Pironman 5-Max is an update of the Pironman 5 tower PC case for the Raspberry Pi 5 with a new sleeker design made of black aluminum and semi-transparent black acrylic panels.
Other improvements include a new dual NVMe PiP expansion board for two M.2 NVMe SSDs in RAID 0/1 configuration, or one NVMe SSD and one AI accelerator module, a Tap-to-Wake feature for the OLED information display, and programmable RGB LEDs for the two fans.
Pironman 5-Max specifications:
- Designed for the Raspberry Pi 5 and compatible SBCs
- Storage
- Pironman 5 Dual NVMe PiP supporting 2x M.2 2230, 2242, 2260, or 2280 NVMe SSDs at up to PCIe 2.0 x1 speeds due to switch used; RAID 0/1 support
- MicroSD card slot equipped with a spring-loaded socket for easy card removal
- Video Output – 2x full-size HDMI ports
- Display – 0.96-inch OLED Display showing Raspberry Pi’s CPU usage, temperature, disk usage, IP address, RAM usage, etc… Wake on tap design as opposed to always on
- Networking – Gigabit Ethernet RJ45 port, WiFi 5, and Bluetooth 5 from the Raspberry Pi 5
- USB – 2x USB 2.0 and 2x USB 3.0 ports from the Raspberry Pi 5
- Cooling
- 2x programmable RGB LED fans
- Tower cooler with a PWM fan controlled by the system
- Expansion
- External 40-pin GPIO extender with pin labels for easy access
- 2x M.2 PCIe 2.0 x1 sockets for SSDs and/or AI accelerators
- Misc
- 4x WS2812 addressable RGB LEDs
- IR Receiver for multi-media centers like Kodi or Volumio
- Power button for safe shutdown
- Opening for one camera’s FPC cable
- Power Supply – 5V DC/5A via USB-C power adapter
- Black aluminum main body with black acrylic side panels
The documentation for the Pironman 5-Max is not up yet, but it should be very similar to the one for Pironman 5, since there aren’t that many changes. As I noted in my review of the Pironman 5, this type of Raspberry Pi 5 enclosure is over-engineered, but it looks really nice, and since cooling is more than adequate, the Raspberry Pi 5 works great under all conditions and workloads.
I tested it with Raspberry Pi OS, but it will work fine with Ubuntu Desktop/Server 24.04 and Home Assistant. Other Linux distributions may not be fully compatible because the OLED screen, RGB LEDs, and RGB fans need a script that may or may not be compatible.
SunFounder has started taking pre-orders for $71.24 for the Pironmax 5-MAX case, or a 25% discount over the regular $94.99 price tag. The company also has AliExpress and Amazon stores, but the new case is not offered there yet. As a side note, SunFounder plans to offer a free Raspberry Pi 5 16GB on Facebook for each 100 cases sold.
Jean-Luc started CNX Software in 2010 as a part-time endeavor, before quitting his job as a software engineering manager, and starting to write daily news, and reviews full time later in 2011.
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