Upgrading my 11th gen Framework 13

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I currently have a Framework 12 Laptop with the following system and hardware configuration.

*Intel i7-1185G7 (12M Cache, up to 4.80 GHz)

  • Intel® Wi-Fi 6E AX210 vPro®
  • DDR4-3200 - 64GB (2 x 32GB)
  • 4TB - WD_BLACK™ SN750 NVMe™
    *11th Gen Intel(R) Core™ i7-1185G7 @ 3.00GHz (3.00 GHz)
    *Installed RAM: 64.0 GB (63.8 GB usable)
    *System type: 64-bit operating system, x64-based processor
    *Edition: Windows 11 Home
    *Version: 25H2
    *Experience Windows Feature Experience Pack 1000.26100.275.0

I mainly use my laptop for work and school, and some light photo & video editing which it works fine for right now but when I try to do any type of casual gaming it is very slow, laggy and quickly overheats even on older games (like 2005 Star Wars Battlefront 2) and with graphics turned to the lowest settings.

What is the best way to upgrade my Framework laptop to be able to at least handle some casual gaming with something like Warthunder?

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Based on those specs, it sounds like you have a Framework Laptop 13 with an Intel Core 11th Gen CPU. I’m going to edit your topic labels to make sure it goes into the right category.

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Thank you, I keep getting that mixed up.

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There is good news and bad news…

The good news is: the AMD AI boards are truly much faster than the 11th Gen boards (though you do have the i7 version).

The bad news is: Getting 64 GB of DDR5 memory might cost almost as much as the mainboard and still will not offer a huge improvement in the graphics department.

Alternatively, if the gaming/photo/video editing is mostly done at home; one of the best upgrades would be a Thunderbolt/USB4 eGPU dock and a low to mid-range graphics card. That will see a significant uplift in graphics performance and should take a little bit of the heat load off the processor. To future proof the purchase, get one that is USB4 as I believe those are Thunderbolt 3/4 compatible.

If the processor is regularly overheating, check/clean the fans and possibly a new application of thermal paste might do some wonders over the stock stuff used. Even since the 11th Gen boards came out there are some fantastic thermal pastes (even non-conductive ones) on the market.