The game automatically detected my graphics settings to Ultra, which is about right. I'm running dual Radeon 6950s, 16gb ram, and a phenom x6. I tried setting it to low settings as well, but regardless I get no more than 15fps. So far I've set my sound quality to 44100 hz, rolled back my drivers to 11.9, and restarted my pc; none of this has helped.

What is happening is at the black screen where it introduces the game after starting a new game, it gets lines around the edges, and is less than 15fps when the characters fade in and you're in the back of a cart. Waiting does not solve this problem, I've suffered through most of the opening cut scene like this. So far it has not actually crashed on me, but it is unplayable this way, and I shouldn't be having any problems.

Edit: Running Windows 7 64bit
Edit2: Also if I alt tab out, I can't open the game back up and have to end the program.


Best fix I've seen found yet:
Follow these steps and it should run great!
Thanks so much Westinftw for the solution!

try restarting press f8 and click on start windows normally.

Uh, I'm not exactly running windows in safe mode. I am running it normally.

If you're not using a SSD drive, try defragmenting. I had sudden low fps in games once because when Steam installs new files (including updating itself) it seems to like writing them all in a horribly fragmented state.

Or, could be the vsync issue...seem to have to disable it via the ,ini file.

I'm in the same boat, Denzus. Two 6950's, 16GB Ram and an i7-2600k on Windows 7 64-bit. I'm also going back and forth between the Catalyst versions and still stuck around 15fps.

Is anything overclocked in your rig?

Disable Crossfire and force system to run on 1 card until a fix comes out. Most likely a crossfire problem. Your card is strong enough to max on whatever resolution by itself.

No, only thing I've done is tweaked my ram to get them to factory default 1600.

No luck, doing so made no difference

roll back drivers or could be an AMD issue.

If Crossfire isn't the issue, perhaps you have some faulty ram? Try taking some out.

Unlikely, have had zero issues with dozens of games in the 3 months I've had this PC. It is far more likely that it's a buggy release.

Faulty ram would cause crashing and blue screening instead of low fps. The fault lies with the GPU not the CPU,RAM.

Fixed, I found the obvious problem. I had some options for 3D rendering in Catalyst set to override applications. Set all of them to use application default and it works fine. /facepalm

My rig is not as good as yours but I am having the same problem. Skyrim set High settings for me. Tried playing, super slow frame rate. Closed the game and tried medium settings, still the same. Closed again and tried the lowest possible and it was running smoothly AND THEN IT CRASHED. Not just a crash, Windows would not boot back after. I had to run recovery from Windows 7 CD. Once I got back in I tried to open the game but it would not open, saying something about compatibility of x64 and whatnot. Uninstalled the game and downloading again, hopefully it will work this time.

I had the same problem. 2 HD6950s, i5 2500k and all that. I fixed it like this:

Set your settings to 'Ultra' and max them out. Now in the launcher menu, go to 'Advanced' and bump shadow detail down to 'High'.

I am now getting perfect frame rates. Seems there's a bug with Ultra Shadows for my system.

Give it a try! It saved my life.

I have an i5 650 @ 3.2 GHz, ATI Radeon HD 5770 1 GB, and 8 GB of RAM.

The performance goes from great to unacceptable so quickly, and STAYS that way.

No matter what the resolution, the game eventually just DIPS in frame rate and sticks. I've tried both 1080p and 720p at ultra settings for Radial Blur and Shadows and alternated those between High also for each launch. The game would perform reasonably well, then in about a minute, sink to 5 FPS and stay at that frame rate. The more I explore, the lower it gets. It got to less than 1 FPS a few minutes ago! The only way to solve this is to exit the game and go back in, but it's so pointless to do so when it comes back in only a few minutes!!

That did not work for me since i am having problems with it on applications.

Windows 7 64-bit with an Intel i7 2600K @3.4GHz, Crossfire ATI Radeon HD6950's 1GB, and 16GB of RAM.
It took awhile to figure out, but I hope this helps anyone with a similar system:

1. I went and updated Catalyst http://sites.amd.com/us/game/downloads/pages/radeon_win7-64.aspx
2. Go update your Skyrim.ini file in Documents>>My Games>>Skyrim to disable V-Sync.
- Enter iPresentInterval=0 at the bottom of [Display].
3. This is the most important part for your Crossfire. Open up Catalyst and go Gaming>>3D Application Settings.
- Make sure you change the settings to http://i44.tinypic.com/ac73n5.png

And there you go!
FYI I'm certain you can enhance the graphics even further by messing with your INI files and the 3d App Settings, but doing these three steps gave me Ultra settings around 60FPS. Hope it works for you too.
:cheers: