Both Positions Are Safe for Normal Use
The PS5 shipped with two stands in the box, one for vertical and one for horizontal, because Sony engineered it to work either way. Back in 2022, a repair technician's report about liquid metal leaking and shorting a motherboard in a vertical unit spread quickly online. Later coverage clarified that the real risk applies to consoles that had already been opened, by the owner or by an unauthorized repair, disturbing the internal barrier Sony built specifically to contain the liquid metal. For a factory-sealed console used normally, that barrier does its job in either orientation.
What Actually Happens to the Liquid Metal Over Time
The PS5 uses liquid metal instead of standard thermal paste between the processor and the heatsink, and it stays in place mainly through wetting, a form of adhesion to both metal surfaces, rather than sitting there freely like a liquid in a cup. Under normal, factory-sealed conditions, that holds up well. But years of heat cycling can wear it down unevenly: hot spots oxidize the liquid metal locally, forming what repair technicians call dry spots, small areas where it has lost contact and stopped transferring heat properly. Once adhesion breaks down in a spot, gravity can start pulling the liquid metal toward one side instead of keeping it spread evenly across the chip, and that pull behaves differently depending on whether the console is standing up or lying flat.
Why the PS5 Pro and Slim Changed the Heatsink Design
Sony's own hardware changes back this up. Teardowns of PS5 Pro units revealed machined grooves cut into the heatsink, specifically designed to keep the liquid metal distributed across the chip instead of collecting on one side, a detail the original launch PS5 does not have. A design change like that does not happen without a real reason: it strongly suggests uneven liquid metal distribution was a genuine long-term issue on early hardware, not just an internet myth.
So, Vertical or Horizontal? Our Recommendation
We are not in a position to tell you which orientation Sony considers the single correct one, both are supported and both are safe for daily use. What we can share is what years of bench experience with real consoles tells us: on an original, launch-model PS5, keeping it horizontal tends to help the liquid metal stay evenly spread across the chip over years of use, which is why we lean toward recommending it for long-term use, especially on a console that runs for hours every day. If you have a PS5 Slim or PS5 Pro, the redesigned heatsink already reduces this concern, so orientation matters less. Either way, the biggest factor in how long your console runs cool is still dust control and airflow, not the position. Keep the vents clear, and bring it in for a cleaning once dust starts to build up.
If your PS5 is already showing signs of poor cooling, a loud fan, overheating warnings, or shutdowns during longer sessions, changing its orientation will not fix a console that already needs a cleaning. Our PS5 Maintenance page covers what a professional cleaning and liquid metal redistribution actually involve.