Three PS5s in One Day — and Why the Putty Doubles the WorkPS5 Liquid Metal & Thermal Putty Replacement — Downtown LA
A man in a ball cap came in with a PS5 that kept shutting off from overheating. He didn’t seem like the one playing it — more like a dad dropping off the kids’ console. He’d called ahead to ask if we could finish it today, and we said yes. This time we replaced the liquid metal and the thermal putty together, which nearly doubles the bench time. Here’s why it’s worth it, and why the board has to come out slowly.
Heat stuck at the chip, shutdowns mid-game
Board out slowly, every pad redone
Finished the same day, as promised
The job, on one card
What this service covered, how long it takes, and when you can pick it up.
| Model | Sony PlayStation 5 |
|---|---|
| Service | Dried liquid metal removed and replaced on the APU. Old thermal putty cleared from the memory and power-stage chips and replaced with fresh putty |
| This visit | Overheating shutdowns during play. The customer called ahead to ask about same-day service — we said yes, and had it done the same day. |
| Price | Liquid metal $120 · thermal putty extra — quoted at check-in |
| Bench time | ~2 hrs of focused work · plan on 3 hrs in the shop |
| Teardown | Slow & careful4 / 5 |
| Tech’s note | Liquid metal is pricey stuff — about $10 for a single-drop syringe. It says 1 gram on the label, though some days I wonder whether a full gram ever makes it out. There’s no good way to weigh one drop, so I trust it and use it. Then there are days like today, when one drop comes out and that’s the whole syringe — that one stings a little. Anyway, three PS5s on the bench today. Open one carefully, close it carefully, next one. That’s how a day goes by. |
Why a PS5 shuts itself off
On the outside it looked fine. Inside, the material that moves heat away from the chip had stopped doing its job.
Dried liquid metal traps the heat
Liquid metal carries heat from the chip into the heatsink plate. Once it dries out, that path breaks: the heat stays at the chip, temperatures climb under a demanding game, and the console shuts off to protect itself.
Thermal putty doubles the work
The memory and power-stage chips are cooled through thermal putty. Swapping it means lifting the old, hardened putty off chip by chip without stressing anything underneath. Done right, it takes almost twice as long as liquid metal alone.
Rushing the board can kill it
The putty glues each chip to the aluminum panel above it. Pull the board away too fast and a chip can lift with it — solder balls underneath break loose or crack. The rest of the work can be perfect, and the console still won’t boot.
From dried metal to a cool-running PS5
Most of this job is patience: separate slowly, clean completely, then apply fresh.
The board comes out — slowly
This is the step that matters most. The putty holds every chip to the aluminum panel, so the board is eased away a little at a time. Rush it, and a chip can come up with the panel and break the solder balls underneath.
The cause, in plain sight
Fresh liquid metal spreads in one thin, even layer. This has gone lumpy — beaded up in spots, crusted along the edges, dried out in between. With the heat path broken like this, the chip couldn’t shed heat fast enough, and the shutdowns follow.
Old putty off, chip by chip
The hardened putty comes off each memory chip with a blade held flat and light pressure. No prying, no scraping into the board — just patience until every chip top is clean.
Cleaned down to bare metal
Every trace of the old liquid metal comes off the contact plate and the chip. New metal only bonds well to a clean surface, so this part never gets skipped.
Fresh liquid metal goes on
New liquid metal is worked across the contact area in one thin, even layer — no lumps, no gaps, nothing running over the edge. That even coat is what a working heat path looks like.
New putty on every chip
Fresh putty goes on each memory chip and across the power-stage row. When the panel goes back on, it presses into every gap and pulls heat away. Then comes reassembly, just as slowly as the teardown.
Back together, booting clean
New liquid metal, new putty, and a normal boot on the bench monitor.
Done the same day, as promised
Reassembled and connected to our test setup — it booted straight to the PS5 start screen. With fresh liquid metal on the chip and new putty on the memory and power stages, heat has a clear path out again. Finished the same day, just as we told him on the phone.
The two questions everyone asks
Straight answers, as always.
Why does my PS5 shut off in the middle of a game?
Very often it’s heat. When the liquid metal between the chip and the heatsink dries out, heat can’t leave the chip fast enough, and the console shuts down to protect itself — usually during demanding games. Dust in the fan and heatsink makes it worse. We covered another case in our PS5 liquid metal replacement journal.
Can I get my PS5 back the same day?
Usually, yes. Plan on about three hours. Morning drop-offs are typically ready that afternoon, and afternoon drop-offs the next day. If you need it today, call ahead and we’ll tell you honestly whether we can make it.
More honest repair stories
Same bench, same philosophy, different consoles.
PS5 running hot or shutting itself off?
Liquid metal and thermal putty replacement, done carefully in Downtown Los Angeles. Morning drop-off, usually same-day pickup — or call ahead and ask us anything.