On a PS5, the liquid metal is the part to check
The PS5 does not use thermal paste between its processor and the heatsink — it uses liquid metal. On some consoles that material migrates out of position over time rather than staying where it was applied. Heat is the first symptom: the fan works harder, the console runs hotter, and it gets worse month by month. Left alone long enough, the processor can be damaged before anyone opens the console.
- We check the liquid metal specifically on every PS5 that comes in for heat
- Migration is a slow fault — a console that is merely warm today can be a shutdown next month
- PS4 and PS4 Pro use thermal paste, which dries out and is far cheaper to put right
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3 business days
Typical turnaround
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Free assessment
Including the temperature log
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3-month warranty
Parts and labour
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C$80–C$190
Depending on console and fault
Priced by console and by fault
The same three faults on both generations, at different prices because the consoles come apart differently — and because a PS5 has liquid metal to renew where a PS4 has paste.
| Fault | PS4 and PS4 Pro | PS5 |
|---|---|---|
| Clean the heatsink and vents Dust and debris removed from the cooling path | C$80 | C$90 |
| Renew the thermal interface PS4: fresh paste. PS5: liquid metal cleaned and renewed | C$110 | C$140 |
| Fan replacement The fan has stopped, grinds, or runs flat out | C$130 | C$160 |
| Board-level thermal fault Cooling is sound and it still overheats | C$160 | C$190 |
Most consoles stop at the first or second row. If the assessment finds only dust, you pay the dust price — and if the cooling is sound and the fault is elsewhere, we tell you that before doing anything expensive.
How we diagnose it
"It gets hot" is not a measurement. These four steps turn it into one, and each step rules out a cheaper cause before we open the console.
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Step 1:Check the airflow
Vents and intakes are inspected and the fan watched. A console whose vents stay cool and whose fan never changes speed is not cooling, whatever the temperature feels like on the outside.
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Step 2:Log the temperatures
The console is run under load and its temperatures and fan speeds recorded over time, so we can compare it against a healthy console of the same model.
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Step 3:Strip and renew
Dust is cleared from the heatsink, the thermal interface is renewed — paste on a PS4, liquid metal on a PS5 — and a failed fan is replaced. Nothing is replaced on suspicion.
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Step 4:Run it hot again
The console goes back under load, long enough for a fault that only appears after twenty minutes to show up. A two-minute test would prove nothing on a heat fault.
Loud and hot are two different faults
A loud console is one that is working hard to stay cool: the fan is doing its job against a blocked heatsink. A quiet console that still gets hot is the more serious of the two, because the fan has stopped or is no longer being told to spin. If your console is loud but never warns you, you are probably catching it early, which is the cheaper outcome.
- Loud but cool enough = blocked heatsink, the cheap row
- Quiet and hot = the fan or its control has failed, which is worse
- A console that shuts itself down has already been too hot for a while
Overheating questions
How much does it cost to fix an overheating PS5?
Between C$90 and C$190 depending on what the assessment finds. A clean is the cheapest outcome, renewing the liquid metal is the middle one, and board-level work is the expensive one. You get one fixed price before any work starts.
My PS5 stands upright. Does that cause the liquid metal problem?
Vertical storage is the explanation people most often give, and it is a reasonable precaution to stand the console flat — but it is not the whole story, because we see the same migration on consoles that have always been horizontal. What we can say is that the material does move on some consoles, and heat is how you find out. If yours has been upright and runs hot, it is worth checking either way.
Is a PS4 that sounds like a jet engine worth repairing?
Almost always, and it is usually the cheapest repair on this page. A loud PS4 is normally dried paste plus a packed heatsink, and a clean and a re-paste gives you back a console that is dramatically quieter. Compare that with the price of a replacement and it is not a close call.
Will the console be quieter afterwards?
Yes, and that is usually what people notice first. Most of the noise is the fan reacting to a heatsink it can no longer cool effectively, so once the cooling path is restored the fan stops having to work at full speed all the time.
Can overheating damage my save data?
Not directly — saves live on the drive, and heat does not erase it. The risk is indirect: a console that shuts itself down in the middle of a save can leave that save corrupt. That is one more reason a shutdown is worth fixing rather than living with.
How long will you have the console?
About three business days. Part of that is the second load test, because a heat fault is only proven by running the console long enough for it to appear again.
Tell us how long it runs before it complains
Does it shut down after ten minutes or after an hour? Is the fan loud from the moment it wakes up? Those two answers tell us a lot before the console is even opened, and the assessment is free.
No Fix, No Fee. Walk in at our Oakville workshop during opening hours, or send it to us.