Wondering i have few graphics mods installed but im noticing huge dips. I get around 40fps in towns or just large vistas.

Specs:
i7 920 2.66ghz
gtx 580
6g ram

Skyrim hd retexture
realistic lighting
Few other ones like sun texture and night.

You should be getting 50 - 60 FPS without ever stuttering. How much VRAM do you have and what resolution are you playing at? If you have 4GB, no worries. If you have 2 or less, you might be running out of VRAM. (2GB is probably plenty, but it's possible to exceed it.)

You could try updating your drivers, but if it's not that, it's probably too many high-res textures. I'm starting to sound like a broken record, and I just posted this in another thread, but people seriously underestimate the VRAM needs for big texture mods.

Quick test to see if it's too many HQ textures:
From the default Skyrim Launcher:
Advanced->Options->Detail (tab)->Texture Quality: (set to medium)
Play for a little while.

No more stuttering means you need to remove or reduce textures, or keep the Medium setting.

4048g of vram

Im gonna try putting my drivers back im using most up to date beta ones i went and downloaded the official not beta ones which should be more stable.

I will have to test it out but i might be drivers i think because i think i updated not long ago.

If you're using the latest beta drivers, I wouldn't be surprised. I'm think they're causing problems in Skyrim.

Your question is impossible to answer.

Fps depends on so many things.
Where are you in the game, what are you looking at, how many NPCs in view.
What settings are you using. What type of AA, how much AA. E.g. by enabling SSAO (via Nvidia Inspectors), I can half my fps by just enabling High Quality SSAO).
And what mods do you use.
Even the time of day (lighting during the night is harder to calculate than during the day, check it out in Markath).
So it is impossible to give exact number.

In the first month, people who compared fps by standing at the top of the stairs in Whiterun, and looking down at the village. Even when people got 60 fps outside cities, their fps in that view could drop as low as 40 or even 30 fps. There are also places in Markath and Riften that are notorious for dropping your fps.

Your gtx580 has 1.5GB of vram. That should be enough to run the HD-texture pack and some more mods. You're getting close, but it shouldn't be a problem. Use GPU-Z or a similar tool to see your exact vram-usage.

That being said, I don't think the numbers you mention in your post sound anything extraordinary. I would guess your system is just running fine.

Sorry not that experienced in pc's but how do i know my vram usage ? How does it matter should it not use all my vram to power games not a little.

As Gryz said the OP needs to give more information. Patch version, driver version, what settings, mods and DLC, etc. At 1920 by 1200 with a single card I was getting 60 pretty much everywhere with the 1.5 patch, 290 series drivers, HiRes DLC, ultra settings, 2AA and 16AF. If that helps.

No, he doesn't need to give more information. Because even with 4x the info, we still can't say what to expect exactly.

You can see VRAM usage with particular (free) tools.
I know MSI Afterburner can show you your vram usage.
But Afterburner can do a lot more (like setting fanspeeds, etc), and thus might be overkill.
I like GPU-Z.
http://www.techpowerup.com/downloads/SysInfo/GPU-Z/

Start GPU-Z, start a game, alt-tab out, check your vram usage.
It's not hard.
Gl.

The more vram a game uses, the better. You want your hardware to be used to the max.
However, if you add so many texture packs (or other stuff), that the game can't store the important/current stuff in vram anymore, then you run into a problem. Your PC will start swapping textures from RAM to VRAM back and forth. And that will cause severe lower fps. But as long as you are just below that treshold, you are fine. If you have 1.5GB vram, it doesn't matter if you use 1.4GB or 0.5GB. But once you go to 1.6GB, it's bad. (Note, GPU-Z will not show 1.6GB, it will just keep showing all 1.5GB is used).

Not gonna happen if any thing im buying new cpu.

CPU is used by Skyrim to render shadows? What is your shadow settings? You could try bringing those down as your CPU is the bottleneck not the 580.

You definitely do not need a new CPU. Not for another generation or so. There are people using your CPU for 680 SLI, so you're fine. But http://www.clunk.org.uk/forums/overclocking/22106-core-i7-overclocking-guide-beginners.htmlwouldn't be a bad idea, if you've got a decent motherboard, cooler, and case.

I know for a fact that gtx 570 + i5 750 can run Skyrim at > 50FPS on ULTRA+ @ 1920 x 1200 without stuttering. Your system is better than that.

So your possible problems are:

• messed up Skyrim configuration
  
• video card drivers
  
• audio drivers?
  
• other hardware issues (bad PSU, RAM, etc)
  
• you're running at a higher resolution or multi-monitor (2560 x 1440 or higher)
  
• you're running out of VRAM (not if you've got 4GB of VRAM, though)

Considering your hardware, you shouldn't be stuttering, or it should be extremely rare.

Your cpu's holding you back, i'm betting you would see extremely poor fps on ultra, fps ranges of 25-50fps on high, and 45-60fps on medium. If you overclock it to around 4ghz (easy with a 920) you'll run it perfectly at 60fps on medium and 50-60fps on high.

Your gpu on the other hand would semi well perform on ultra if you lower the shadow's to high and would do the high preset with some AA perfectly (assuming your cpu would do 4Ghz to 4.4Ghz that is)

Make sure you're not running all kinds of silly Microsoft services in the background. Windows loves to clean your drives, measure your keystrokes-per-minute, check if your timeclock is still on time, make a back-up and check on if all devices plugged in are still plugged in. All the while you are trying to play Skyrim. But your specs seem fine.

1: I see no mention of what resolution you're running, at 2560x1440, your minimum fps would be about right.
At 1920x1200 or 1920x1080 , yes your FPS shouldnt dip below 60fps.

2: To monitor your vram usage...
Install Msi afterburner http://event.msi.com/vga/afterburner/download.htm and click the settings button, then the monitoring tab.
select GPU memory usage and then check the box below for show in onscreen display to you can see the vram usage in realtime while in-game.


I'm going to agree the i7 920 @ 2.66ghz is the issue.
You don't seem to want to and want to just waste money on a new cpu if needed.
But The 920 will do 4ghz pretty easily and alleviate your bottleneck.
But if you do buy a new cpu and still dont overclock, youre still not gonna completely remove the bottleneck, you're going to want 4ghz or more.
If you're just afraid to overclock, just buy something reasonably cheap and popular so any info/help you need is easy to find.
Something like a 2500k and Asus p8z68-V Pro motherboard then you can just click the auto overclock and let it overclock the cpu to like 4.3ghz for you easily, and safely.

Your GTX 580 is MORE than enough for a steady 60fps in Skyrim as long as your not running at crazy resolutions and not exceeding the VRAM with mods, so i wouldnt suggest upgrading that for another generation or so.

So essentially you are saying I can have my mobo do the OC all on its own? Running stock 3.7 (with turbo atm) I have no issues with fps in Skyrim or anything else but the only thing keeping me from OC to like 4.2 was not knowing exactly how and fear.

Yes, The Asus boards and most enthusiast boards nowadays, will do a conservative auto overclock for you if you dont want to take the time and learn/do it yourself.

On your board....
1: Reboot pc and keep pressing the DEL key on your keyboard to enter the bios/UEFI.
2: Once in the bios , you'll be in easy mode unless you have changed it to advanced before on your own. (if youre in advanced mode, just click exit at the top right and choose Asus EZ mode)
3: Now you can do what is called an "easy overclock" with one click.
Watch this video starting at 3:00 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3vBN-cBPs98 (your bios is the same as the p67 in this video, so it is done the same way)
4: Of course to get a maximum overclock its best to do it manually, but the Asus OC Tuner - Easy mode will usually put you between 4.0ghz - 4.5ghz with little effort or knowledge.








Now, to check your overclock you just need 3 programs.

1: CPUID (CPU-Z) , this will show you your cpu clock speed and voltage, you'll see that you are at 1.6ghz when just at the desktop, and it will show you your overclocked speed and voltage at full load.
Grab CPUID here.... http://www.cpuid.com/softwares/cpu-z.html

2: Now you'll wanna see your temps, so grab Real Temp here...... http://www.techpowerup.com/downloads/SysInfo/Real_Temp/ or here http://www.techpowerup.com/downloads/2089/Real_Temp_3.70.html

4; Finally, you'll want a program that will load your cpu, so you can use the two programs above to see what it is doing at full load and what the overclocked speed is.
Use Intel Burn Test to load the cpu.
You can grab it here.... http://www.softpedia.com/get/System/Benchmarks/IntelBurnTest.shtml
note: since you're new, just use Intel Burn Test at standard to check your overclock, running at very high or Maximum is recommended for advanced users only.

Thanks sorry for the hijack

No problem, i just added more to the post.
And i'm sure others who dont know can use the knowledge also.
Asus, ASrock, and Gigabyte all have similar "easy overclocking" with thier boards also.

When I set it to ASUS Optimal like in the video my system seems to boot twice...fans kick in for a sec then off then back on. POST was fine and all but is that normal?

I have CPU Z already and I have a CPU temp display on my cases fan controller....highest I have ever seen it was 36 degrees under full load idles at around 30.

Yep, that's normal.
Using Intel Burn test your temps will be way higher, it is designed to stress the cpu more than any normal program ever will, so don't get excited..
Put it under load and see what it set your cpu turbo overclock too.
With a 2500k, you should get around 4.3ghz-4.5ghz with the Easy mode.

Just to give more info that is useful.
The Easy modes are conservative, they go for a safe overclock and use a bit more voltage than is probably needed since they are not tailored to each specific cpu, they are pre-defined profiles that need to work with ALL cpus.
But they are SAFE for beginners.

So stick with what it sets things to, and don't try going higher or making adjustments without taking the time to learn about safe voltages and temps, and how to properly stress test for stability.
Advanced users will tell you that Easy Mode does use more voltage than is probably is needed for your cpu and that is true, but you shouldn't bother with lowering the voltage unless you know what you're doing(you can cause instability),
the EZ mode wont overvolt your cpu and cause damage, it is DESIGNED for beginners who want a safe easy overclock.
That is actually what Intel Burn Test and Prime 95 etc..etc.. are designed for, they are for advanced users looking to stress test for maximum overclocks/stability at lowest possible voltage and temps.

I ran this ASUS Optimal mode before just had no clue it was OCing my CPU. My system was built by iBUYPOWER so they did a burn in before they shipped it and it ran fine before. Do I still need to run those programs?

Nope, you don't need them, you're now overclocked in the bios level, no need for any software overclocking Utilities, not even Asus's.
(if you watched the rest of that video, Asus has Overclocking software you can install too, but i don't recommend it for beginners because if you choose extreme overclock, like he does in the video for 4.8ghz the voltages are too high and temps will be way too high without excellent cooling, so don't do that unless you're experienced!!)

If they ran a "burn-in" test, did it ship already overclocked for you?
Or was that just a burn-in test to ensure everything was working properly before shipping?

Anyway, it doesnt matter, once you're overclocked at the bios level, you're good to go permanently even if you even re-install the OS.

Nah I didn't have the OC anything but they did run a burn in with everything set to stock(BIOS was set to Normal when I got the system)....just wondering if I should do it again. As I understand those programs are to make sure the OC is running stable would I be correct on that footing?

You can, if you want,you should be fine since Asus put alot of effort into ensuring the easy overclock settings would be stable with many different configurations, that is why it is conservative and beginner friendly.
If you really wanna check stability, you can also run the Intel Burn Test as listed above and Prime 95 for a few hours also.
But, you should be good to go if you don't want to.
That is all up to you.
I'd At least run that Intel Burn test to put it under load for a few minutes and open CPU-Z so you can see how far it overclocked your cpu for ya.