Yeah, more info would be helpul for others to gauge what the problem is. From what I can tell, 7600 is a middle-end card, NOT a high-end card. Getting at least a 7750 or 7850 would bring you to high-end card level. I have a 7870 and it's performance is great! On charts, it performed close or even better than 7970. So, the latest and greatest isn't always the best value. 7970 costs a crap ton, while 7870 is comparably cheaper and more affordable. Just be sure to always get the HIGH-END card. 7600 is not it. SEE: http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/gaming-graphics-card-review,3107-7.html The farther away from the top, the less HIGH-END it is. And as far as I know, AMD follows the follows this naming hierarchy: x9xx, x8xxx, x7xxx are HIGH-END. x6xxx, x5xxx are MIDDLE. x4xx and below are LOW-END cards. The second number tells whether it's the better in the series. The third number is usually a 5 or 7. 5 denotes standard card. 7 denotes OC-ready. Secondly, Skyrim and Fallout 3 and other open-world games are more CPU-locked than GPU-locked. Your CPU at i5 is probably not strong enough to run Skyrim at highest settings and with mods. At medium sure, but not at highest settings. Getting a beefier CPU, at least in the i7 range and above, would be best. For best results, getting an expensive SSD would smoothen/fasten load times, texture loads, etc. Getting an SSD is my next upgradeable point. For upgrading though, I'd wait till the next generation of consoles (Xbox 720, Playstation 4) comes out. Around the same time, next-gen PC hardware should come out. Last point, what is your PSU? Power Source? Your GPU and CPU may be underfed if using a weak PSU. A PSU of 600W or 800W should handle most HIGH-END graphics card requirements. Still, I see people getting PSU with 1,000W, getting ready for new releases of next-gen hardware.