So, while running the game on high/ultra settings in some spots around the large cities I get 25 FPS. When i'm in an interior area, I get a rock solid 60 FPS. So I just wanted to know if this is my CPU or GPU holding me back from a good solid frame rate.

GPU: GTX 560 Ti MSI
CPU: AMD Phenom X6 1090T 3.2 Ghz 6 core
Ram: 12 gigs DDR3

The lag is mostly coming from cities. I'm not looking for graphical optimizations, i'm trying to figure out what is holding me back.

Thanks.

Find and use skyboost, profit. (its technically a CPU boundary issue but its not a very apparent one, this optimizer really helps though)

Mods? If no major hi res mods in play, if anything, I'd say CPU if anything, BUT I'd say it is likely more your settings (shadows, ugrids) and maybe having other stuff running in the background (try something like Gamebooster to take care of that). Between changing shadow settings and using skyboost or TESVAL (and of course making sure your gpu drivers are uptodate and properly installed), I should think you'd get more improvement than spending a bunch on better hardware.

Awesome, the lowest I get no is 35 instead of 23. Is there anything else I can do to boost the FPS by a few? Thanks for the help.

Also, I don't have anything big running in the background. My drivers are up to date and i'm using Skyboost to get some extra FPS. Is there anything I can do?

Aye its pretty much the biggest FPS bonus you can get for those rougher areas. Beyond that its just the typical "Adjust the visual settings to find a nice balance of pretty/performance", I do suggest sacrifice the shadow detail first, its a monster on resources for little pay off visually. The other is Anti-Aliasing, I don't even bother with anything over 4x and that gives you a lot of room to get other more visually pleasing effects into play. But yah it comes down to just tweaking things at this point.

ED: Oh right and if you aren't running the 290.53 beta drivers for your card that will also help exceptionally. You can score that driver off geforce.com

I just downloaded and installed the drivers and got an extra two fps. So I went from 23 fps to 37. Thanks for the help.

Welcome dude, happy skyrimin' and merry new years! Aight time to get my nordish mead flowin' myself.

The FPS hit is for everyone in cities, I recently upgraded to a i7 2700k and still get abysmal performance in Whiterun and Markarth. I hope it's something that they are working on for a future patch.

Completely disabling anti aliasing fixed all my lag issues.I use fxaa injector injector instead and it does a decent job at hiding the jagged edges.It's not perfect but you can't really notice it ingame.
Now i can run the game smooth even with 6GB of mods(5+ GB of very high res textures and 1GB of new meshes)

Use Skyboost or TESV Accleration Layer mod (with SKSE) and overclock your CPU. Unfortently I'm not very family with your CPU but this game is very CPU dependent and a higher clock speed will give you better FPS, I'd shoot for an OC to 4.0GHz, you probably can't get higher than that without increasing your volts so if you are not familer with OC'ing stick to the multiplyer and no higher than 4.0.

Oh yes, and use Nvidia's latest beta drivers, they offer a nice boost to performance.

From 3.2 to 4.0? That seems like a jump.....

If you have the cooling AMD CPUs overclock pretty well. I'm only using an arctic 13 air cooler (I say only, it's fantastic) along with lots of intake and exhale fans, and my CPU shipped at 3.7, which I increased to between 4.1-4.2.

Just giving you some background with amd

What if I have stock cooling and an open case? ^^

If you have stock cooling I would strongly advise you not to overclock. My CPU cooler was only about ￡15, and arctic silver paste was about 4 quid. I can tell you now without a good CPU cooler (not stock) your CPU temps will shoot up to the moon.

The intake and exhale fans don't affect the CPU as such, they help with the overall heat build up in the pc.

What is thermal paste for? Doesn't it just keep the CPU to the heatsink? And 15 euros should buy me a nice heatsink?

It's required and put on the CPU, which contacts the heat sink.

The purpose is to cover the imperfections on the top of the CPU and the bottom of the heat sink, and to allow good heat conductivity from the CPU to the heat sink. Without it, your pc probably won't turn on, and even if it did, it would probably die.

For 15 euro? Probably mate, have a look on amazon for arctic CPU coolers

I looked at some Arctic CPU coolers and people say they are no good for AMD CPUs. I found this one though:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835103099

People seem to like it. It also seems to come with thermal paste so I don't think I need to buy any more do I? And I can put this thermal paste on even after applying the stock thermal paste right?

One last thing, does it matter cooling wise if I leave my case open or closed?

I have an arctic and its spot on, maybe I'm in a minority. Also, I maye be wrong but I've heard Coolermaster heat sinks are pretty loud. It's something you should consider when buying a CPU fan.

They do come with paste on yes, but it's usually standard stuff that isn't very good quality. From my research, arctic silver paste is the favoured product for overclockers. If you put your own on, I'd suggest buying the removal kit to take it off the heat sink before applying your own.

Also look on YouTube at how to apply the paste, there's a specific method to use.

I can't speak for an open case, I suppose it would help with heat, I've never ran my pc with an open case before.

keeping a case open lets in dust/hair/crap that will decrease the performance of every fan (cpu, psu, gpu, case fans), and these fans apply directed airflow. Also, intake fans, in a well sealed case, allow you to specifically direct that 'cool' airflow. The more holes in the case, the greater chance that cooler air will escape before applying to components. The best air-cooled cases are not open, but well sealed, and carefully controlled/balanced airflow.

Well, I have a big hole in the back of my case where the PSU is suppose to go. So I just have my PSU hanging out the back by a cable. I know, its horrible, but it works. Also, I don't care much about noise. I will just buy this and use the thermal paste that comes with it.

Thanks.

Ok mate give it a go if you have any other questions about overclocking, there's a great forum here http://forums.overclockers.co.uk/ and also the Tom's Hardware website. Good luck!

I am running my skyrim on ultra but with the AA turned down to 2. If you turn AA up there actually not that much difference. And my system is listed below.

Intel Core 2 Quad 2.4
Nvidia GTX 460 running at 1080p
4 gb Ram

Running pretty smooth, all the bugs from when i 1st had the game like CTD have gone, purple graphics are gone.
The only other thing i did is delete my game files after 100 or so hours with bugs until the game was fixed and i started again from the begining. Ive reached 100 hours again just without a glitch and completed the main quest, now doing side quests.
P.S not running any mods what so ever

I quite happy with the game now but would like to know what next in the elder scrolls collection

agentmas should be able to run the game easy

I run the game on Ultra with AA at x4 and the lowest FPS I get is in the low 30s

Same for me with them off I get impressive FPS everywhere with them on it can go anywhere from 60 to 10 based on where I am in the world.