Question Mediocre performance from a higher-end laptop ?

[ButifulDog]

Hello,

I've been having some interesting performance issues from my laptop and I am curious if it is just because it is a laptop and this is the performance I can expect or if something is killing my fps.
Pretty much all games run mediocre, CS2 runs at around 180fps on a smaller resolution (1440x1080), BF6 runs okay but can't really play on max settings because of stutters sometimes, Marvel Rivals sometimes stutters too. Am I looking into a problem that doesn't exist or should I be worried? Sometimes feels like my outdated PC could run CS2 better. I also started using an extra display, the laptop has a 240hz display, my extra monitor is 1440p 144hz, I use them both at the same time (no idea if this could cause an issue tbh) and on my nvidia panel it says it is running through optimus, would this kill performance? Any help would be greatly appreciated.

I am using Windows 11, all drivers for armoury crate, my asus, nvidia, windows updates etc. are up to date

Laptop: Asus Rog Strix G16
RTX 4080
I9-14900HX
32GB DDR5 5600mhz
2 x 1TB SSD

 

[Aeacus]

if it is just because it is a laptop and this is the performance I can expect

Most likely this.

Since RTX 4080 Mobile GPU is more-or-less equal to RTX 4060 Ti desktop GPU,
comparison: https://technical.city/en/video/GeForce-RTX-4060-Ti-16-GB-vs-GeForce-RTX-4080-mobile

I use them both at the same time (no idea if this could cause an issue tbh)

Mirror mode or extended mode?

If mirror mode then it matters little, since copy/paste doesn't take much compute power.
But of extended mode, it impacts GPU a lot since GPU has to render pixels to both monitors/displays. Essentially doubling GPU workload.

Disable one of the monitors/displays and look if FPS increases.

 

[JayGau]

Most likely this.

Since RTX 4080 Mobile GPU is more-or-less equal to RTX 4060 Ti desktop GPU,
comparison: https://technical.city/en/video/GeForce-RTX-4060-Ti-16-GB-vs-GeForce-RTX-4080-mobile


Mirror mode or extended mode?

If mirror mode then it matters little, since copy/paste doesn't take much compute power.
But of extended mode, it impacts GPU a lot since GPU has to render pixels to both monitors/displays. Essentially doubling GPU workload.

Disable one of the monitors/displays and look if FPS increases.

The naming scheme for those mobile GPUs is very misleading. People buy a very expensive laptop thinking they gonna have 4080-like performance and end up with the equivalent of a 4060 Ti. I know it's technically a nerfed 4080 to keep the power draw and temperature inside a sustainable range for a laptop but I still find it misleading (people see 4080 in the laptop specs before buying, not "4080 but be aware that you gonna actually get the performance of a 4060 Ti").

 

[Aeacus]

I know it's technically a nerfed 4080 to keep the power draw and temperature inside a sustainable range for a laptop

Besides that, base and boost clocks are also considerably lower than desktop variants.

While the RTX 4080 Mobile uses the same AD104 graphics processor as in e.g RTX 4070 Super, with similar specs;
Bit more shaders: 7424 vs 7168,
bit more TMUs: 232 vs 224,
ROPs: 80 for both
But considerably lover base clock: 1290 Mhz vs 1980 Mhz and lower boost clock: 1665 Mhz vs 2475 Mhz.
Though, memory clock is far higher: 2250 Mhz vs 1313 Mhz but despite that, effective memory speed is still lower: 18 Gbps vs 21 Gbps.

Laptop GPU vs desktop GPU is just one of the lies manufacturers have told consumers for years.
Laptop CPUs are also weaker than desktop counterparts but not by that much of a degree as GPUs are.

Another lie is to do with storage drives capacity. Started out since HDD days.
E.g drive that says on the tin that it is 2TB drive. Are you actually getting 2TB worth of storage space? No.
What you get, is 2000379881344 bytes, which translates into 1.81TB. Missing out 214GB worth of storage space. That's essentially 10% of the promised capacity.

This is so because drive manufacturers use decimal system to upscale capacity and by the power of 10. But OSes use binary system to upscale capacity and by the power of 2. So, a true 2TB dive should actually have 2199023255552 bytes when viewing the drive capacity in OS. (1024MB = 1GB; 1024GB = 1TB etc.)

The higher the drive's capacity is - the more space you will loose out due to conversion difference.
E.g: 500GB drive = 465GB (loss of 35GB), 1TB drive = 931GB (loss of 93GB), 2TB drive = 1.81 TB (loss of 214GB) and so forth.

There are other shenanigans manufacturers have done and are doing.
Ever wondered why Gigabyte MoBos have revisions?
Here's why: https://web.archive.org/web/2015022...hing-it-a-motherboard-revision-too-far,3.html

So, when you start looking, you'll learn that the rabbit hole🐇 goes very deep.

 

[ButifulDog]

Hello,

Thank you for all the information but I did expect worse performance than the same specs as a PC, I did a lot of research about laptops before buying and chose this because I needed a portable laptop that can do everything. To be honest comparing to laptops there isn't something that much better that you can buy. For me it is just that friends with worse specs, (PC with a 1070 and a 5600x or laptop with a 3050 (can't remember the processor)) seem to get better fps sometimes and no stutters. Even if it's the equivalent of a 4060 I believe I shouldn't be too crazy to expect a little more? Especially since this CPU is definitely considered good nowadays. From what I read I will use only one monitor (cs2 fps did increase slightly when I tried it, went from roughly 180 to 190-200). I am wondering if I am doing something wrong and missing out on performance, I don't expect my laptop to run everything on 300fps but I think for a game like cs2 it isn't unreasonable to expect so. Is there something maybe I haven't done to help performance?

 

[Aeacus]

Is there something maybe I haven't done to help performance?

Bloatware and malware can also reduce performance. Or when you have too many background programs running.
Laptops usually come with OS already installed and also filled with bloatware.

Easiest fix: format OS drive and make a new, clean OS install. This will get rid of all software issues, including bloatware and malware (except firmware rootkits).


Then, there's also thermals issue. Thermal throttle will reduce performance. Both for CPU and GPU.
And laptops are very prone to that, due to compact size and very limited space for cooling.

Download and run HWinfo64 to see temps,
link: https://www.hwinfo.com/download/

Sensors mode shows all the telemetry PC provides.