TheCod3r Discovers a Dangerous Problem With the PlayStation 5’s Thermal Paste

Long gaming sessions push your console to its limits, generating more heat than a sunbathing penguin. To keep temperatures low, it’s vital that your PS5 is able to dissipate excess heat efficiently. A great way to do that is by using thermal paste.

Typically, systems use a paste-style thermal interface material (TIM) to ensure that the heat is routed to a cooler and not into your console’s motherboard. However, during a repair job for the PlayStation 5, third-party technician TheCod3r discovered something strange: the liquid metal thermal paste that covers the CPU’s processor in his PS5 spilled out of the processor’s socket.

While the PlayStation 5 can still cool down its SoC with its fans and heat sinks, this is a potentially dangerous problem that could lead to short circuiting and other issues. According to Sony engineering VP Yasuhiro Ootori, this is because the PlayStation’s liquid metal TIM can oxidize, creating areas where the heat doesn’t reach the processor.

This is because the TIM transfers thermal energy by filling microscopic gaps between the SoC and the heat sink. This allows the thermal energy to move quickly between both surfaces, lowering the overall system resistance.

To test the effectiveness of the PlayStation’s TIM, TronixFix disabled both of the console’s fans and ran each one through a stress test to see how long they lasted before shutting down. The PS5 with the TIM was able to last longer, but the cooling wasn’t as effective as the stock model.Pc Thermal Paste