Thanks for digging into this a bit further as I have been trying everything now for a good balance, but no matter what it's hard to determine the best settings in SkyrimPrefs.ini to obtain really nice shadows, HD textures, good draw distance with actually keeping a good fps on swaying branches! Went bare bones just to try to get everything working. Originally thought it was a mod creating this problem. When in reality it appears to be how the game is coded. A severe fix is needed for this, at least some clear setting adjustments.