Best Accessories For Raspberry Pi 5

The Raspberry Pi 5 is a powerful little SBC that is not only great for hobbyist projects, but can also function as a solid portable PC for everyday tasks. While you could use it in a headless setup without a keyboard, mouse, or even a display, you’re going to need plenty of peripherals if you want to push this palm-sized system to its limit.

With so many Raspberry Pi accessories available online, it’s easy to feel overwhelmed. But don’t worry, we’ve curated a list of the best peripherals to help you make the most out of your Raspberry Pi.

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Raspberry Pi 5 review: The holy grail of DIY projects got even better (and rarer)

The Raspberry Pi 5 is one of the most powerful consumer-grade SBCs out there. Sadly, its limited stock means you’ll have a hard time finding one.

Our top picks for Raspberry Pi 5 accessories in 2024

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  SanDisk Ultra microSD card

  Best microSD card

  The Raspberry Pi SBCs primarily rely on a microSD card to store everything from the operating system to the files. Thanks to its 1.5TB max capacity and a blazing-fast 150MB/s transfer speed, the SanDisk Ultra is the perfect storage companion for the Raspberry Pi 5. It’s also quite inexpensive, so you can grab more than one of these microSD cards without breaking the bank.

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  innomaker Raspberry Pi Camera Module

  Best camera

  Creating miniature surveillance systems and shooting time lapse videos are two of the most common uses for a Raspberry Pi. Aside from a microSD card and the SBC itself, you’ll also require a camera model if you wish to build these projects. While you can buy expensive 64-megapixel sensors for the Raspberry Pi 5, innomaker’s inexpensive 5MP 1080P camera module is a fantastic option for most users.

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  GeeekPi 7 Inch Capacitive Touchscreen for Raspberry Pi

  Best touchscreen display

  GeeekPi’s 7-inch touchscreen display has a 1024×600 resolution and a 60Hz refresh rate, which is more than enough for most Raspberry Pi 5 projects. Besides providing audio output thanks to a set of speakers, the portable monitor can also be mounted on top of the latest Raspberry Pi board, making it perfect for those who want a compact display for the SBC.

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  Geekworm Metal Case P579-V2

  Best metal case

  Since the Raspberry Pi 5 doesn’t ship with a protective case, it can easily accumulate dust or get damaged by accidental spillage. As such, the Geekworm P579-V2 Metal Case is the perfect way to safeguard your Raspberry Pi 5. Plus, it’s a large case that provides ample space for you to plug in other accessories. What’s more, the P579-V2 also includes the official Active Cooler, so you don’t have to buy the latter separately.

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  Raspberry Pi Active Cooler

  Best cooler

  Aside from the low supply, one of the biggest issues you’ll encounter while using the Raspberry Pi 5 is its tendency to overheat at even the most basic workloads. Therefore, it’s a good idea to invest in the Official Active Cooler for the Raspberry Pi 5 as it not only includes a highly-capable blower fan, but also has an aluminum heatsink and pre-applied thermal pads to prevent the SBC from getting too toasty.

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  Anker 4-Port USB 3.0 Hub

  Best USB Hub

  $15 $18 Save $3

  If you’re someone who loves to make projects with the Raspberry Pi, it’s possible to run out of ports on the device after plugging in all your peripherals. That’s where Anker’s inexpensive USB comes in handy: by splitting one of the Raspberry Pi 5’s USB 3.0 sockets into four ports, you can easily connect all your USB-powered accessories to the SBC.

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  GeeekPi N04 M.2 NVMe to PCIe Adapter

  PCIe to NVMe adapter

  $15 $23 Save $8

  Up until the Raspberry Pi 4, you could only connect portable SSDs to the Raspberry Pi boards, but thanks to the PCIe interface, you can even pair a high-speed NVMe SSD with the SBC. Since you can’t directly plug the SSD into the PCIe interface, you’ll need an NVMe to PCIe adapter, and the GeeekPi N04 HAT is one of the best HATs for this purpose.

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  CanaKit 45W USB-C Power Supply

  Best charging cable

  Unlike the Raspberry Pi 4, which requires a power supply of 5V/3A, the Raspberry Pi Foundation raised the power requirements of the newest RPi board to 5V/5A. While you can use any ol’ power adapter with the Raspberry Pi 5, doing so will limit the amount of current sent to the USB ports. This makes CanaKit’s 45W power adapter perfect for the SBC, and its high power rating means you can use it to charge other devices, too.

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  Ugreen USB Sound Card

  Best sound card

  With the AUX port missing from the Raspberry Pi 5, you’ll require some kind of adapter to play back audio from the SBC. Ugreen’s USB Sound Card is perfect for this purpose; unlike your average USB-to-AUX adapter, this sound card has a built-in DAC to improve sound quality. To top it off, it even has a microphone port that you can use for audio recording purposes.

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  Kingston NV2 2280 NVMe SSD

  Best SSD

  $61 $81 Save $20

  While you can technically pair ultra-fast PCIe Gen 5 SSDs to the Raspberry Pi 5, you’re not going to see much of a difference if you opt for a cheaper NVMe drive. Kingston is well-known for manufacturing high-quality drives that strike the perfect balance between price and performance, and the company’s NV2 M.2 2280 is easily one of the best SSDs for the flagship Raspberry Pi board.

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  GeeekPi Mini Tower Kit

  Best tower case

  If you’re planning to use your Raspberry Pi 5 as a miniature PC, then you might want to consider the GeeekPi Mini Tower Kit. Aside from the RGB-lit mini tower case, you also get a GPIO extension board alongside a powerful air cooler. As if that’s not enough, the case even houses a small OLED screen, which you can freely program with the Raspberry Pi 5.

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  Amazon Basics Micro HDMI to HDMI Cable

  Best Micro HDMI Cable

  Modern monitors and graphics cards are equipped with full-sized HDMI or DisplayPort interfaces. So, the average user may not possess the adapters and cables for smaller HDMI ports. Unfortunately, the Raspberry Pi 5 continues the trend of sending video output via micro HDMI. This makes the Amazon Basics Micro HDMI to HDMI Display Cable an essential accessory for anyone who has to connect the Raspberry Pi 5 to a monitor.

These are our favorite Rapsberry Pi 5 peripherals

While there’s no doubt each of the accessories above can improve your Raspberry Pi 5 experience, you don’t have to go out and buy them all at once. Apart from the microSD card and the Micro HDMI to HDMI cable, the rest of the peripherals, cables, and cases depend entirely on your use-case.

For newcomers, I’d suggest buying the Geekworm P579-V2 Metal Case, as it not only provides solid protection to your Raspberry Pi 5 but also prevents it from hitting obscenely high temperatures thanks to its active cooling. From there, consider picking up the Anker 4-Port USB 3.0 Hub and GeeekPi Touchscreen Display, as they are useful in almost any project.

Conversely, you can probably save the Innomaker Raspberry Pi Camera for last since it’s a niche product with specific use-cases. After all, there’s no need to buy a camera if all you’re planning to do is turn the Raspberry Pi 5 into a NAS or build an emulation box with your SBC.

Raspberry Pi 5

The Raspberry Pi is back, and the fifth iteration of the SBC is a lot more capable than the older models. From a new quad-core Arm Cortex-A76 CPU, support for dual monitor setups at 4K 60Hz, and a dedicated power button, there’s a lot to love about this palm-sized computer.