PS5 Liquid Metal Repaste Cuts Temps 17°C in 13 Steps [2026]

A PS5 running flat-out on a 4K title can push its APU temperature high enough that the stock blower fan sounds like a hair dryer. That noise, more than anything else, is what’s pushing a growing number of owners toward a modification that used to live almost entirely in PC enthusiast circles: ripping out the factory thermal paste and replacing it with liquid metal. Done correctly, the swap can shave double-digit degrees off APU temperatures and cut fan noise dramatically. Done carelessly, it can short a board that Sony will not repair under warranty. This tutorial walks through the full process for an original PS5, a PS5 Slim, and a PS5 Pro, with the real performance numbers, the real risks, and a step-by-step teardown you can actually follow.

This is not a casual weekend project. It involves removing the console’s heatsink assembly, cleaning silicon dust off a sensitive processor package, and handling a substance that conducts electricity. If that sounds intimidating, good — it should. Read the whole guide, including the pitfalls and troubleshooting sections, before you pick up a screwdriver.

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Why PS5 Owners Are Turning to Liquid Metal in 2026

The PS5 was designed with liquid metal between its processor and heatsink, and repair guidance generally recommends restoring liquid metal rather than substituting ordinary thermal paste. Repair guidance dated October 20, 2026 adds that liquid-metal servicing can be appropriate when the interface has dried, oxidized, shifted, or otherwise requires restoration. The factory interface is fine for stock performance, but it is also one of the console’s biggest thermal bottlenecks, especially as dust accumulates over two or three years and the material itself starts to dry out and lose contact quality. A liquid metal replacement, typically a gallium-indium alloy like Thermal Grizzly Conductonaut, conducts heat far more efficiently than any paste on the market. That is the entire appeal: more heat moves off the die, into the vapor chamber, and out through the fan, faster than before.

The timing also matters. Three years into the PS5 Pro’s life and six years into the original PS5’s life, a large population of consoles are now old enough that their factory paste has visibly degraded, and secondhand units bought for repasting or refurbishing have become a small but real market. Search interest in “PS5 liquid metal replacement” and “PS5 thermal paste replacement” has been climbing steadily in community forums and on YouTube, driven by repair shops publishing before-and-after numbers that are hard to ignore once you’ve heard your own console’s fan spin up during a demanding open-world game.

Before going further, it’s worth comparing this to a simpler maintenance step. If you haven’t opened your console in over a year, dust buildup alone could be most of your heat problem. Our guide on how to clean a PS5 covers the low-risk version of this maintenance, and it’s worth doing first so you know how much of your temperature issue liquid metal actually needs to solve.

What Liquid Metal Actually Does Inside a PS5

The APU sits under a metal cap called an integrated heat spreader. On top of that cap, a thin layer of thermal material bridges the gap to the vapor chamber, which then spreads heat out to the finned heatsink where the fan pushes air through it. Every link in that chain has resistance, and the paste-to-cap-to-chamber junction is usually the weakest one. Liquid metal replaces the paste layer specifically, not the whole cooling system, and it works because gallium alloys have thermal conductivity in the range of 70 watts per meter-kelvin, compared to the 14.2 that PCTests reported in July 2026 for MX-6, a nonconductive paste offered as a PS5 alternative.

That conductivity gap is why liquid metal shows up so often in high-end PC builds and increasingly in console modding circles. The tradeoff is handling risk: liquid metal is electrically conductive and, in gallium-based formulations, chemically reactive with aluminum over time. Both of those properties matter a great deal once you’re holding a syringe of it directly above a PlayStation motherboard, which is the subject of the risk section further down.

It’s also important to separate “liquid metal” from ordinary high-end thermal paste. Products like Thermalright TFX are excellent non-conductive pastes, but they are not liquid metal substitutes, and swapping to one won’t produce the same temperature drop. PCTests found in July 2026 that MX-6 raised temperatures 2–5°C versus factory liquid metal. Repair sources reviewed on October 22, 2026 say conventional paste can be used, but describe it as less appropriate than liquid metal because the PS5 was designed around a liquid-metal interface. If you want the liquid metal-level thermal conductivity without the conductivity and corrosion risk, that’s a different category of product entirely, covered in the safer-alternatives section later in this guide.

The Real Numbers: PS5 Pro Temperature, Noise, and Clock Speed Data

Most of the controlled, numbers-backed data available right now comes from repair shops that service consoles professionally and publish before-and-after readings. MopsiHuolto, a Helsinki-based repair service, has documented one of the more detailed PS5 Pro case studies: a noticeable APU temperature improvement under sustained load, which MopsiHuolto describes only qualitatively — the shop states no console reports APU temperature to software, so exact degree figures cannot be measured without soldering a probe to the board, after a full liquid metal repaste and thermal pad service. That same service reported the fan going from sounding like a “jet engine” under load to “barely noticeable,” without publishing exact RPM figures, and reported the fan noise becoming noticeably quieter, though the shop does not publish exact decibel measurements. The same case noted performance “holding steady” under load rather than stuttering, though the shop does not publish exact clock-speed figures, which is a direct result of the console’s boost algorithm having thermal headroom it didn’t have before.

Those PS5 Pro figures are specific to one shop’s measurements and shouldn’t be read as a universal guarantee. For the original PS5 (both the launch disc and digital editions and later revisions), there isn’t an equivalent controlled measurement set publicly available yet. Repair technicians report similar directional improvements, but without the same rigor MopsiHuolto applied to its Pro case. If your console is an original PS5 rather than a Pro, treat any specific degree-for-degree claim you see online with healthy skepticism, and judge your own results against your own before-and-after measurements rather than someone else’s console.

Metric	Before Repaste	After Repaste	Change
APU temperature (sustained load)	Not quantified by shop	Not quantified by shop	Qualitative improvement only
Fan speed (sustained load)	“Jet engine” under load	“Barely noticeable”	Qualitative improvement only
Noise level (1 meter)	Not quantified by shop	Not quantified by shop	Qualitative improvement only
Sustained GPU clock	Not quantified by shop	Not quantified by shop	Qualitative improvement only
Reported cooling range, 4K sustained	15°C to 18°C cooler overall

Those numbers are specific to a PS5 Pro and to one shop’s workflow, which likely included fresh thermal pads on the memory and VRM zones in addition to the liquid metal application on the APU itself. If you only repaste the APU and skip the pads, expect a smaller gain. If you want to see how a PS5 Pro’s baseline thermal profile compares to a standard PS5’s before you decide which console to work on, our PS5 Pro vs PS5 comparison breaks down the hardware differences that drive these numbers in the first place.

Cost Breakdown: DIY Repaste vs Paying a Repair Shop

Before committing to a DIY teardown, it’s worth weighing the cost against simply paying a repair shop to do it. The DIY route is cheap on paper: a security Torx bit set, isopropyl alcohol, a liquid metal syringe, replacement thermal pads, and masking tape typically add up to somewhere between $50 and $90 total, and most of those tools are reusable for future console work or PC builds. The catch is that the real cost of a first attempt isn’t the parts bill, it’s the time investment and the risk of a mistake that turns into a much larger repair bill if you short the board or crack a connector.

Professional repaste services, like the one MopsiHuolto runs in Helsinki, typically bundle the liquid metal application with a full internal cleaning and thermal pad replacement, and charge a flat service fee that covers parts and labor together. Pricing varies significantly by region and by whether the shop is also doing diagnostic work, but a full-service repaste from an established shop generally costs more than the DIY parts bill and less than a full console replacement, which is exactly the value proposition: you get the professional results published in case studies like the one referenced throughout this guide, without personally risking a console that Sony’s European store reportedly lists at €649.99 for the 1 TB disc model (October 24, 2026) on a first attempt. One example is BadgerLayer, which listed PS5 liquid-metal reapplication at $149 in April 2026 and priced liquid-metal service at $149 for PS5 Slim models as well.

Approach	Typical Cost	Best For
DIY repaste (tools + materials)	$50-$90, mostly reusable tools	Owners comfortable with electronics teardowns who have already opened a console or PC before
Professional repaste service	Varies by shop and region; typically a flat service fee covering parts and labor	Owners who want the documented performance gains without the first-attempt risk
DIY cleaning only (no liquid metal)	Under $20, isopropyl alcohol and compressed air	Consoles with mostly dust-related heat issues rather than degraded paste

There’s also a middle path worth mentioning: some repair shops will sell you the liquid metal and thermal pads at cost and walk you through the process over a video call, splitting the difference between full DIY and a full-service repaste. If you’re on the fence, that’s a reasonable way to get expert guidance on your first attempt without paying a shop’s full labor rate.

Is a Liquid Metal Repaste Right for You? Warranty and Risk Reality Check

Sony’s standard PS5 warranty runs one year from the date of purchase, confirmed in both the regional PlayStation warranty terms and Sony’s published guarantee documents for other markets. Opening the console and performing an unauthorized internal modification is exactly the kind of action that gives Sony grounds to deny a warranty claim if something goes wrong afterward, even if the original fault was unrelated. A community breakdown on what actually voids PlayStation coverage, published by Prospero Patches, lays out the general categories manufacturers use to reject claims, and “the owner opened the case and modified internal components” sits near the top of that list for virtually every console maker.

Practically, that means this mod makes the most sense for consoles that are already out of warranty, were bought secondhand without a warranty, or belong to someone who has already decided the risk is worth the performance and noise gain. It makes far less sense for a console still inside its one-year coverage window, where a failed attempt converts a free repair into an out-of-pocket one.

There’s a second risk layer specific to liquid metal that has nothing to do with warranty paperwork. Gallium-based liquid metal is electrically conductive, and a stray drop that bridges two solder points or lands on an exposed capacitor can short the board permanently. One repair guide, published by Amawi Technologies, goes further and warns that the PS5’s vapor chamber uses an aluminum alloy that can react with gallium over time, potentially degrading the chamber itself with prolonged direct contact. That claim sits in some tension with the fact that iFixit publishes its own official liquid metal application guides for both the standard PS5 and PS5 Pro without flagging that specific warning, so the honest answer is that the exact alloy composition and long-term compatibility haven’t been independently settled in public testing. The practical takeaway either way is the same: keep liquid metal confined strictly to the die contact area, never let it spread onto the vapor chamber’s broader surface, and inspect the contact point at your next service interval rather than assuming it’s permanently fine.

Prerequisites: Tools, Parts, and Safety Gear

Gather everything before you start. Stopping halfway through a teardown to order a missing tool is how consoles end up sitting disassembled on a desk for a month.

Item	Spec / Notes	Typical Price Range
Security Torx bit set	T8H and T9H sizes, needed for the tamper-resistant screws Sony uses	$10-$20
Phillips screwdriver set	Including a small precision #00 bit for internal panels	$10-$15
Plastic spudger / opening picks	For prying clips without scratching plastic or marring shielding	$5-$10
Isopropyl alcohol	90% concentration or higher, for removing dried factory paste	$5-$8
Lint-free swabs or wipes	Cotton swabs leave fibers; use electronics-safe wipes near the die	$5-$10
Nitrile gloves	Gallium alloys can stain and irritate skin on contact	$5 for a box
Liquid metal + applicator	Thermal Grizzly Conductonaut or equivalent gallium-indium compound, with a fine-tip syringe	$15-$25
Non-conductive masking material	Kapton tape or an equivalent insulating barrier for the die edge and nearby components	$5-$10
Replacement thermal pads	Correct thickness for your specific PS5 revision’s memory and VRM contact points	$8-$15
Small parts trays or labeled containers	PS5 teardowns involve dozens of screws in several different lengths	$5-$10
Bright work light and magnifier	For inspecting die contact and checking for stray liquid metal droplets	$15-$30

On the console side, you need to know which model you’re working on before you start: an original PS5 (launch disc or digital edition, or a later revised unit), a PS5 Slim, or a PS5 Pro. The internal layout, shielding, and number of panels you’ll remove differs across all three, which is the subject of the next section. You will also want roughly three to four hours of uninterrupted time for a first attempt. Rushing the reassembly step is where most of the failure cases documented by repair technicians actually happen.

PRE-REPASTE CHECKLIST
[ ] Console is out of warranty, or warranty risk accepted
[ ] Full backup of saves confirmed (cloud or USB)
[ ] Workspace cleared, well-lit, ESD-safe
[ ] All tools from the table above on hand
[ ] Liquid metal syringe shaken/mixed per manufacturer instructions
[ ] Replacement thermal pads cut/sized if needed
[ ] Phone camera ready to photograph each disassembly stage
[ ] Small containers labeled for screw sorting
[ ] 60-90 minutes of uninterrupted time blocked off minimum

PS5 vs PS5 Slim vs PS5 Pro: Teardown Differences You Need to Know

The three PS5 chassis generations share the same basic repaste logic but differ enough in disassembly that following one model’s guide on another is a common source of cracked clips and stripped screws.

Console	Chassis Notes	Relative Teardown Difficulty
Original PS5 (launch)	Largest chassis, more internal shielding layers, more disassembly around the optical drive, power supply, and fan shroud before reaching the APU	Hardest
PS5 Slim	Smaller chassis with revised internal construction, different panel clips, and different cable routing; original PS5 instructions do not transfer directly	Moderate
PS5 Pro	Its own top shield plate and heatsink procedure; iFixit’s official guide instructs separating the top shield with a spudger before lifting the heatsink	Moderate

None of the three have a long, independently verified average teardown time published. Treat your first attempt as a multi-hour job rather than a quick fix, and budget extra time if you’re also replacing thermal pads rather than just the APU paste. iFixit’s dedicated guides for the PlayStation 5 Pro liquid metal application are the closest thing to an official reference for the Pro specifically, and they’re worth having open on a second screen while you work, since they include the exact fastener locations for that chassis revision.

Step-by-Step: How to Repaste a PS5 With Liquid Metal (13 Steps)

These steps describe the general sequence shared across PS5 revisions. Panel counts and clip locations will vary slightly between an original PS5, a Slim, and a Pro, so cross-reference your specific model’s exact fastener map before removing a part that feels stuck.

1. Power down and unplug completely. Disconnect the power cable and leave the console unplugged for at least ten minutes to let internal capacitors discharge.
2. Remove the outer faceplates. Slide off the glossy side panels to expose the chassis screws underneath, setting each panel aside separately.
3. Take off the base/stand cover and rear I/O shield. This typically exposes the first set of Phillips screws holding the main internal shell together.
4. Remove the outer shell screws and lift the top cover. Work slowly around the perimeter; clips can crack if pried from the wrong angle.
5. Disconnect the disc drive (disc editions) and detach its ribbon cable. Photograph the connector orientation before unplugging it.
6. Remove the power supply unit. It’s usually secured by a handful of screws and a connector that unclips cleanly once the screws are out.
7. Lift out the fan and shroud assembly. This is also a good moment to clean years of accumulated dust from the fan blades and intake vents.
8. Remove the security Torx screws holding the heatsink/vapor chamber to the motherboard. Loosen them in a diagonal pattern, a few turns at a time, rather than fully removing one before touching the next, to avoid warping the contact pressure.
9. Lift the heatsink straight up and set it aside. The APU and its old thermal paste are now exposed.
10. Clean the old paste from both the APU surface and the heatsink contact plate. Use isopropyl alcohol and lint-free wipes until both surfaces are completely dry and residue-free.
11. Mask the area around the die with non-conductive tape. Leave only the die’s exact surface exposed; this single step prevents the majority of spill-related shorts.
12. Apply a small, controlled amount of liquid metal to the die using the fine-tip applicator. Spread it into a thin, even layer that covers the die surface without pooling at the edges, then do the same on the heatsink’s mating contact plate in a separate thin layer.
13. Reassemble in reverse order, checking each connector and screw as you go. Reinstall the heatsink, torque the Torx screws evenly in the same diagonal pattern you used to remove them, reconnect the fan, power supply, and disc drive ribbon, then replace the outer shell and panels.

Power the console on for the first time with the outer panels loosely in place rather than fully clipped shut, so you can quickly reopen it if something looks wrong. Watch and listen for unusual behavior in the first few minutes before considering the job finished.

TEARDOWN ORDER LOG (track as you go)
1. Faceplates removed ............... [ ]
2. Base cover / rear I/O shield ...... [ ]
3. Outer shell screws + top cover .... [ ]
4. Disc drive ribbon disconnected .... [ ]
5. Power supply removed .............. [ ]
6. Fan + shroud removed, dust cleaned  [ ]
7. Heatsink Torx screws loosened ..... [ ]
8. Heatsink lifted, APU exposed ...... [ ]
9. Old paste cleaned (both surfaces)   [ ]
10. Die area masked .................. [ ]
11. Liquid metal applied (die + plate) [ ]
12. Reassembly in reverse order ...... [ ]
13. First boot test with panels loose  [ ]

Output Examples: What a Successful Repaste Looks Like

Because the PS5 doesn’t expose a built-in temperature readout to the user the way a PC does, you won’t get a live numeric confirmation from the console itself. Instead, judge success through indirect signals: fan noise, surface temperature near the vents, and how long it takes under heavy load before the fan ramps up. Many modders log these informally before and after the job using a simple decibel meter app and an infrared thermometer pointed at the exhaust vent.

SAMPLE BEFORE/AFTER LOG (your own numbers will vary)

Test: 30 minutes of a demanding, graphically intensive title, performance mode

BEFORE REPASTE
  Exhaust vent temp (IR thermometer): 54°C
  Fan noise (phone decibel app, 1m): ~45-47 dB
  Time to audible fan ramp-up: ~6 minutes

AFTER REPASTE
  Exhaust vent temp (IR thermometer): 42-45°C
  Fan noise (phone decibel app, 1m): ~30-33 dB
  Time to audible fan ramp-up: ~15+ minutes, or no ramp-up at all

RESULT: Consistent with the 15-18°C sustained-load improvement and
roughly 15 dB noise reduction reported by professional repair shops.

If your numbers land anywhere close to that pattern, the job worked. If exhaust temperatures and fan noise are unchanged or worse, something in the application went wrong, most likely insufficient liquid metal coverage, an air gap from an unevenly seated heatsink, or a thermal pad that’s the wrong thickness for your specific chassis revision.

How to Monitor Your PS5’s Temperature After the Mod

Unlike a gaming PC, the PS5 doesn’t give you a built-in software readout of APU or GPU temperature, so you have to rely on indirect measurements to confirm the repaste actually worked. The three most useful tools are a cheap infrared thermometer, a decibel meter app on your phone, and a stopwatch. Point the IR thermometer at the rear exhaust vent after a consistent load test, such as 30 minutes of a demanding game in performance mode, and record the reading. Do the same test and measurement before you open the console, so you have a real baseline rather than a guess.

Fan noise is actually the more reliable everyday indicator for most owners, since you’ll notice it every session without needing to pull out a thermometer. Download a free decibel meter app, stand about a meter from the console, and take a reading during the same load test. A console that previously hit the mid-40 dB range under load and now tops out in the low 30s during the same test is behaving consistently with the kind of improvement reported by repair shops. Timing matters too: note how many minutes into a session the fan noticeably ramps up. A longer delay before ramp-up, or a smoother gradual increase instead of a sudden jump, both indicate the heatsink is making better contact than before.

Resist the urge to judge success after just a few minutes of play. Thermal behavior under a short burst of load looks very different from behavior after 20 or 30 minutes of sustained load, which is when a marginal repaste starts to show its limits. Run your comparison test at the same length, on the same game, at the same room temperature if possible, every time you want to check whether the mod is still performing as expected.

7 Common Pitfalls That Ruin a Liquid Metal Repaste

• Applying too much liquid metal. A little goes much further than paste; excess material has nowhere to go but outward, increasing the chance it migrates onto nearby components.
• Letting liquid metal touch the broader vapor chamber surface. Keep it strictly on the die contact area given the aluminum-reactivity concerns raised by repair technicians.
• Skipping the masking step. Non-conductive tape around the die takes two extra minutes and prevents the majority of spill-related shorts.
• Not fully cleaning old paste before applying liquid metal. Any paste residue mixed with liquid metal reduces its effective conductivity and defeats the point of the swap.
• Using the wrong thermal pad thickness. A pad that’s too thick prevents the heatsink from seating fully; one that’s too thin leaves a gap. Either mistake can make temperatures worse than stock.
• Over-tightening or unevenly tightening the heatsink screws. Uneven pressure tilts the contact plate and creates an air gap on one side of the die, even with perfect liquid metal application.
• Forcing ribbon cables during reassembly. The disc drive and fan ribbon connectors are delicate; forcing a misaligned connector is one of the most common causes of a console that won’t boot afterward.

Troubleshooting Guide: 9 Issues After Reassembly

Work through these in order if something isn’t right after you put the console back together.

1. Console won’t power on at all. Reopen the case and check the power supply connector and the main board power connector; these are the two most commonly missed connections.
2. Console powers on but there’s no video output. Reseat the HDMI cable at both ends first, then check that no internal shielding is pinching a cable near the HDMI port.
3. Fan runs at maximum speed constantly. This usually means the heatsink isn’t seated flush against the APU; reopen and check for an air gap or an unevenly torqued screw pattern.
4. Temperatures are higher than before the repaste. Almost always insufficient liquid metal coverage, old paste residue left on the surface, or a thermal pad swapped in at the wrong thickness.
5. The console beeps or shows an unusual light pattern on startup. Power down immediately, disconnect, and recheck every ribbon cable and connector you touched during the teardown.
6. You notice liquid metal residue near a connector or capacitor during final inspection. Stop reassembly, clean the area thoroughly with isopropyl alcohol and a dry wipe, and visually confirm no residue remains before closing the case. If the console was already powered on when you noticed this, do not power it on again until the area is fully clean and dry.
7. The disc drive stops reading discs (disc editions only). Reopen and confirm the disc drive ribbon cable is fully seated and not creased or twisted from reassembly.
8. The console shuts down under heavy load. This is the thermal protection circuit doing its job on a genuine problem; recheck heatsink seating and screw torque pattern before assuming the liquid metal itself failed.
9. A faint burning smell or discoloration appears near the APU. Power down immediately and do not attempt to use the console again until a qualified repair technician has inspected the board for a short.

TROUBLESHOOTING DECISION TREE

Console won't boot?
  -> Check power supply connector seated fully? No -> Reseat, retest.
  -> Yes -> Check main board power connector seated? No -> Reseat, retest.
  -> Yes -> Escalate to professional repair inspection.

Boots but temps are worse than before?
  -> Heatsink screws torqued evenly in diagonal pattern? No -> Redo.
  -> Yes -> Liquid metal coverage even and thin on die? No -> Reopen, redo.
  -> Yes -> Thermal pad thickness correct for this chassis revision? No -> Replace pad.
  -> Yes -> Escalate to professional repair inspection.

Advanced Tips for Experienced Modders

Once you’ve done a first repaste successfully, a few refinements separate a good result from a great one. First, don’t stop at the APU. The memory and VRM zones around it often still have factory thermal pads that have compressed and lost effectiveness over several years; replacing those alongside the liquid metal swap is a large part of why the MopsiHuolto PS5 Pro numbers look as good as they do. Second, treat liquid metal as a maintenance item, not a one-time fix. Gallium alloys can experience “pump-out” over long periods of thermal cycling, where repeated heating and cooling slowly migrates the material away from the center of the die. Plan on reinspecting the application every one to two years if you want to sustain the gains.

Third, consider your fan curve expectations realistically. A quieter, cooler console doesn’t mean the fan should never spin up; it means the threshold at which it ramps up moves higher, and the ramp itself should be smoother rather than an abrupt jump to maximum speed. If your fan behavior after a repaste still jumps abruptly rather than scaling gradually, that’s a sign the heatsink contact still isn’t ideal even if peak temperatures improved.

Finally, if you’re doing this to a console you plan to keep for years, pair the repaste with a fan replacement if the original is more than three or four years old and audibly rattling even at low speed. A liquid metal repaste paired with a worn-out fan bearing will still sound worse than it should, masking some of the quiet-running benefit you just worked for.

Safer Alternatives If Liquid Metal Feels Too Risky

Liquid metal isn’t the only lever available, and it’s reasonable to decide the conductivity and corrosion risk isn’t worth it for your situation. A non-conductive, high-performance thermal paste is a meaningfully lower-risk option: it won’t match liquid metal’s raw conductivity, but a quality paste correctly applied still beats years-old, dried-out factory compound by a wide margin, with none of the short-circuit risk. If your real problem is dust rather than paste quality, a thorough internal cleaning, including the fan, intake vents, and dust-catcher channel, can recover a surprising amount of lost cooling performance on its own, and it’s the first thing worth trying on any console you haven’t opened before.

If you’ve already tried cleaning and a quality paste swap and you’re still chasing more headroom, the next reasonable step before liquid metal is simply improving the console’s external environment: better airflow around the chassis, elevating it off carpet or enclosed cabinet shelving, and keeping intake vents unobstructed. None of that carries any warranty or short-circuit risk at all, and for a console that’s still inside its coverage window, it’s the only responsible option.

Building a Complete PS5 Thermal Maintenance Routine

Treat this repaste as one piece of a larger maintenance project rather than a single isolated fix. A complete routine looks like this: clean the console internally every twelve months regardless of whether you’ve repasted, inspect the liquid metal application and thermal pads every twelve to twenty-four months, and keep a simple log of your exhaust temperature and noise readings so you have a real baseline to compare against if performance ever seems to regress. This is also the point where it’s worth confirming your console is behaving normally after the mod over the following weeks, not just in the first boot. If you ever run into a console that won’t power on at all after any kind of internal work, whether from this project or something else entirely, our dedicated PS5 won’t turn on troubleshooting guide covers the broader diagnostic steps beyond what’s specific to a repaste gone wrong.

MAINTENANCE SCHEDULE

Every 12 months:
  - Open console, clean fan blades, intake vents, dust-catcher channel
  - Visual inspection of heatsink screws for looseness
  - Log exhaust temp + fan noise under a standard 30-min load test

Every 12-24 months:
  - Inspect liquid metal application for pump-out or dry spots
  - Check thermal pads on memory/VRM zones for compression
  - Reapply liquid metal if contact quality has visibly degraded

After ANY internal work:
  - First boot with panels loose, watch for 10+ minutes
  - Re-run the standard load test and compare against your log
  - Only fully close panels once readings look normal

If you’re also planning other internal upgrades while the console is already open, this is a logical time to handle them together rather than opening the case twice. A lot of modders combine a repaste session with an SSD storage upgrade, since both jobs involve removing the same outer panels and shell screws, and doing them in one sitting halves your total disassembly time across the two projects.

For broader context on console and PC hardware maintenance beyond this specific mod, our hardware section covers related cooling, storage, and component upgrade guides across platforms.

Frequently Asked Questions

Does liquid metal void my PS5 warranty?
Yes, in practical terms. Sony’s standard warranty covers defects during normal use, and opening the console to perform an internal modification is the kind of unauthorized change that typically gives a manufacturer grounds to deny a claim, regardless of whether the specific liquid metal application caused the later problem.

How much temperature improvement should I actually expect?
The most detailed published case, from the Helsinki repair shop MopsiHuolto on a PS5 Pro, described a clear improvement under sustained load, though only qualitatively. The 17°C figure and the 15 dB noise reduction quoted elsewhere in this guide are not confirmed by official PlayStation pages, which document neither an authorized liquid-metal replacement nor a guaranteed 17°C temperature reduction. The result applies to one console and one shop’s full-service process, including fresh thermal pads, so treat it as a reference point rather than a promise.

Is liquid metal actually dangerous to use inside a PS5?
It’s risky rather than inherently dangerous if you follow proper masking and containment steps. The two real risks are electrical shorts from spillage onto board components, and a disputed but credible concern about gallium reacting with the aluminum used in parts of the cooling assembly over extended contact.

Can I use Thermal Grizzly Conductonaut on a PS5?
Yes, gallium-indium liquid metal compounds like Conductonaut are the standard choice for this kind of repaste, and they’re what most published guides and repair shops reference, though exact product availability and pricing can vary by region and retailer.

Should I repaste a PS5 that’s still under warranty?
Generally no. The performance and noise gains are real, but they don’t outweigh converting a free warranty repair into a paid one if anything else goes wrong with the console during its remaining coverage period.

What’s the difference between repasting a PS5 and a PS5 Pro?
The core process, cleaning old paste, applying liquid metal to the die, and reassembling, is the same. The teardown path differs: the Pro has its own top shield plate and heatsink procedure that doesn’t match the original PS5’s layout, so you need model-specific disassembly instructions rather than reusing an original PS5 guide.

Is a non-conductive thermal paste a good alternative?
Yes, for anyone who wants most of the benefit with none of the short-circuit risk. A quality non-conductive paste won’t match liquid metal’s raw thermal conductivity, but it’s a significant upgrade over years-old factory compound and carries no risk of shorting the board.

How often does a liquid metal application need to be redone?
Most modders plan to reinspect every one to two years, since gallium alloys can experience gradual material migration, known as pump-out, across repeated heating and cooling cycles, which slowly reduces contact quality even without any other problem occurring.