are accessible. Though there aren’t any slots to provide access to the GPIO.
- The SD card is accessible at the rear of the case next to a small opening to show the Pi’s status lights.
- The large unstructured space doesn’t appear to serve a purpose, except for an aesthetic one. The extra height could have been used for Pi HATs, however, without access to any ports typically found on HATs this isn’t likely to be practical.
Thermal Testing
Testing is once again performed using Stressberry in a series of 1hour tests at 25%, 50%, 75% and 100% load. During testing the Pi is temperature is monitored, along with the ambient temperature. In addition, the core clock speed of the Raspberry Pi 4 is tracked to measure any impact of thermal throttling.
1 Core | 73°C 2 Cores | 82°C 3 Cores | 84°C | 1000MHz 4 Cores | 86°C | 600MHz
The extra volume of air in the Cube case does appear to help to avoid thermal throttling until the load reached 75% where the Pi starts to throttle regularly to 1000MHz. The full load 4 core test sees it dropping to 1000MHz and throttling further to 750MHz frequently with one measurement dropping to 600MHz whilst under load.
Conclusion
This Raspberry Pi 4 case is certainly more about a design aesthetic than offering additional functionality. I’d have liked to have seen the space used to provide more functionality. For example:
- A mounting point for an SSD/HDD and suitable SATA interface card.
- Provide a large fan mount to allow a low RPM fan to be installed to improve cooling.
- Design specific variation of the case tailored to common Pi HATs.
That being said, the large space in this well-constructed case could provide a starting point for Pi-based projects.
CamdenBoss provide custom print and cutting services, so this case is more a foundation for a prototype. Perhaps where makers are happy to drill and cut the case to tailor it to their needs initially, before finalising a design in collaboration with CamdenBoss. It would be nice to see some examples of custom versions of this case on their website, to get a better feel for what is possible and practical
Parts Tested
- Raspberry Pi 4 (Amazon) (Pimoroni)
- CamdenBoss Raspberry Pi 4 Cube Case
It looks perfect to accommodate the ice tower. It’d be nice if there was a way to add an ssd to boot the OS without hanging it out
Sadly the cube isn’t big enough for a regular 2.5″ SSD. The standoffs included in the Cube aren’t the same size as the threaded brass standoffs that the ICE Tower uses. So you’d need to remove the integrated standoffs and drill and screw in some standard brass ones. Finally, the lack of ventilation would need to be addressed with slots/holes made in the enclosure.
A version of this designed to be Raspberry Pi NAS would be great to see, but this isn’t quite it.
is it possible to purchase this in the UK? a quick Google only shows an option outised the UK and adds an additional 25% in delivery costs. Looks to be a great product an dperhaps considering a few holes/slots/vents then partnering with an organisation that sells the Ice Cooler would be an option.
Also, someone should come up with BORG/Rubix and any other transfers to pink these boxes would be amazing..
Personally, I’m looking to productise a toolset into a platform and with an engineering resource being able to synchronise and deploy the latest configurations with minimal fuss. The Raspi4 is an ideal platform but has its nuances with coolng under significant load, thus introduce a cooler and of course a case to keep it protected. But, why not a cool case meeting the finesse and class of the time. Give that Raspi an ego and this looks to be the prduct to do it… However, I think it needs the coming together of the products to meet the needs and the performance. Is there a chance of a V2 that is married to the ICE Cooler so that its plug and play (screw and play) without having to modify the fixings..!!!
just saying..
J
CamdenBoss are a UK Manufacture, so absolutely this is available to purchase in the UK, see: https://www.camdenboss.com/
If you have the capability, I hope you can work with them on a variation of the design that would better suit the ICE Tower and even better, provide a solution for using an M.2 drive or 2.5″ SSD.
If you need any help making contact with the team at CamdenBoss, let me know and I’ll see what I can do to help.
Is there a way to add a Battery pack with UPS hat on top of the Rpi?
There are a number of Raspberry Pi UPS/Battery HAT solutions out there, but I’ve not tested any. Depending on which one you went for you still might need to modify the case a little to hit the HAT or provide access to connectors on the HAT.
The Geekworm X728 UPS HAT can power a Pi from a couple of 18650 batteries, there are more compact hats that use smaller batteries.
Love this case!!!!
I want one for my Pi3+A
HINT HINT!!! 🙂