So I dont know if this has been covered before - probably - but I was planning on trying out some different texture overhauls. I had been playing with Skyrim Realistic Overhaul for awhile now which is great but just wanted to see what the official HD pack and other overhauls were like (HD pack is awful in comparison) and see if I could get back a few fps. I run low-impact 1.08 ENB, FXAA and various other replacers like Skyrim Flora Overhaul etc. I have a i7-920, 12GB RAM, Sapphire 3GB HD7970 & SSD drive. Its not a low end rig. Ive been getting around 40 fps outside in high density areas previously, but Im also running 4XSSAO from CCC. I go between SSAO and MSAA. SSAO looks so much better but the performance hit is nasty.

Anyway I open up the game today and all of a sudden - this is AFTER removing Skyrim Realistic Overhaul - Im getting horrible fps. Like around 15-20 max outside. Im back on Vanilla textures and no ENB. What gives?

PS. Im on 12.3 drivers. I tried 12.4 but they were awful. 12.3 has always been pretty good for me.

Well the random drops of 30 frames or more have gone. I started using Game Booster: http://www.iobit.com/gamebooster.html

Im typically sceptical of these sorts of programs but using it I dont get the random jumps. Guess somethign was going on with my computer in the background. Definately recommend it if you are having similar problems. Gobsmacked!