I am admittedly a novice when it comes to ensuring I have 'checked all the proper boxes' and am utilizing my hardware to its fullest/safest extent. Let me know if there are any questions since I'm really not sure what to include. I think I may just be asking for too much graphically.
 
I feel like it's under-performing for certain titles. Most notably (that I have experience with) are games such as KCD, PUBG, etc. I routinely dial my settings down to a minimum and stick to FHD resolutions and still suffer from drops to 20-30 fps, screen tearing (a lot), poor rendering, general slowness, etc.. I get the suspicion that whatever I'm doing is pushing the upper limits since the fan is constantly pegged and when I check the Precision X utility after some playtime and I'm regularly clocking speeds up to 90 degrees. I know these games are fairly demanding for a 980m, from what I understand, but I was curious to see if anyone had any success with improving my experience.
 
Before it's asked, I have:

• Set for high perf mode
• Ensured drivers are up to date
• Tried running games solo without any other applications running
• OCing vs. not OCing
• Using the SSD for game directories vs. the HDD,
• Using a highly rated cooling pad, etc.

 
Finally, would there be any merit in investing in a quality monitor? I figure adding another display in the mix might just exacerbate the issue. If yes, could I set the laptop display to utilize the integrated adapter while utilizing the 980m for games? Could it even make use of higher refresh rates?
 
It's gotten bad enough to where I've been researching eGPU setups and am finding nothing online. Really don't want to try and pioneer that given my lack of expertise

My main concern isn't the frame average. I do consistently average around 50-60 on KCD and probably ~80 for PUBG. It's the random drops below that and major screen tearing. I'm really wondering if I'd benefit from a quality monitor. I think that's the main source of my issue is that this display is just kinda eh. The colors are fine and I don't seem to notice a lot of input lag but it's otherwise not cutting it for competitive shooters. To answer your questions:
 
On Precision Mobile I am set to normal. I haven't really delved into the UI and tweaked it because the settings I've found online and user configs only show some of the settings. I kinda need to be spoon fed a step by step guide for OCing for me to be comfortable with it. And that's IF that would even help. I've only tried to test using normal and SuperClock. Generally, I leave it on normal due to temp concerns.
 
The temps I believe were CPU/system temps but GPU has definitely hit 70 to 80 IIRC. I'll keep an eye on it next time it's under load.
 
GeForce Experience is installed but not active for any of the games that I have installed.

Wayne012491 welcome to the EVGA forums! If not done yet, you could wipe the drivers from your system using DDU http://www.guru3d.com/files-details/display-driver-uninstaller-download.html 
(while in safemode) and then manually download and re-install the latest drivers and maybe run Unigine's Superposition benchmark https://benchmark.unigine.com/superposition  for a few hours to see if the same performance issue pops up there. 

Enabling v-sync and using the PXM config above definitely helped
 
thanks!

Glad to hear it helped. You should be able to keep optimal gameplay if temps stay below 80*C. If you want to be a little more involved with the temps without having to alt-tab to PXM, I'd suggest Afterburner with Rivatuner for a customizable overlay.