PS5 Overheating: Causes, Fixes and When the Liquid Metal Needs Redoing

Signs your PS5 is overheating

• A warning on screen telling you the PS5 is too hot and asking you to turn it off.
• It switches itself off mid-game, usually in demanding games, with no warning.
• The fan roars even in menus, or gets louder every month.
• The air from the back vents is hot and the case is hot to touch, not just warm.
• It turns off in rest mode while downloading.

One warning on a hot summer day isn't a fault. The same warning every week, with plenty of space around the console, means the cooling isn't keeping up.

What causes a PS5 to overheat?

Five things, in roughly this order: no room to breathe (a closed cabinet, carpet, a shelf against the wall), dust packed into the heatsink fins and fan, a hot room, liquid metal that has moved away from the chip, and a fan that has worn out. The first and third you can fix yourself; the others need the console opened.

• Airflow: the PS5 pulls air in through its sides and pushes it out of the back. A cabinet or a wall traps that hot air and it gets pulled straight back in.
• Dust and pet hair: it gets past the vents and packs into the heatsink fins, where you can't see it or reach it with a hoover.
• Room temperature: the console can only cool itself to a bit above the air around it.
• Liquid metal: over years of heat cycles it can creep out from under its seal, leaving part of the chip poorly cooled.
• The fan: bearings wear. A worn fan rattles, grinds or doesn't spin up when it should.

What is PS5 liquid metal, and does it need replacing?

Liquid metal is a metal alloy that is liquid at room temperature. Sony uses it on the PS5 instead of thermal paste because it moves heat from the processor into the heatsink far better. On most consoles it lasts, so it doesn't need routine replacement; it only needs redoing when it has moved or dried out.

Sony showed the design in its own PS5 teardown video: liquid metal on the chip, with a seal around it to keep it where it belongs. That seal is also why the job needs care. Liquid metal conducts electricity, so a single stray bead on the board can short it.

When the metal moves, the usual sign is a console that runs hot and loud even though it's clean and has plenty of space. It isn't common, but it happens. Cleaning the outside does nothing for it, because the problem is between the chip and the heatsink.

When we redo it, the old metal comes off, the area is cleaned, the seal is checked and fresh liquid metal goes on, dammed and levelled the way it left the factory. We don't swap it for paste: paste works, but the PS5 was designed around liquid metal.

What you can safely do at home

1. Give it space: a few inches clear around the sides and back, out of closed cabinets.
2. Put it on a hard, flat surface, never carpet or a bed. Upright or flat both work; Sony supports both.
3. With it unplugged, hoover the outside of the vents gently with a brush attachment.
4. Original PS5 only: Sony's teardown shows two dust-catcher holes under the side cover that you can vacuum with the cover off.
5. Don't blast compressed air into the fan. It spins the fan far faster than it's made for, and pushes dust deeper into the fins.
6. Keep the system software up to date. Sony has changed PS5 fan behaviour in updates before.

If it's still loud, still hot or still shutting down after that, the problem is inside the console, and it's time for a proper clean or repair.

Loud fan: deep clean or a new fan?

A loud fan is almost always the fan working flat out because the heat can't get away, and the overheating repair (deep clean and fresh liquid metal) is what fixes it. The technician checks the fan too, and if it has actually failed they quote a replacement before doing anything. An exterior clean is cosmetic and does nothing for temperatures.

How much does a PS5 overheating repair cost?

At OG Repairs a PS5 overheating repair is £74.99 and a PS5 Slim is £74.99: strip-down, heatsink and fan cleaned, fresh liquid metal, tested. It's also the repair for a loud fan. If the technician finds the fan itself has failed, they quote it before any extra work. PS5 Pro is by quote. Every repair has a 12-month warranty.

No fix, no fee: the diagnosis is free when you go ahead with the repair. If you decide not to, there is a £35 diagnostic fee. Either way you know what's wrong and what it costs before any work starts.

What happens when you send it to us

1. Book online. Pick your console and pay at checkout, or book a workshop drop-off slot and pay when you collect.
2. UK mail-in: add a prepaid Royal Mail tracked label at checkout. It's a QR code you show at any Post Office counter, so there's nothing to print.
3. We diagnose first: fan, heatsink, liquid metal, and anything else we spot. If it needs more than you booked, we tell you and wait for your OK.
4. We strip it to the cooling assembly, clear the dust, renew the liquid metal and test it under load. You get photos and video of the inside, before and after.
5. It comes back to you tracked, free, with a 12-month warranty on the repair.

The repair itself takes 2-3 hours on the bench, and booked drop-offs are often ready the same day. Posted consoles are usually turned around within 1-3 working days of arriving. When the workshop is very busy it can take up to 7-10 working days, and we'll tell you if so. Console repairs are a UK service: we can't accept consoles posted from abroad.

Is it worth repairing an overheating PS5?

Usually, yes. An overheating PS5 almost always has a cooling fault rather than a dead board, and a fixed-price repair costs a fraction of a new console. Your games and saves stay where they are, because the cooling work doesn't touch the storage. If we find a fault that isn't worth fixing, we'll tell you before you spend anything.