Console 5 min October 2026
PS5 liquid metal and dry spots: why your console is dying slowly
Why Sony chose liquid metal, how dry spots form and how I redo it on the bench, step by step.
With the PS5, Sony made a very enthusiast choice: ditch thermal paste and cool the APU with liquid metal. Brilliant — but it hides a flaw sooner or later everyone meets: the dry spot.
Why Sony uses liquid metal
- ▸Power density — the APU packs a lot of heat into a tiny area; liquid metal moves heat far better than paste.
- ▸No air gaps — it fully wets chip and heatsink surfaces.
- ▸Long-term stability — sealed in its barriers, it doesn't suffer paste pump-out.
What a dry spot is
An area of the chip no longer covered by the gallium-indium-tin alloy, caused by:
- ▸Migration — thermal cycling moves it away from parts of the die.
- ▸Oxidation — an imperfect seal lets it react and «dry out».
- ▸Gravity — long periods standing vertical with an imperfect seal.
What it does
Heat transfer collapses: temperatures spike, the fan maxes out and the console may shut down to protect itself.
How I redo it
- ▸Full teardown — straight to the chip.
- ▸Oxide removal — dedicated solvents, mirror-clean surfaces.
- ▸Component shielding — liquid metal is conductive: one stray drop is a short.
- ▸Precision reapplication — with the containment barrier intact.
- ▸Cleaning and testing — heatsink fin by fin, fan lubricated, temperature test before handover.
🎮 Is your PS5 overheating?
Fan always maxed, shutdowns, dropping performance: those are the signs.
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