Questionable claims that positioning your PS5 vertically could eventually break it have been spread online over the past 24 hours. However, with so few examples of a flaw touted by a French repair shop, it's very unlikely to be something you actually need to worry about. Along with another console repair store, both suggest a design flaw in the PS5's innards could cause liquid metal to spill out of its casing and damage other components, thus bricking the system.
Used to cool the console, the claims mention a potential seal breakage between the APU (accelerated processing unit) and its cooler, which would then leak liquid metal onto other bits and pieces. The theory is that if your PS5 is placed horizontally, the substance won't go anywhere — it'll simply stay put in its casing. However, if the system is vertical, then there's the risk of liquid metal seeping out.
Those discussing the claim suggest it loses a lot of credibility when to even have the possibility of liquid metal leak out of its casing, "something bad" needs to happen to the seal protecting it. Buried within the PS5's other components, the chances of that happening appear minuscule. The two repair shops warn this flaw will cause the system to overheat and damage the motherboard. But if you're already moving your PS5 around so much and vandalizing it to the point where a small casing inside it has been broken, then you may already have a bigger problem.
While the two stores share evidence of the liquid metal leaking out of its casing in tweets, it's such a small sample size — and doesn't mention the possibility of user-made damage elsewhere — that there's really nothing to worry about here. The official line from Sony is the system will work in both the horizontal and vertical orientations. Otherwise, it wouldn't have designed it to have padding on the bottom to be placed flat or shipped the system with a stand so it can be put upright.
Should the situation change or new evidence comes to surface, we'll be sure to update you with more information. Until then, though, claims of PS5 breakage from such a small sample size can't be taken as evidence of a wider problem that Sony overlooked. Have you, by any chance, encountered this problem at all? Let us know in the comments below.
[source wololo.net]
Comments 108
Seems to me some people have been mishandling their playstation and this is the excuse they have come up withm
"checks calendar* no definitely not April 1st
I have my PS5 in the same vertical position since I bought it 2 years ago, behind the LG CX 48", sitting comfortably on the display's support leg. And it's as silent as the first time I turned it on, no matter the game I play, encountered no cooling issue to even speak of.
If you tend to mistreat it however, don't be surprised when it "pushes back"...
There was soo much bs shortly after the ps5‘s release. These channels want clicks and nothing more.
Where are the overheating RAM chips? Haven’t heard anything about it since a while.
Seen this being circulated more and more after some nobody YouTuber did a video about it.
Sony literally advertise it as vertical, i’d be more worried about damage horizontally cause that how my PS5 sits.
Someone in my gaming group had some of the liquid metal seep out, as I shared a post about this yesterday. I did suspect it could be a wider problem if it has got out. I never stand any of my consoles standing up since ps1, as there's a risk of it falling over and being damaged plus I don't have room for it vertically anyway
Had mine verticle since day 1 and no problems to report apart from coil whine and a snapped RT spring on a dualsence
Im amazed this story has managed to get the traction it has. It felt like it was one of those where the source is 'trust me bro' - as you say in the article, the sample size is extremely small so its impossible to draw any conclusions
That said, i treat all my consoles with extreme care and my launch PS5 is the first system that ive ever had fail on me (just out of the warranty period of course) which meant i ended up buying a new system (Sony repair costs are obscene). It would be interesting to open my broken PS5 up and see if there was any truth to this (ive had both mine vertical - thing is far too big to fit horizontally in my media centre)
This is the first PlayStation I’ve used vertically, it just seems far more secure in that position (that and it probably wouldn’t fit anywhere horizontally). Hopefully FUD.
Haven't had any problems here and it's been vertical since I got it a couple years ago. I would think the cooling system leaking could just as easily happen in a horizontal position.
If these systems were displayed vertical I think it's just a coincidence more than a cause.
a handful of consoles will be affected by this, because theres millions of them.
unfortunately, some consoles will have defects.
@johnny30 how do you stand a ps1 vertically ?
@UltimateOtaku91 yup I've had my ps5 for a year and or so it has stood vertically since and I've had no problem.
A lot of these people are just full of ***** plain and simple.
Had mine horizontally at first since I bought ps5 at launch but now I've changed it to vertically for quite some time now and no issues at all touchwood,its like saying if you walk vertically as we do then our knees and ankles will give out so maybe I ought to try and walk horizontally lol to see whether I notice a difference,it's probably only affected such a tiny few ,nothing to cause concern as sony would have already seen this if its a bigger problem
That tagline means something totally different in Scotland!
@tallythwack with great difficulty 😅
There’s nothing to this story. Im sure it can happen on very rare occasions but so can anything. The PS5 still has a ridiculous design and is ugly though 😜
@nessisonett 🤣🤣🤣
Absolutely nonsense.
"Questionable claims that positioning your PS5 vertically could eventually break it have been spread online over the past 24 hours. "
So why spread it some more? At this point it's scaremongering and irresponsible, not news.
Every single PS5 would have been stored and transported vertically in their packaging and even when laid flat it would be next to impossible that it's perfectly horizontal. It seems more likely that these are isolated defects then a design issue as even when flat it could leak as there would be an air pressure difference plus the airflow from the fan to move any leaked liquid across the motherboard. Being vertical could well accelerate it but I doubt its the cause
My PS5 has always been flat because....kids.
After watching a ton of YouTube repair videos, I wouldn’t be surprised if it’s the repair shop slashing the liquid metal about while trying to add thermal paste.
30 million units sold, how many cases? I mean, 1 million out of 30 million is 3.333333333333333%. Did they repair a million consoles? I don't believe that, and even so it would be a veeeeery small percentage. How many ppl bought it day one and had that issue? This is weird...
I've had mine stood vertical since I got it. It does sound a little louder than it used to but that's because it's probably stuffed full of dog hairs and I haven't hoovered it for a while.
Mines been vertical since day 1..2 years later and its exactly the same as it was new. I do clean the fans out on a fairly regular basis and i've never had any coil whine and to be honest the only time it makes a noise is when a disc is inserted.
@Adamant_WyverN
just fyi 1mil would be 3.333333
@ApostateMage grim..
@stvevan ty. Corrected.
Mines been horizontal for 2 years, no issues. On the other hand the vibration and resistive triggers in the controllers sometimes feel like somethings gone wrong.
Mine is vertical and will always be vertical until the day it dies. It's literally the only way it can go since it takes up way too much space horizontally. I'll still sleep at night.
Our 2 have been vertical since launch without problems. I doubt this is the reason for the condition of the console here
The PS5 looks ridiculous no matter what way it's set up. Whoever thought it was cute to make it resemble the roman numeral V while displayed vertically was an idiot. The stand is required either way. How dumb is that? I wouldn't want it vertically because guess what? In that position it's top heavy and could more easily be knocked over and i Definitely don't want that happening. They need to redesign this thing and ASAP! Time for the slim version.
I ran mine horizontally for a few weeks...
It looked ridiculous, but that should be long enough.
Liquid metal should spread evenly during the test drive.
After the 'break in' test period, I went vertical. It just looks better.
Luckily I also have newest PS5 revision with reduced power & heat.
Maybe revision no.4 will fix this. That being said I bet a lot of repair folks get dubious 'i was delicately handling it with velvet gloves and for no reason at all it just stopped working!'
@Truegamer79 What do the fins actually do? Cooling? The only other answer I see is something about customisable faceplates who seem to far too much about customisable faceplates.
But it looks so weird horizontally
@Feena yes, it does. =/
I've never stood any of my consoles up vertically in my entertainment center but that's more because I just think it looks odd.
Stood it up since launch and many hours of play, not saying it will go with a bang tomorrow but no issues so far.
I'm sure it won't be an issue, I always heard people say in previous generations if you stand a console up it will ruin the disc when it's being read but not about this sort of scenario.
I've had mine since launch and had it vertical the entire time and no issues.
On the other hand I've had 3 controllers develop left stick drift, always drifting left. One controller had it out of the box and was returned.
Mine has been vertical since launch. No problems at all.
If I'm at home, it's switched on.
Works as good as the day I took it out of the box.
My PS3, PS4pro & PS5 have all been positioned vertically for the majority of their life (so far) and all still working and being used!
If this was a widespread issue that could occur through basic normal handling of the devices, surely this would've been more prominently noticed within the first few months of the PS5 launching?
Something serious would need to have happened for this to bypass Sony's QA team and potentially regulatory checks ... so I'm going to continue with how my machines are positioned and disregard.
I think I'm like most people... had my running 8 hours or more a day every day Vertically ...and had absolutely zero problems after the first update dropped. Butttt.. I think truth still can be found in isolated examples.
Really looking forward to the horizontal only PS5 slim in like 5 years because the PS5 is so damn ugly as is.
Been having it vertical since day 1 when I got it, almost 2 years now and I haven't had a single issue with it overheating or else. Of course, I am not saying that's impossible to happen, but like every hardware, there are defects on some units.
I will be switching to new modular PS5 eventually anyways.
@Northern_munkey mine came with a coil whine from the box,but at this stage I don't even notice it anymore.
Horizontal was always the number choice.it looks way cooler anyway.word up son
@Bamila I could hear it louder from mine while playing Genshin Impact. Now I just don't care anymore.
I'll admit the PS5 does look better vertical but I always have every console I own in a horizontal position ever since the PS2 days as there were rumours floating around at the time of how PS2 discs could get scratched or not even read discs properly over time when standing vertical. That and I don't have the room to stand it vertically anyways as it would block the TV. Horizontal position for me is always something that has the possibility of extending my consoles life and less chances of errors occurring even if not proven and just rumours and are only rare unlucky occasions. Horizontal is peace of mind and is all about lessening the risks involved with anything going wrong just incase. This liquid metal is a perfect example of this to lessen the risks by having it Horizontal. I never watch football for the players pretty looks just like I don't buy a console for its pretty looks, all about them silky goals and sexy video games
@Beerheadgamer82 Me too. I worked in retail during the Xbox 360 era and the original model was well known to scratch discs beyond repair if the system moved even slightly. My PS2 was always horizontal just because of space issues and the giant CRT I had at the time. I think the only console I've ever positioned vertically was the Wii.
Mine is vertical and I play a bit more than 1000 hours a year and never had a problem.
Just here to check if any Scottish folks are here commenting on the “smells like fud” line.
@carlos82 The difference is that in boxes etc, the console is not on and not getting 'hot' that liquid metal could be more fluid/runny. Not saying that is the reason the vertical position may be more likely to 'fail' over time, but you have a 'fluid' metal which would become more runny with more temperature and gravity has more effect too.
I am not saying this is something to worry about in 'general' but it maybe more 'likely'. With 30m consoles on the market and probably most operating in a vertical position, the failure rate maybe slightly 'higher' but likely still less than 0.1% failure rate - which would be about 30k units. It's obviously not that widespread, at least not yet after several years.
I never had RROD on my XB360 despite all those others that did, I got YLOD on my PS3 though. Point is, just because you and/or many others haven't had an issue with their PS5 in vertical position, doesn't mean they 'won't' in the future or that it isn't 'more' likely than those who use their PS5 in Horizontal position. It may only be 300 cases worldwide which would be around 0.0001% of ALL consoles sold and of those 270 were in a vertical position - which would indicate that you are 9x more likely to get a problem, but you still have a 0.0001% chance of it happening to you - which is 'tiny'.
It's obviously happening, I have seen numerous video's of PS5's with their 'Liquid Metal' seeping into areas it wasn't meant to be, but then there are millions and millions of people playing with no issues at all...
It maybe not worth worrying about because the 'failure' rate is so small but doesn't mean that it can't or isn't happening to some. I bet if it happened to you, you'd be angry and annoyed at others saying it 'can't' happen so you must of done something wrong!
There is probably a T-1000 joke or gif that would be appropriate here.
I can only apologise for not having the energy to post it.
On one hand the deniers remind me of the Joycon drift deniers that insist they've never had joycon drift and it's just people abusing them, meanwhile I have a box of 8 drifting joycon I keep having to fix.
OTOH, these things happen. I run my consoles vertical EXCEPT my XSX I run horizontal. And that's the only console that's ever died on me (except a box of PS3s with dead BD drives, and a PS4 Pro that was getting kinda flakey.) Thankfully mere days before the warranty expired.... But I think that had more to do with a power supply failure which was rumored to be a thing with some launch day models.)
Now, recently I've started hearing the "disk eject beeps" randomly and frequently from my PS5 even when it's in standby (and has no disc.) Which is interesting because that's the same exact thing my PS4 Pro started doing. It works fine, I have no idea why it's doing that. But I'm wondering if it has to do with he PSVR1 breakout box being connected, or with HzD running in rest mode the past week or two when it started.
Earlier today I picked up my PS5 and threw it against a wall. It is no longer working. DESIGN FLAW
This article just reminds me that I need to clean my PS5. I never did that sort of maintenance on the PS4, so when I finally opened it like 4 years into it's life it was absolutely caked in dust to the point that I was surprised the fan even worked.
A PC is vertical with the CPU on it's side and this never happens.
I feel this is a pretty rare occurrence and not every PS5 is going to leak.
Had mine vertical since I got it. No issues here. It looks awful lying down 😂
Mine has been horizontal since launch as that's how my entertainment center is built, but I doubt vertical PS5's will break because they're vertical.
Sony intended PS5 to be vertical as a showpiece of the living room. I think there's even an interview where someone said as much. If that's the case, they would have tested vertical functionality and build quality just as much as horizontal placement if not more.
Having used your ps5 vertically for 2 years with no issues does not mean that there are no long term issues possible. This is probably a very small percentage of people that will see this but I agree with their logic that if you use it horizontally then you are not as reliant on a seal holding up.
It probably is safer to lay it flat but that is so much more desk space that I don't have. I will probably keep it vertical unless this starts being a more common issue.
@BAMozzy I'm not for one second suggesting these failures haven't happened, just questioning whether using them vertically is either the cause or contributed to making it happen with the limited sample size, also I think one of them was a PS5 that has never even used.
It's certainly something to follow as the years go by but if it was a genuine design flaw, I'd expect it to be much more widespread than it seemingly is at the moment.
I never had the RROD on Xbox but did have some other peculiar issues such as one only displaying in black and white. From my experience I found PS3 to be much less reliable or at leat the earlier revisions
This is such a small sample size. It there was reports like 5% percent ps5 are seeing this issue then sure, there’s something to look into since 5% of 20-30 million is still a huge number but if it’s like 100-1000 then it could just be a faulty ps5 or play from the user to cause this. This metal leakage definitely seems like it’s for the clicks
@Deadlyblack pcs, xboxs etc use paste the ps5 uses liquid metal and its just that an actual liquid its silver and runny and theres a kind of sponge surrounding the cpu
@ralphdibny, I was literally just going to post “Does the Liquid Metal form tiny T-1000’s “Say, that’s a nice controller”” or “PS5, now with mimetic poly alloy”
@DrVenture69 😆 thanks for picking up the slack!
I'm hoping this is MGS Remake promotion.
Well if I was going to buy one I would wait now for the redesigned model like I did with the Xbox 360.
It's hard to verify what a couple repair shops think might be a problem, not without hearing from Sony themselves - and even that won't matter if Sony isn't asking on all returns how the PS5 was oriented during use.
It would be difficult for me to have my PS5 horizontal instead of vertical, so I don't plan to change unless I hear more/better evidence than this. Even if they're right, this doesn't appear to be on the scale of the RROD or similar issues, so I may just take my chances.
I'm actually kind of worried. I've had mine for a couple weeks and haven't had any problems yet, but I have some bad anxiety so I dont know if I should keep it vertical or switch it. Especially since ive heard vertical can possibly mess it up over time. So should I keep it vertical or switch to horizontal?
I placed mine horizontal. I have a lack of space in my entertainment center.
When I first saw the PS5’s internal design, I thought this could be a problem long-term. That said, I always place my consoles horizontal.
@Pokemaniacal
You use the included stand and clip it to the back of the PS five. Holds it nice and steady.
Sony produced 30 MILLION+ PlayStation 5 consoles, printed boxes of it with the PS5 standing VERTICALLY, but damn it!! They FORGOT TO TEST ONE OF THEM STANDING VERTICALLY! Oops. This was "proven" by two photos of PS5 intervals from a French console dude on Twitter. "Riiiight" devil.gif.
I’ve always had mine vertical and transport it a good bit between hometown and university housing, always making sure to keep it secured carefully in the original packaging with the padding. No problems here!
I’m sure it will affect only a small percentage of consoles, but having watched many, many repair videos, this IS a thing on the PS5. Whether or not it becomes a more widespread issue over time remains to be seen, but to scoff or ignore it would be just as silly as panicking. It has happened and multiple repair shops have reported it. It’s a very unique design and with so many out there, there WILL be a few issues crop up here and there. I’ve never had any issues with mine and I’m hoping it stays that way.
My PS5 has been vertical pretty much since day 1 apart from the one time i took it to my parents house for Christmas. without the stand on aswel and have had 0 problems at all.
I have my Launch PS5 with me on a ship. Currently is in vertical position cause it's much more stable, low center of gravity. Vessel is always rolling, pitching, no issues. Even one time, it was flying through the cabin because of bad weather. No issues. PS5 is built to last.
PC users have been using Liquid Metal on builds for a while now. No drip trays installed. Last I checked CPUs are installed vertically on the MB 🙄🙄🙄. As long as the heatsink is tight on the CPU, the liquid metal will not move.
All the people saying they've had no issues with their PS5. How do they know it is not leaking? They'll know when it's too late. I'm not going to dismiss this as nonsense. I've repositioned my 6 week old 1200 series PS5 into the horizontal position as a precautionary measure.
@tinCAT-zero if it was leaking, heat disipation would be reduced and you would hear the fan running up for no reason. If a proper application of liquid metal is made and the heatsink is tight, there will be no any dripping. It's not water. In time also it will start to react with copper.
the liquid metal is liquid not a paste and it is electrically conductive
good new about PS5.
here comes FUD about PS5 like clock work.
ps5 wouldn't over heat it would shut off before doing permanent damage this isnt like back in the xbox 360 ps3 days
@frabbit I was thinking exactly that! Fishy mate....
If you place it on a 45° angle, it sprouts liquid metal arms & legs, punches you in the shins & chokes your Gamecube
Had to look up “FUD.” Fear uncertainty doubt?
I’d say so. I had to send my PS4 in 10 times for repair because it would work for a month and then not over and over and over. I posted about it to see if anyone else was having the same problems and saw many people invalidate the hell out of my post calling me a liar and a spreader of misinformation.
I think the truth has the lie somewhere in the middle with this story.
I don’t think it’s terrible advice to lie it down on its side to prevent something like this from happening, but I also don’t know that this is wide spread enough for complete panic.
What do I know though? One voice amongst millions.
@johnny30 Why would you stand a ps1 Vertically? It's been designed to lay horizontally
@Zemo55 I've not, obviously misread my comment lol.
@LP09 that's not the Scottish slang lol. Also it's a rare occurrence but it can happen. Folk moving their ps5s about, breaking the box liquid cooling is in; mainly because it's a corrosive substance and can damage the box over time. Plus standing it vertically, there's a risk of it falling over and getting damaged
Mine's horizontal mainly because a) it fits into my TV centre that way, and b) I don't have to look at the eyesore as it's somewhat hidden!
I never used any of my systems vertically; It just seems wrong for me. Hope Sony gives any support to owners that had this problem though.
@tallythwack
Easily knocked over when vertical?!! More chance of it being knocked off its base when horizontal. Coz it it's more flimsy in this position on its stand.
Fud lol my mate in Glasgow would be in stitches now. Meh advertised standing I'll keep using it like that, I will be changing it for the coolant I use on my gaming PCs. Liquid metal eats away at the diecast after a while. I've never used liquid metal I'll have to study up on that.
The other meaning still works with trichomoniasis?
To this day people still argue about all the urban legends of what orientation was best for the PS2, horizontal or vertical.
Glad to see this tradition continues.
@LP09
Yeah there are forums full of this crap still debating best orientations for every Sony system going back to PS1 (turn the PS1 upside down and it will read discs better?!) And there has never been any real agreement except, I think, a few specific models of the slim PS2 which did have a known hardware issue when standing vertical would cause the ribbon in the disc tray to come loose and scratch the outer ring of the disc as it spins. This was fixed with the release of the 9000x PS2 models I believe.
Anyways, what I think is going on is people aren't being cognizant of a roughly 2-3% hardware failure rate straight off the factory floor and right out of the box (higher for PS3). They are just shipped in a state where they are non-operational or will be in a short period of time due to manufacturing errors. Your PS4 sounds like it fits the bill. Then people assign these external factors to it, like what orientation you had it in when it never really mattered.
@UnlimitedSevens
Actually my PS1 stopped reading discs after about a year, and the only way to get it to read a disc, was to turn it upside down.
In all the transportation between the factory and the users home it has probably been in every thinkable position...
@tinCAT-zero
Yeah I've heard of it actually working. Never tried it myself 🤔
I alternate between vertical and horizontal every 17 minutes whilst playing just to be safe.
listen guys.
my ps5 has been set horizontaly since day one!!!
one week after waranty the disc drive broke for no reason at all. i keep it dust free every 2 months, i don't smoke, and i insert disc without touching the surface.
now hear this. €229,- to let it fix AT sony repaircentre
sony just make rubbish quality disc drive products since 1993
The guy who 'discovered' this issue posted another video. He doesn't even run a repair shop. He just buys broken systems off EBay. He showed a set of PS5 motherboards he bought and each had a taped plastic patch covering the liquid metal. He noted that the liquid metal might have leaked out during shipping.
@ActionPanther I had to charge my controller and my dad didn't see the wire. 😅
Guys i want to point out the dude who first came out with the leaking ps5 made a video yesterday of the same person who brought him that ps5 brought him another one with the same problem but this timeu could tell it was dropped its obvi this console were dropped.
But the console had a vertical stand IN THE BOX.
Clearly it is DESIGNED to stand upright.
However, mine is horizontal, purely because I have not got the room. There is a shelf in the way.
As for requiring a separate stand to place the console horizontally, well, that’s is a different story.
Aww, I missed all this. I have one vertical and one horizontal. I shall soon make them fight to the death in 'the pit' to see which is actually better.
I bet a bunch of people have horizontal consoles squeezed into tiny shelves with nowhere near enough ventilation too, and I bet people have vertical ones that they use to dry their socks on. (Very handy design for that, it has to be said)
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