Skyrim Lags Horribly

[Seerynx]

Hello everyone, I've recently purchased Skyrim on my PC, but I've been having all kinds of problems with it that I shoudn't be experiencing! I'm getting intense lag issues and Skyrim had a hard time finding my Graphics Adapter (fixed). This horribly stuttering and small screen resolution are starting to make me quite angry. My computer is a lot better than the system requirements are, so I don't have a clue what my problem is, but for whatever reason, Skyrim feels the need to lag. I can play any game on maxed out or nearly maxed out settings, but Skyrim doesn't want to play in the same sandbox. My computer auto detected High settings, but I'm getting crap loads of lag! I know people can play Skyrim on a computer that isn't near as good as mine, a laptop at that! My system specs are:
AMD FX-6100 Six-Core Processor(2)
64bit
10GB RAM
1.5TB HDD(4)
Radeon HD 7450 Graphics Card with 1GB of dedicated memory
3.3Ghz
If anybody knows how to solve this issue, please, feel free to let me know. Please don't tell me anything like "Your GPU sucks, get a new one," because I know my GPU is not the problem here. It beats a lot of other people who can run Skyrim on High with no lag. My driver is up to date, before you ask.

Thanks,
Seerynx

 

[DryadSpeaks]

How big is your save file?

Your post kind of made me laugh, because it sounds more than a little outraged that people play on laptops, and I play on one with no trouble whatsoever (sorry!).

Hopefully Dagmar will be along soon to provide guidance!

 

[Dagmar]

I'm not sure he wants my help because I already pointed out to him that the bottleneck for his computer's performance is going to be his GPU. It's essentially a rebranded entry level video card so it's not going to handle Skyrim well at high/ultra settings even with the game finally recognizing his video card.

He should be playing the game at reduced resolution (1280x720 or lower) and at medium settings if he wants stabllity and good frame rates without tweaking files. If he's already doing this and is still getting lots of lag he should moniter his CPU and GPU performance with software like GPU-Z to see if both are being fully utilized by the game.

 

[DryadSpeaks]

I'm not sure he wants my help because I already pointed out to him that the bottleneck for his computer's performance is going to be his GPU. It's essentially a rebranded entry level video card so it's not going to handle Skyrim well at high/ultra settings even with the game finally recognizing his video card.

He should be playing the game at reduced resolution (1280x720 or lower) and at medium settings if he wants stabllity and good frame rates without tweaking files. If he's already doing this and is still getting lots of lag he should moniter his CPU and GPU performance with software like GPU-Z to see if both are being fully utilized by the game.

I was unaware!

 

[Seerynx]

No, you misunderstand, I want all the help I can get, which is why I've posted my problems multiple times. I want multiple people to answer with what they believe I can do to fix this. Skyrim has recognized high graphics, and my graphics card is superior to the recommended one. I play all other games with maxed out or near maxed out settings, and from what I've seen a huge amount of people say is that Skyrim is not GPU intensive.

 

[Dagmar]

...my graphics card is superior to the recommended one...

Your graphics card is most definitely not superior to the recommended one. The recommended Radeon HD card is an HD 4890 1GB or higher. For AMD Radeon HD video cards the second number is far more important than the first number in the model number. The first number designates the series, and the second number designates the hierarchy of the card in that series, while the third number marks the hierarchy within that particular card of the series, i.e. you look at the second number, then often the third number and finally the first number to determine how the card stacks up among Radeon HD video cards manufactured by AMD. 400 is the lowest number of any AMD Radeon HD card series so your card is at the bottom of the barrel for the 7000 series and ranks way below the Radeon HD 4890. It's basically somewhat better than the minimum required video card.

I play all other games with maxed out or near maxed out settings.

Different games have different requirements. The settings you play on those games may be completely irrelevant depending on how each game is coded, the game engine, and the manner in which the game environment is rendered.

...and from what I've seen a huge amount of people say is that Skyrim is not GPU intensive...

At high settings Skyrim is GPU intensive. Most current video games with good graphics are. You might be confused because some people say this from the perspective of comparing high end video cards, i.e for Skyrim the best AMD Radeon HD card from 2011 may not yield any appreciable performance advantage over the best AMD Radeon HD Card from 2009 but that doesn't equate into a game not requiring a good video card, or getting good frame rates at high settings with a low end video card.

 

[Seerynx]

Thank you for the information. Do you think an upgrade to a Radeon HD 7770 with 1GB of dedicated memory could run skyrim at Ultra?

 

[UnseenXAssassination]

the first time this happened to me it was wierd when i hit 6mb on both ps3 and pc it started lagging i guess i was overplaying it becuase im at 8mb and im not lagging at all...

 

[Dagmar]

Thank you for the information. Do you think an upgrade to a Radeon HD 7770 with 1GB of dedicated memory could run skyrim at Ultra?

The HD 7770 is an improvement over the 6770 which basically was a rebranded 5770, both of which should be able to handle Skyrim on high settings so it might get you to Ultra/High settings. Assuming your power supply is sufficient an HD 6850 1GB would definitely get you there for around the same price.

 

[Seerynx]

Ok, I've gone with a NVidia GTX 550 (or something like that [I'll just say it was over $150]). I've heard good things about it and it's ability to run Skyrim. I'll post back with the settings I am able to run it at whenever I actually get my new and improved computer back from Geek Squad later this evening. Thanks for all your help Dag!

Best Regards,
Seerynx