Hello all!
Before we begin:
I am a Professional IT Technician, and a novice to the Linux OS hoping to learn and understand it better. This is my first post here, please be kind. 
I often get treated as an idiot on forums, so I thought I’d try introducing myself a little first.
The Issue:
I am using a Thunderbolt 3 eGPU to render my two 2k gaming monitors. both monitors are set at their rated refresh rate (144hz and 170hz) but visually they look like they are rendering images at 20hz. Yesterday I closed my laptop’s lid which fixed this issue, however this morning that trick isn’t working. I believe that this is because my laptop’s Intel HD620 gpu is trying to render both 2k screens rather than handing it off to the RX480 8gb in my eGPU dock. I can still see the GPU in Hardware info, and the fans in the dock are responding as expected when disconnecting or reconnecting the eGPU dock.
What I’ve tried so far:
I’ve tried restarting the laptop with and without the eGPU plugged in, with the laptop screen open, with the laptop screen closed, restarting with it open and closed, and installing Optimus Manager to be able to switch the GPU settings, but Optimus doesn’t start when I launch it, no errors, no loading icon, it simply does nothing.
Any help here would be awesome! Thank you!