Vanilla Skyrim terrible frame rate in cities and in wilderness on a GTX 980

[GreekGod14]

Hello everyone!

I have been playing Skyrim since day one, and I have been modding it for a long time. Recently, I have decided to get back into it, only this time I'm shocked by a very blatant problem....

 

In nearly all cities, and in some areas of the wilderness, I get a terrible frame rate that drops from about a solid 60 to 30-45. This is very abnormal, as I have an excellent system.

 

My system specs are as follows:

CPU: AMD FX 8350

GPU: MSI GTX 980

RAM: Vengeance 8GB

SSD: I have skyrim on an 850 EVO 500 GB

PSU: Corsair 750W

 

I have checked my temps, all is very cool. Uninstalled my graphics drivers (very clean uninstall) and reinstalled. No difference...

I'm pretty tech savvy, and have been tweaking and modding skyrim for a long time now. But now I am just at a complete loss for words as to why I could be getting this terrible frame rate whereas in the past, on the SAME hardware, I was getting a solid 50-60 FPS with 170+ mods. And this lag is in VANILLA SKYRIM.

 

I do have suspicions that this could be a hardware issue, but I'm hoping it's something less dire, as my processor, SSD, PSU, and video card have only been in my system for less than a year... I did a lot of upgrading last year.

 

If anyone has any suggestion on what I should do next, I would appreciate it immensely. Thank you in advance!

 

(And yes, I have tried a fresh uninstall)

 

~Nik

Edited April 17, 2016 by GreekGod14

[jones177]

Hi I used a 980 for a while.

 

With an i7 2600K it could run Skyrim at 120+FPS at 1080 with 250+ mods in vanilla. 60fps average with RealVisoin ENB(no DoF) at 1080. In vanilla I got the same drops in certain areas(leaving Whiterun) like you.

Surprisingly the drops were less using ENB.

 

When I started using the 980 at 1440 with ENB the game ran in the high 40s & the drops were in the low 40s. This was a totally smooth experience.

 

Older cards like my 470, 570, 670 & 680 had the drops but not to the point where I could feel them(Except at the top of the stairs at Dragonreach). Only with my 970 & 980 was it a real issue.

 

Now that I use a 980 ti, it is again no longer an issue. The frame rate drop is from 60 to 54 at 1440 with ENB.

 

I don't know why the 980/970 had the severe drops in my vanilla(no ENB) game. My guess is that it has something to do with DirectX 9 since my old 680 4gb was a totally smooth experience in the vanilla game compared to the 970/980 & it only outperformed them in DirectX 9 tests.

 

Later.

[JimmyRJump]

Been playing Skyrim since 10 November 2011 (was released a day early in Belgium because the 11th being a national holiday, armistice/end of WWI and some such) and always experienced framrate drops at Dragons Reach and in Markarth atop the stairs to Understone Keep. Playing at a 60fps cap, I drop about 10fps and experience a slight stutter for a couple of seconds.

 

Started off way back with two HD6970 cards, i7 2600K, 4x2GB KHX RAM@1333MHz on an AsRock P67 Fatal1ty Pro board, and three years ago went for an R7970 Lightning, (which I still use due to lack of funds) i7 3770K, 4x4GB KHX RAM@1600MHz on an AsRock Z77 Extreme11 board and I still have the same 'issue'.

 

Don't mind, really, as I'm pretty used to it by now :D

[GreekGod14]

Been playing Skyrim since 10 November 2011 (was released a day early in Belgium because the 11th being a national holiday, armistice/end of WWI and some such) and always experienced framrate drops at Dragons Reach and in Markarth atop the stairs to Understone Keep. Playing at a 60fps cap, I drop about 10fps and experience a slight stutter for a couple of seconds.

 

Started off way back with two HD6970 cards, i7 2600K, 4x2GB KHX RAM@1333MHz on an AsRock P67 Fatal1ty Pro board, and three years ago went for an R7970 Lightning, (which I still use due to lack of funds) i7 3770K, 4x4GB KHX RAM@1600MHz on an AsRock Z77 Extreme11 board and I still have the same 'issue'.

 

Don't mind, really, as I'm pretty used to it by now :D

 

 

Hi I used a 980 for a while.

 

With an i7 2600K it could run Skyrim at 120+FPS at 1080 with 250+ mods in vanilla. 60fps average with RealVisoin ENB(no DoF) at 1080. In vanilla I got the same drops in certain areas(leaving Whiterun) like you.

Surprisingly the drops were less using ENB.

 

When I started using the 980 at 1440 with ENB the game ran in the high 40s & the drops were in the low 40s. This was a totally smooth experience.

 

Older cards like my 470, 570, 670 & 680 had the drops but not to the point where I could feel them(Except at the top of the stairs at Dragonreach). Only with my 970 & 980 was it a real issue.

 

Now that I use a 980 ti, it is again no longer an issue. The frame rate drop is from 60 to 54 at 1440 with ENB.

 

I don't know why the 980/970 had the severe drops in my vanilla(no ENB) game. My guess is that it has something to do with DirectX 9 since my old 680 4gb was a totally smooth experience in the vanilla game compared to the 970/980 & it only outperformed them in DirectX 9 tests.

 

Later.

Thank you guys for some of the insight. I have read some forums and a lot of people have come forward saying that the 970 and 980 (for quite a few people) has been giving them issues with Skyrim performance wise. I dont think the game can properly utilize the 970 and 980. Ah well. The new Pascal 1000 series from Nvidia is rumored to coming as early as June, so there's yet another reason to save up. Thank you both!

 

(What I wouldn't have done to play the game a day early, Jimmy ;)

[jones177]

I am looking forward to Pascal as well & hoping that it lives up to the hype. I need a 30% performance increase to play Skyrim at 4K with my currant ENB settings. If it can only do 20% it looks like it will be 980 tis in SLI for me.

 

Later