(PSA) Position Your PS5 Console Horizontally to Avoid Damage

[Pemalite]

DroidKnight said:

Keep in mind you could link 100 different websites, it's going to be irrelevant if they only cite the same single source.

DroidKnight said:

ice said:

Hope anyone that has this issue has an extended warranty, or maybe Sony themselves will extend it if it's a big issue. Luckily never had a console break before, not even the 360 somehow even though it sounded like a jet engine.

I lost 2 original Xbox 360's and a fat PS3.

I kept loosing my launch 360, right up until the S Halo 4 console came out... Which I still have.
Microsoft covered all the replacement/repairs for years, even after the warranty had technically expired.

It was an absolute shit show. But at-least I was covered.

Sony was a little better in their reliability, but not as good as the warranty, my PS1 and PS3 ended up going to landfill sadly. - Still got my PS2 slim though for my PS1 games.

Pinkie_pie said:

I've had mine vertically since I bought it almost a year ago. No issue but I will now place it horizontally just in case

Kept mine vertically for 2 years now, no dramas.
But that doesn't mean an issue cannot arise tomorrow, just means for the last 2 years it's been issue free.

SvennoJ said:

Any reason why it wouldn't leak horizontally as opposed to vertically? Or does it still leak but drip onto non conductive parts when horizontal? Why does it leak...

Some thermal pastes will "solidify" as they "cure" with age.
Some will do the opposite. - Most thermal pastes tend to be non-conductive, with only extreme PC overclocking pastes having metals in them.

Now according to iFixit from a few years back, Sony opted for a more "extreme" PC Orientated thermal compound which has liquid metal inside it and as you know, when you heat up a metal it becomes more viscous.
Sony did add a foam barrier to keep the thermal compound confined to it's space, but obviously, being polymer based can become brittle with age and heat.

https://www.ifixit.com/Teardown/PlayStation+5+Teardown/138280

Then you have the issue that most device assemblers from the likes of Foxconn etc' tend to be VERY liberal with the amount of pastes they apply to components, doesn't matter if it's a graphics card, gaming console... If it has a heatsink and needs thermal compound, chances are there will be far to much of it.


So this was always a potential issue from the very start, but what I find surprising is that it's taken a few years for issues to arise from it, might just be the length of time the compound needs to break down.

DroidKnight said:

Gravity is working against it in the vertical position.  There is a protective layer of plastic around surrounding area and foam thats designed to prevent any spillage from occurring.  

The repair shops are unsure what exactly is causing the liquid metal to leak out, but they are speculating it could be an initial shock to the unit, like placing it down too hard, a drop, too much vibration, but they don't know, nor do they know how little or wide spread this could be.

Hoping for a big nothing-burger, and Sony, I would think, will be addressing this.

It will be a variety of factors all compounding together.
1) Age of the unit and thermal compound.
2) Heat of thermal compound.
3) Tensioning of the heatsink.
4) The foam barriers integrity.
5) The amount of thermal compound.


It will be fairly trivial for Sony to swap to a paste with no electrical conductivity.