This Fractal-Inspired Raspberry Pi 5 Case Has to Be One of Our All-Time Favorites

You can trust PC Guide: Our team of experts uses a combination of independent consumer research, in-depth testing where appropriate (which will be marked as such), and market analysis to recommend products, software, and services. Learn how we do our testing here.

There seems to be a long list of Raspberry Pi projects going on at any given time and the latest to catch our eye is this Swap Pi Raspberry Pi 5 case. Possibly the best (and most stylish) RasPi case we’ll see in a long time.

We have to admit that we’re fans of Fractal Design, particularly its range of PC cases, and nothing has stood out more recently than its range of wooden front panel designs. They stand out from the RGB crowd – which is also why we were drawn to this Raspberry Pi case that follows suit. The Swap Pi is designed specifically for the Raspberry Pi 5 and supports a few ports, including USB-C PW and full HDMI.

How the Raspberry Pi 5 Swap Pi Case Was Born

This project comes courtesy of Rex Tang on Hackster.io – a community website for those who love to create and share their hardware-based projects. The Swap Pi case is originally based on the “North Pi” concept that Fractal Design created for Computex 2024 last month, so it didn’t take long for someone to make the most of it. However, while Rex notes that it’s inspired by the concept, “the structure is completely different.”

The video below from Rex’s YouTube channel gives you a quick overview of the build process from start to finish, with a nice demonstration of the final project – all in under 25 seconds.

The case design allows for easy access to the rear ports, using a DeskPi KL-P24 Micro HDMI to HDMI expansion board to route the USB and micro HDMI ports to the rear of the case. On top of that, there’s room for an NVMe expansion, useful if you’re looking for fast SSD storage; it uses the NVPI5-2280B board.

There’s also room for a 4010 PI PWM RGB FAN, which is a 4-wire fan. It can even be controlled using a Raspberry Pi GPIO, allowing you to sync the fan speed with CPU temperatures accordingly and change the RGB color. The slide-out design (pictured below) allows for easy access, making this a very practical case for the Pi. So it’s not just about looks.

In total, the construction includes 7 parts:

Main part of the Swap Pi case (3D printing)
Front part of the Swap Pi case (3D printed)
Swap Pi Case Back (3D Printed)
DeskPi KL-P24 Micro HDMI to HDMI Adapter Board
Raspberry Pi 5
NVPI5-2280B NVMe Base Card
FAN 4010