Summary
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The PS5 uses a liquid metal interface between the heatsink and the chip for better thermal conductivity, but potential leaks in vertically oriented consoles pose a major reliability risk.
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A new teardown of the PS5 Pro reveals that the console's heatsink design has been improved compared to the base PS5, presumably in an effort to mitigate liquid metal leaks.
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The liquid metal issues haven't affected PS5 owners on a large scale, but Sony is clearly committed to identifying and addressing potential risks to ensure long-term reliability.
A recent investigation PlayStation 5 Pro reveals that the new console may have fixed an alleged design flaw in the standard PlayStation 5. This issue can reportedly render the PS5 completely unusable, and while the console hasn't actually experienced widespread malfunctions, Sony seems to have quietly taken steps to prevent this from happening. happening on PS5 Pro.
Since the PS5's GPU can clock up to a fairly high frequency of 2.23GHz, Sony decided to use liquid metal instead of thermal paste on the console's chip as a means of conducting heat towards the heatsink. The advantage of liquid metal is significantly better thermal conductivity than thermal paste, but it has a major disadvantage. If liquid metal leaks out of its housing, it will instantly short out the motherboard and freeze the system beyond repair. In early 2023, reports claimed that this issue could occur with PS5s standing vertically for extended periods of time, causing huge concern among owners.

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Fortunately, it was later clarified that the PS5's liquid metal interface should only be a potential problem for used consoles that were previously disassembled for other repairs. A new and unopened PS5 poses a very small risk of the problem, but it seems Sony still engineered the PS5 Pro's internals to mitigate liquid metal leaks as much as possible. YouTube channel How-FixIT recently published a teardown comparison of the PS5 Pro and PS5 Slim, where it was discovered that the cooler block of the newer console has surface ridges that likely help distribute the liquid metal evenly across the chip.
The heat sink's surface ridges are believed to minimize the risk of liquid metal pooling at the bottom of the chip and negatively impacting the PS5 Pro's thermal efficiency. In comparison, the contact surface of the PS5 Slim's cooler is flat, effectively proving that Sony has solved the liquid metal issues with the PS5 Pro. Interestingly, this isn't the only implicit change Sony has made with the PS5 Pro. Ahead of the console's launch, Sony was revealed to include an easy-access bay for the PS5 Pro's CMOS battery, allowing owners to effortlessly replace the component should it fail.
Leaks of liquid metals have not yet appeared on a mass scale among PS5 owners, many even question the possibility of such problems. Regardless, the design tweaks to the PS5 Pro cooler show that Sony is constantly tracking potential causes of hardware failure and nipping them in the bud with revisions. Both the PS5 and Xbox Series X are well-designed systems, and it seems pretty unlikely that either will face notorious instances like the Xbox 360's Red Ring of Death.