The MagPi - February 2020

T

he CooliPi stands out from the

competition not just owing to

its size and weight – it’s by far

the heaviest case on test – but also by

being at least partially open-source:

while the custom-milled heatsink is

available exclusively from Sensoreq, the

plastic lower section can be printed on

any 3D printer.

That’s only part of the story. CooliPi

is a family of products, not just a case,

and optional extras – some of which are

also 3D printable – include a 90-degree

adapter for Raspberry Pi 4’s GPIO header, a HAT

mount, and even a housing for an optional 5 V fan.

The latter shouldn’t be necessary outside the

most extreme environments: in testing, the heavy

heatsink of the CooliPi – which contacts the

SoC, RAM, and USB 3.0 controller chips, with an

optional copper shim available to cool the power

management IC (PMIC) – was more than up to the

job of cooling Raspberry Pi 4.

Having a very heavy aluminium heatsink lets the

CooliPi absorb more heat than the competition.

The CooliPi’s large heatsink made it by far the

best-performing cooler in the group.

Featuring an open-source housing for a custom-milled

heatsink, CooliPi is impressively extensible

Sensoreq magpi.cc/coolipi From £39 / $52

Sensoreq CooliPi

Heatsink and Case

The CooliPi stands out

from the competition by

being at least partially

open-source

DIMENSIONS:

92.4×86×54.3 mm

MATERIAL:

Aluminium

WEIGHT (INC. ONE

RASPBERRY PI 4):

320 g

NUMBER

OF BOARDS

SUPPORTED:

1

COOLING

METHOD:

Passive heatsink

(SoC, RAM, USB

3.0 controller),

optional fan

EXTRAS:

Case 3D print

files supplied

SPECS

Verdict

The CooliPi can’t

be faulted on

performance. Its

price, however, is

an issue: starting

at £39/$52 for just

the heatsink and

case, it’s the most

expensive product

on test.

8 /10

CPU Temperature CPU Clock CPU Clock (Moving Average)

Frequency

(MHz)

850

1100

1350

1600

Temperature

(Degrees Celsius)

45

55

65

75

85

Time (Seconds)

200 400 600 800

Thermal imaging Thermal load

70 magpi.cc Raspberry Pi thermal case group test

REVIEW