Argon One case

LybsterKodi · April 3, 2023 at 8:42 AM

I'm about to switch over to my RPi4, I'll be using an Haupagge dual tuner with it and since I bought one back when I started the move from RPi3 to RPi4 I was thinking about using the Argon One case.

I know there are mixed views on this piece of equipment so question to any using it - good or bad experience, how well does the fan switch on/off according to temperature, easy/difficult to set up, any other comments?

**chewitt** · April 3, 2023 at 10:53 AM

I'm sure there are many happy users, and it's been a popular case. However our (forum moderator) experience with it is mostly all-bad. The case requires internal connections between HDMI and other connections on the board and the external ports on the case and these cause problems. The standard protocol when we see 'Argon' anywhere in the issue report is "remove the board from the case, all working now?" and in 9/10 situations users refuse to believe it's the case, but when we insist and they finally cave in and remove the board; the problem was the case. Caveat Emptor

MatteN · April 3, 2023 at 2:30 PM

3 out of my 4 Argon cases had problems and i have stopped using them, only one without problems is the one with my Pi3B in it. The others was bought for my Pi4's.

LybsterKodi · April 3, 2023 at 2:56 PM

Thanks both of you. The Pi is in a passive aluminium case at present and I'll leave it there unless I have problems. If so I'll have to look around for a fan case that works.

chewitt

Glad to see you haven't changed your opinion

MatteN

Not quite as bad as chewitt's 9/10 but 75% is still to much.

dippes · April 3, 2023 at 2:56 PM

I have two Argon One Case for my Pi 4.

What problems do you have with them?

MatteN · April 3, 2023 at 3:18 PM

Problem is with HDMI.

dippes · April 3, 2023 at 3:22 PM

Which HDMI problems?

Video

Sound

CEC?

adam.h. · April 3, 2023 at 3:35 PM

My experiences are mixed as well. For a short time I used Argon One with M.2 NVMe expansion board, so could use small M2 SSD to boot it up. That part worked fine, however all together it drained so much energy from the power supply that I was not able to use external USB SSD where I keep my movies (tested several 3+ A power adaptors).

I didn't want to add additional powered USB hub to that mix, so just switched to passive cooling case, where single power adaptor is running RPi and external USB SSD without issues.

MatteN · April 3, 2023 at 6:13 PM

Quote from dippes

Which HDMI problems?
Video
Sound
CEC?

Video, i dont use CEC.

**CvH** · April 3, 2023 at 7:09 PM

if I recall correctly the solder joins are poorly made at the hdmi port adapter, so you get all kind of problems

thestraycat · April 4, 2023 at 5:23 PM

Is it that the HDMI handshaking and/or stability are affected when using the Argon One case? Real shame... I was looking at getting one purely for NVMe... Are there any less troublesome cases that enable an M.2 NVMe device on a RPI? I have a few spare and want to get off this SD Card

LybsterKodi · April 5, 2023 at 8:42 AM

Quote from thestraycat

I have a few spare and want to get off this SD Card

I just plugged a USB128GB SSD in. Works well.

inspector71 · October 21, 2023 at 3:07 AM

Quote from chewitt

our (forum moderator) experience with it is mostly all-bad. The case [uses a daughter board to expand micro normal HDMI sockets ... and direct those, plus the audio jack to the rear of the case] The standard protocol when we see 'Argon' anywhere in the issue report is "remove the board from the case, [...] all working now?" and in 9/10 situations users refuse to believe it's the case, but when we insist and they finally cave in and remove the board; the problem was the case. Caveat Emptor

DO NOT BUY Argon40

The case is a piece of shite.

I bought one having had all these shitty issues with the Desktop Pro but had not seen this analysis. Oh how I wish there was a more obvious advice page where this experience was emblazoned in enormous headline. (bad)news papers have the merit of providing that sort of alarming warning via headline size YELLING at you not to buy shite crap from yet another shite, amateur manufacturer poking together a bunch of bits and then relying on the language barrier to fail to support their silicon.