A Reddit user reported that replacing the thermal paste on a GeForce RTX 2080 Ti increased benchmark frames‑per‑second by nearly 200%.

Thermal paste loses its thermal conductivity over years of use, leading to higher GPU hotspot temperatures and potential throttling.

The user measured a hotspot temperature of 107°C while running Unigine Heaven 4.0 and Wuthering Waves, with average GPU temperatures below 80°C.

After cleaning the old paste and applying Arctic MX7, the hotspot dropped by about 10°C to the 97‑100°C range.

Subsequent benchmarking showed performance rising from approximately 65 FPS to 106 FPS in Heaven 4.0 and from 25‑30 FPS to 55‑65 FPS in Wuthering Waves.

Despite the temperature reduction, the hotspot remained near 100°C, indicating that the performance gain was not solely due to lower temperature but also to improved thermal interface material.

The case underscores the importance of periodic thermal maintenance for long‑term GPU performance.