Every pre-owned console on the bench gets a process before it ships. Not all of them need everything, but most of them need three of these five. Here is the bench checklist, in plain language.
1 · Fresh thermal paste
PlayStation 4 Fat models from 2013–2015 ship with cheap thermal paste that has typically dried out by now. We replace it with Arctic MX-4. The fan noise drop is immediate and audible. PS4 Pro from 2016 fares better but is not immune. Xbox One X is usually fine. Switch needs paste re-pasting only if it has been overclocked by a previous owner.
2 · Disc-tray motor check
Press the eject button and listen. If the tray opens with a high-pitched whirr the rubber drive belt is on its way out. Cheap fix — eight quid for a replacement belt online, twenty minutes to fit. We do it as standard on PS3 Slim and PS2 Slim consoles before they leave the bench.
3 · Controller stick recalibration
Joy-Con drift is the famous case but PS4 DualShock 4 and Xbox One controller drift just as much over time. We open the controller, clean the sensor track with isopropyl alcohol on a swab and re-seat the stick. About one in three pre-owned controllers needs this; about one in twenty needs a full stick module swap.
4 · Save-battery probe
Cartridge-based consoles (GBA, DS, original Game Boy) have a save battery on the cartridge. We hook each cartridge up to a multimeter; CR2032 should read 2.8 V or higher. If it reads 2.5 V or less we replace it. The customer note on the packing slip tells you the reading and the date of replacement.
5 · Capacitor inspection · CRT-era consoles
Saturn, Dreamcast, PlayStation 1 and earlier — capacitors leak. We do not always replace them (it depends on the year and the symptom) but every CRT-era console gets a board inspection under the lamp. The bench note tells you if we did a recap.
What the customer sees
On the packing slip you get a tick-list of which of the five we did, with the date, the bench initials and any notes. A 2014 PS4 Fat might come with: "Paste · Arctic MX-4 · 13 May 2026 · MR. Disc motor · OK. DualShock 4: stick swap (right). Capacitors · n/a." That is the standard format.
Written from the bench in Hoxton. The Tavern dispatches indie & hardcore titles Mon–Sat. Browse the shelf.
