In this video, I review the Pironman 5 Max case for the Raspberry Pi 5, a premium enclosure that adds NVMe storage support, quiet cooling fans, and a sleek design. I’ll walk you through the features and give you my thoughts. Is this is the best Raspberry Pi 5 case yet? Whether you’re looking to boost Raspberry Pi 5 performance, add fast NVMe SSD storage, or keep your system cool and quiet, the Pironman 5 Max is worth a closer look.

Useful commands and info

Setting up the “Pironman” software

To set up the Pironman software (required for all of the features to work) these are the steps you’ll need to complete.

Enable POWER_OFF_ON_HALT

First, run the following command to configure the POWER_OFF_ON_HALT setting:

sudo rpi-eeprom-config -e

Then, make sure POWER_OFF_ON_HALT is set to 1, similar to this:

BOOT_UART=1
POWER_OFF_ON_HALT=1
BOOT_ORDER=0xf41

Install required packages

There’s a few required packages to install in order to set up the software. First, update your package repository index:

sudo apt update

Then, install git and the required Python modules:

sudo apt install git python3 python3-pip python3-setuptools

Install the Pironman software

After that, you can install the required software. First, make sure you’re inside your home directory:

cd ~

Then, clone the Pironman5 software repository:

git clone -b max https://github.com/sunfounder/pironman5.git --depth 1

Next, navigate into the directory we just downloaded:

cd ~/pironman5

Now you can install the software with the following command:

sudo python3 install.py

Once that’s finished, reboot your Pi to make sure everything is working:

sudo reboot

You can find more specific information by visiting Sunfounder’s documentation page.

Using NVMe for your operating system

Your Pi will run much faster if you install your OS to one of the NVMe’s instead of using an SD card. You’ll need to install Raspberry Pi OS onto an SD card at first, and then later you’ll transfer that installation to the NVMe.

Enable booting from PCIe

By default, the PCIe connector is not enabled. To enable it, you’ll need to edit the config.txt file. To start that process, open up config.txt in an editor:

sudo nano /boot/firmware/config.txt

Then, add the following to the bottom of the file:

# Enable the PCIe External connector.
dtparam=pciex1

Disable PCIe Boot Delay

The default boot delay may stop you from booting from an SSD. To fix this, at the end of the config.txt file add the following:

dtparam=pciex1_no_10s=on

Copying your Raspberry Pi OS install to an NVMe drive

Finally, you can now copy your OS installation to an NVMe drive. Thankfully, a tool to do exactly this is preinstalled with Raspberry Pi OS. You’ll find the SD Card Copier tool inside the application menu, by navigating to Accessories and then you’ll find SD Card Copier. When the application opens, choose your NVMe drive and click Start. The cloning process might take a while, but when it’s done all you should have to do is reboot your Pi at that point. After that, you’ll enjoy increased performance from your Pi.