Teardown Sony PlayStation 5 shows use of liquid metal thermal paste

Sony shows in a teardown video the inside of the PlayStation 5. The console has a 120mm fan that is 45mm thick and sucks air from two sides. The soc is coated with liquid metal thermal paste. It is the first time that Sony provides details about the guts of the PlayStation 5. In a video, the manufacturer shows that users can detach the side panels themselves without having to remove screws. Under one of the panels is a space where a PCIe 4.0 SSD of the M.2 format can be installed. Sony has previously said that users can expand the storage with NVMe SSDs, but they must meet certain speed requirements. Details have not yet been disclosed, but removing the panels will expose the console’s fan. Sony uses a single 120mm fan, which is 45mm thick and designed to draw in air from both sides. The console also has notches where dust is collected, according to Sony, console owners can remove the dust by vacuuming those holes. Opening the console further and getting to the motherboard requires removing stickers and screws. This will invalidate the warranty. Sony shows that the blu-ray drive is provided with a metal cover and damping material to prevent vibrations. The soc is soldered to the motherboard and that it is provided with liquid metal as thermal paste. Sony says it has worked for two years on applying that material. On top of the motherboard is a large heatsink with heat pipes, which cools the soc and the memory chips as well as the ssd. The SSD consists of a controller and separate memory chips, which are also soldered to the motherboard. Finally, Sony shows the power supply. That is a 350W one built into the case. Liquid metal thermal paste has been used in PCs by overclockers for some time and is offered by various manufacturers. As far as is known, it has not been used before in consoles. Their use involves risks as ingredients of liquid metal thermal paste can attack light metals such as aluminum and certain alloys. As long as the material only comes into contact with the heat spreader and heat sink, this does not cause any problems. Tom’s Hardware conducted a test in 2017 with 85 different types of thermal grease. The liquid metal variants came out best in that test.