PS5's Have a Liquid Metal Problem - But It May Not Be What You Think

PS5's Have a Liquid Metal Problem - But It May Not Be What You Think - The recent talk about issues from keeping your PS5 vertical prompted me to make this video checking out 3 PS5s to see the condition of the thermal paste and if I find that any has leaked out. I'm also trying to fix a PS5 that I paid $260 for that randomly turns off while a game is being played.

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Tools I Use:

Equipment Used:

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[TommyGunz_]

I'd love to know the amount of times you've undone those 40 completely necessary screws.

[matthewhardwick]

I have not had any problems with my console. And I believe it's one of the original launch models. I've never seen a single overheating message. I guess I am a bit OCD when it comes to cleaning game consoles and keeping them running cool for longer game sessions.

[Even-Steven]

I would assume based on the 1st PS5's symptoms that the PSU thermal protection was kicking in before the APU, hence no overheating message and just plain shutting down.

[TB-nfbs]

I see alot of people asking. Yes vacuuming the holes helps but it's minimal I guess it's peace of mind only. I've vacuumed the holes on mine but it was still caked on the fan. Cleaning the fan is not fun it really gets caked up even if you dust it off. I have hepa air purifier in every room it helps but still gets dusty and caked up. I blow my ps5 out as well as all the pcs/laptops every 3 to 6 months. I've cleaned 8 PS5 for people as a service in my town and the fan is always caked in each household the heatsinks are usually not that bad seems like the fan design just loves collecting lint and dust.

[PoutingTrevor]

The PS5 was fine, it just REALLY didn't want to play Horizon Forbidden West.

[mantis]

I found you can rotate out the main board assembly to about 75 degrees angle leaving the metal shielding undisturbed. Once there, you can easily blow out the heatsinks and PSU with an electric blower. To do this you need to leave the IO ribbon cable attached and IO board installed. Just be careful that you don't put the IO ribbon under pressure. If you are careful and maintain observation with the still attached ribbon cable, you can easily rotate out the main PCB for heatsink cleaning. I tend to put a little contact cleaner on the PSU spikes once air dusting is complete to ensure best PSU connectivity.

[venialgaming]

The thing is is not all parts of the die have thermometers so if there’s a dry spot and thus a hot spot it may not detect a high temp but detect too many errors that result from a high temp and turn it off, similar to how bsod’s are triggered on windows

[nutshed]

ive kept my ps5 horizontal since day one cause i think it looks better, everyone always asks me why i keep it that way instead of vertical, now i have another reason

[rzmtz]

nice efforts again! when my ps5 started to shut off while playing from overheating there was no message. i had to remove the power cord and then do a hdd repair on both drives and read the message that the unit was not shut down properly . it ran for 16 months 24/7 and the fan was quite dusty and heatsink was plugged with dust. i didnt check the liquid metal since the cleaning of the fan and heatsink fixed the shutting down.

[GeomancerHT]

Have you tried replacing liquid metal with good thermal paste or the difference in temps will be too much?

[neojeets]

Nice one. This is reminding me that I should do a good cleaning on my PS5. Mine is a launch disc system that’s been horizontal the whole time due to the space I have for it. No problems and runs pretty quiet during play. Fingers crossed it stays that way.

[thennekcdcdthennek]

that dry spot is where the heat sits when you shut it down immediately after hours of playing. i make it a habit to cool down my consoles for like 3-5 minutes before shutting them down. my 14yr old ps3 slim 6 yr old ps4 slim runs like new on their stock thermal paste. now that i have the ps5, i'm making sure to cool it down before turning it off to disipate the heat inside.

[Albert-P]

I like the video, but have to disagree on certain points, if a PS5 suffers from oxidation or "corrosion" in its IHS or heatsink union, it's not because the design is wrong, but because that particular unit was poorly assembled (isolated cases among thousands of consoles) and parts with defects, be it poorly sanded surfaces or defectuous nickel plating, because in theory and practice, liquid metal doesn't have to eat copper or nickel, it only melts with them at a molecular level but not to the degree of corroding as If it happens with aluminum.

And second, we have to take into account the behavior of a liquid, obviously if we separate two plates pressed together with a liquid in the middle, the surface tension will cause that layer of intermediate liquid to break and disintegrate creating those "dry spots" that can be seen when we opening the assembly (only when we opening it), but at a micro level that doesn't exist when the two plates are tight together, since the idea and purpose of the liquid metal is to create a very thin but extremely conductive layer at a thermal level, that we cannot see with the naked eye That layer doesn't mean that it's not there when everything is closed.
An example would be that you will enclose water between your two palms, if you hold it indeterminately, the water will not come out, no matter the position. But as soon as you separate them the layer disappears, the same logic occurs with liquid metal used as TIM.
That is why I would not guarantee that the PS5 has to be used in a “safer” way or another, since the position doesn't have to alter the internal layer or the integrity of the TIM.

[swordfish.]

Whenever you mentioned ifixit tools, you reminded me of the time when I cleaned and repasted my old laptop several years ago. Thanks to their instruction video and tools, I did it very well although it was my first time. I got more comfortable cleaning laptop and doing thermal paste since then. Also cool shirt you got there.

[kowa]

Day 1 first batch ps5 here and no issues at all

[darksaber]

I have a suggestion. Try Honeywell tpm 7950 thermal pad. I used it on my PS4 Pro and framework laptop. Both are now super quite. LTT tested it, and the conclusion is, it is on par with liquid metal.
As I don't own a PS5 yet, I can not try it myself.

[sweatbox]

it's interesting to see that Sony decided this was the best way to cool the system. given the series x and PS5 basically use the same APU I wouldn't expect their cooling solutions to be so different even given their form factors, Sony obviously knew about the limitations of LM and decided to use it anyways

[reddawg]

My problem is i hate to void the warranty sticker even though alot of people do it but if you send it to sony they have to void the warranty sticker when they take it apart too

[brettfarrar]

I'm not surprised, seems like launch systems have issues. I bought a launch PS1 and laser was a poor design and eventually failed. My PS5 controllers have stick drift, I tore them apart and cleaned the sticks with electronics cleaner.

[strkeout]

Do you think that people who keep their PS5 vertical are at greater risk of the liquid metal moving about? LOL, I see that you answered this at the end of the video....I thought so. Thanks!!!