Yep, it needed to be repasted. I used Thermal Grizzly’s Kryonaut and it shaved 15-20° off the temps. The factory paste was pretty dry after nearly 7 years.
 
Edit: Actually, I'm seeing more like a 20-25° difference. The highest I was seeing was about 85°, and averaging around 80°. Now, I haven't seen temps above 60°. Even though voltage and core clock was stable before repasting, my FPS is higher now with the lower temps. Good stuff.

Selinwine
This card is already old, I advise you to raise money and upgrade your video card

My main system has a 3080 Ti FTW3. Messing with my old 980 is just for the fun of it.

matthatnz
My 980 Ti Hybrid is still running in the 50's to low 60's. Paste must have been very good to still cool like this.
And water must help.

Yeah, I’d be more concerned about your hybrid’s AIO losing water over time as they tend to do. At least, that’s what they say. I have several hybrid cards that I’ve had for years, my oldest being about five years, and none seem to have any issues with temps or the AIO. My 980, well, one of them since I have two, was sitting on the shelf since 2016, and the paste was quite dry. Since repasting it, up to about 60° is the highest I’ve seen. Although, that makes me wonder now. If my air-cooled 980 is keeping it a cool 60° or lower with an overclock, is your hybrid underperforming since it’s also around the same temps on water?

matthatnz
Running out of water that does not sound good? Would I start to hear a pump noise or something as that starts to become a factor?
Just did a retest on some common games and its mostly 48C to 56C. If I overclock to 110% power then its more like 52C to 60C.
So I think I am still ok at this point but yeah def time for a new card soon and just use this one for watching stuff

The liquid within the AIO can evaporate via permeation over years. You shouldn’t worry too much about it. The only recommendation I can offer is to ensure the tubes at the radiator end of it are above the pump on the card. Also, if you have the radiator mounted for a rear exhaust, have the tubes at the bottom of it so that any air bubbles will work their way to the top of the radiator, giving little chance for them to work their way down to the pump. As for the pump itself, unless it’s whining or making a grinding/sputtering noise, it’s fine.

The 980 and 980 Ti is definitely an outdated card at this point, but it can obviously still handle games from when it came out and before its release. Some newer games as well. I fired up my 980 just for the fun of it to see what it could do with modern titles, and it isn’t much from what I found out. I’d definitely be looking to buy a new card if your 980 Ti is the only one you have. That is, of course, if you can find one that isn’t listed for an ludicrous price. If you plan on keeping it for a while longer, repasting it might be worth it.

It can’t hurt, might as well reapply the thermal paste

matthatnz
Just did some testing with the old Heaven 4 benchmark and its gets to 63C on 2160p ultra setting and 65C if I put the card on 110% power.
Still ok really, As benchmarks hit the cards so hard.

So long as it works and still does what you intend it to. I’m just surprised that my 980 held a steady 1500 MHz clock under load. It never fluctuated and neither did the voltage. I don’t remember when GPU boost binning became a thing, but my guess is it was with the Pascal series.

dadashshn
If you are lazy，I would recommend you to replace it with a new thermal paste instead of water cooling.Use a fan against the chassis when playing games

I’m beginning to think this is a bot account, and a poorly written one at that.