Argon ONE Case - Upgrading Original to V2

Disclosure of Material Connection: I received the Argon ONE V2 product for free. I was not required to write a review. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission's requirements.

I recently upgraded from an Argon ONE (original) to the Argon ONE V2.  A wrote a separate article (link at the end of this one) sharing my thoughts about the case, and the upgrade, in this article I am just sharing some pics and thoughts of moving my Pi 4 from the old to new case.

I set everything out ( the old case, new case and a few tools) and got started.

Left: Original
Right: V2 still in box

Top: V2 (without Pi)
Bottom: Original (with Pi)

As you can see above, the cases are very similar.  The main physical difference is the HDMI port size (the V2 has full-size ports) and the power button moved.  Other than that, everything else looks the same on the outside.

Pi 4 in the original Argon ONE case

Someone of the material from the silicon thermal pad.

The silicon thermal pad from one chip and a little bit of
another the other chip stayed on the heat sink side

Once the Pi 4 was removed from the original Argon ONE case, I had to clean up some of the old silicon thermal pad material.  It didn't stick to anything really, not like glue, so it was just a matter of carefully taking it off and cleaning up the area.  Make sure no small pieces fall off, you probably don't want little pieces causing problems.

Video/Audio PCB Extender - From original case

Video/Audio PCB Extender - From V2 case

Pi4, both cases, and a few other other items
Left Top/Bottom: Argon ONE (original)
Right Top/bottom: Argon ONE case (V2)

The original case has a  power mode jumper, but no IR items.

The V2 has a power mode jumper and IR IN.

Both the boards have a jumper so you can set the power mode.  I kept mine in the default setting (where you have to hit the power button to turn it on), but I believe the "always on" option is best if you plan to use your Pi 4 as a server or network device and you want to ensure it turns on after a power outage.

I didn't follow directions, but it worked.

The directions have you place both silicon thermal pads on the case/heatsink side, but I decided to place them directly on the chip.  Also both pads are the same size, but I cut a little material off one to match the chip it was going on.  I really wanted to make sure the pads lined up directly over the chip, but this is probably just a situation where I was over thinking things.

I finished putting everything together, put the MicroSD card back in and had my Pi 4 back up and running with no problem.

If you haven't seen my review of the case, go check it out:

https://bigboystoys13.blogspot.com/2021/09/argon-one-v2-case-review.html