Your laptop might be struggling with performance issues. Check for slow speeds, overheating, or frequent crashes.
Your laptop might be struggling with performance issues. Check for slow speeds, overheating, or frequent crashes.
Good night. Based on what I understand, achieving around 50 FPS might be achievable, though it shouldn’t be standard and the typical should exceed 100 FPS. If your setup doesn’t overheat, try adjusting the "scale" setting in BF1’s graphics options to 100 if it’s set higher. I can only offer guidance up to this point, sorry v.v.
Laptops are designed to operate smoothly without limitations. Builders aim for equilibrium, balancing components rather than restricting them. Bottlenecks arise only when you deliberately choose underpowered CPUs/GPUs and high-end GPUs/CPUs while minimizing RAM. Even then, the system should highlight that performance falls short of expectations. This concept isn’t a buzzword meant for every issue; it carries real weight, especially in self-built setups where part compatibility isn’t guaranteed.
You're questioning whether most laptops are limited by their GPU rather than their CPU when running games. That's a valid point—often the GPU becomes the bottleneck. You mentioned having an i7 6700HQ and a GTX 960, which are quite capable for their respective generations. It seems you're suggesting that plugging in an external GPU wouldn't help because there aren't enough CPU resources to support it. That's not entirely accurate. External GPUs can still cause performance issues if the system isn't optimized to handle them efficiently. The real bottleneck usually comes from screen resolution, particle effects, or other graphical settings rather than raw power.
The issue still isn't what I'd call bottlenecking. Laptops usually struggle with inadequate thermal management, especially for GPU performance. Your setup balances GPU and CPU to the same generation (no bottleneck), while mine doesn’t have that problem since both components share the same generation. Neither is running as efficiently as their desktop versions. Adding an eGPU can eliminate many of the downsides of a mobile GPU—like low performance and thermal concerns—but it might let the CPU become the limiting factor because it won’t match its desktop counterpart in speed.
Bottlenecking simply refers to a situation where one component of your system struggles to keep up with the others. For example, if your CPU can handle around 100 FPS but your GPU only manages 30, the GPU is limiting performance. When you upgrade to a more powerful GPU and both achieve roughly 100 FPS, the bottleneck is removed. This explanation aligns with how I initially understood it. If this isn’t accurate, let me know. Also, if adding an eGPU increases your frame rate, your older GPU was likely the limiting factor. The type of application matters a lot—games tend to rely more on the GPU because they process data per vertex, primitive, geometry, and fragments each frame. Sometimes re-rendering once per frame adds strain, forcing the CPU to handle more work, which usually means the CPU is the bottleneck unless physics calculations are involved. For reference, you can read more about bottlenecking on Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bottleneck_(software)
This explains what bottlenecking really means. I'm not disputing anything, but the issue lies in why so many discussions exist about it without a clear grasp of how hardware performance connects to age and usage. To simplify, I'm referring to generations as a straightforward approach. When you use the same generation hardware, most applications won't face bottlenecks for about two years after the hardware is released. After that, GPUs tend to become outdated. This strategy addresses 85% of bottleneck concerns. The remaining topics involve people planning purchases or dealing with systems that aren't properly balanced—either because they were upgraded too soon or too late, or because older systems were balanced for their original specs but would struggle with newer hardware. It's about choosing wisely: get the latest now for three to five years, mid-range for the next two, and budget options immediately.
It's important to consider the context of each case. Generally, matching hardware generations helps avoid bottlenecks. However, gaming reviews often highlight that pairing a 3-gen Intel processor with a mid-range GPU today can still provide a balanced system without major issues. Your perspective might be too narrow—performance gains depend on specific configurations and workloads. If your example shows no improvement despite a better GPU, then your reasoning holds. Otherwise, it's worth exploring further.