PS5 Slim fan is still loud after multiple liquid metal applications.

Hi everyone,

I bought my PS5 Slim about two years ago, and it worked perfectly fine. I always used it in the vertical position and never had any overheating warnings or thermal shutdowns.

A while ago I noticed that the fan became noticeably louder under heavy load. It doesn't sound like normal airflow—it has a rough, high-RPM sound that just doesn't seem right.

The first time I opened the console, I found what looked like significant oxidation/reaction between the liquid metal and the heatsink contact surface. Because of that, I thought the poor contact was causing higher temperatures and making the fan ramp up.

Since then, I've opened the console many times trying to solve the issue. I've tried pretty much everything I could think of:

Reapplied fresh liquid metal multiple times.

Tried different amounts of liquid metal.

Carefully cleaned both the APU and the heatsink with a large amount of 99% isopropyl alcohol.

Used acetone to remove stubborn residue.

Polished the heatsink contact surface with metal polish.

Used a fiberglass pen to remove the remaining oxidation from both the heatsink and the APU.

Checked the contact pattern between the APU and the heatsink after reassembly to make sure they were making proper contact.

The contact surfaces now look much cleaner than when I first opened the console, but the fan noise is still basically the same.

The console never overheats, never displays a temperature warning, never shuts down, and performance seems completely normal. The only problem is the fan noise.

At this point I'm wondering if I've been chasing the wrong problem all along. Could this actually be a worn Delta fan (bad bearings), old thermal putty, or something else entirely?

Has anyone experienced something similar with a PS5 Slim? If temperatures are normal but the fan still sounds rough and loud, what would you check next?

Any advice would be greatly appreciated. Thanks!