GTX680 Lag spikes in Skyrim. o_O

[Libram]

So as my title says, I'm having lag spikes when playing Skyrim. They seem to occur when I exit a building into the open world/city.
I don't have any graphics mods installed and I don't believe anything running in the background could be causing it. (Avast! Dropbox, Google Drive, SkyDrive, VMWare (no Operating systems are on) and Rainmeter.)
This also will sometimes happen when playing Saints Row The Third.

When the lag spike occurs the GPU usage suddenly jumps between 100% - 99% and the frame rate will hang around 10-15.
CPU usage sits around 60% and only 3GB of all 8GB of RAM is being used.

This used to happen on my GTX 460, but I figured that was because it was a old card from two generations back. Apparently it seems to be a problem with the game though.

Would anyone have any insight on why this happens, or is this actually normal?
It's very annoying having to reset the game when sitting back on my couch.

GTX 680
i5 3570k
8GB RAM
1920 x 1080 resolution.
Graphics settings on ultra.
310.70 Graphics Driver.

[DeltrusDisc]

When you exit buildings in Skyrim, the game loads a bunch of files.

What is your hard drive/solid state drive setup you have right now? You listed everything else, but the drive your game is installed on will play a key role in this.

[Libram]

When you exit buildings in Skyrim, the game loads a bunch of files.

What is your hard drive/solid state drive setup you have right now? You listed everything else, but the drive your game is installed on will play a key role in this.

AHCI

60GB SSD (Windows 7 Installed with a few various programs.)
500GB HDD (This currently has all of my Steam games and others installed on it.)

I have a second SSD, but I have yet to install it and all of that.

The 500GB drive is 4-5 years old. I don't remember exactly, but it has had problems in the past. Its done well as a storage drive, but is awful for a main. Would take a minute to load into a fresh install of Windows 7 with it.

[DeltrusDisc]

Do you know which SSD/HDD specifically?

Since Skyrim is installed on your HDD, that is likely what's causing the issue. You might be able to squeeze it onto your SSD if you can move your pagefile onto the HDD and turn off hibernate mode.

I have become very very lazy lately... I suggest installing that second SSD and putting Steam and your Steam games on it, you should see a pretty significant performance increase and smoothness, especially. Your 4-5 year old HDD is not helping right now.

[Libram]

The SSD is a Mushkin Chornos Deluxe.
The standard hard drive is a Seagate Baracuda 7200rpm salvaged from a old HP computer. I don't know the exact model number though.

I'll try out the page file suggestion though. I no longer use Hibernate.

[DeltrusDisc]

Here you go, read and follow this article: http://lifehacker.com/5802838/how-to...fe-of-your-ssd

No need to do everything, but some is good.

Scroll down to this section "Disable or move unnecessary OS features"

Enjoy. :P

[Libram]

Here you go, read and follow this article: http://lifehacker.com/5802838/how-to...fe-of-your-ssd

No need to do everything, but some is good.

Scroll down to this section "Disable or move unnecessary OS features"

Enjoy. :P

Hehe, beat you there.
I was already doing most of the things for the sake of SSD life.

[Milkshake86]

Here you go, read and follow this article: http://lifehacker.com/5802838/how-to...fe-of-your-ssd

No need to do everything, but some is good.

Scroll down to this section "Disable or move unnecessary OS features"

Enjoy. :P

Obvious thought here but he said 60gb SSD w/ os and various games, if he is running it near full or full it can likely will degrade the performance noticeably.

[Libram]

Obvious thought here but he said 60gb SSD w/ os and various games, if he is running it near full or full it can likely will degrade the performance noticeably.

Yea, I'll more then likely install it on the new SSD. It's got 240GB of untouched space.
I don't have much room to spare on the main drive though. Just 10GB left and that's where I'm keeping it.

[DeltrusDisc]

Yea, I'll more then likely install it on the new SSD. It's got 240GB of untouched space.
I don't have much room to spare on the main drive though. Just 10GB left and that's where I'm keeping it.

Good, and keep it at minimum 5GB free.

[Milkshake86]

Good, and keep it at minimum 5GB free.

Thing is his SSD isn't the new Intels, above 50% storage capacity performance degrades substantially, you might not feel it @ 50% 25% etc when booting or loading a program but once its constantly reading like gaming situations it shows, I havent seen it happen w/ the M4, but this is likely because the M4 and a few top shelf SSD's are a bit larger than they appear, think the M4 is actually closer to 160gb than 128.
This locked up extra space protects the SSD's performance unfortunately not all companies do this.

[Vargur]

Tried defragmenting the HDD? Ever?

[Libram]

Tried defragmenting the HDD? Ever?

Yes, it is scheduled to defragment once a month (not the SSD).

[Majesticii]

Yeah, Skyrim will stutter loading textures all the time when installed on a regular HDD. Not that the gameplay suffers under the stuttering, but the immersion required to keep you playing kinda does. Same as the overobvious texture popins that go with the same issue are quite immersion-breaking.

[Libram]

I've got my second SSD installed and have Skyrim and a few other games on it. So far there hasn't been a problem, but Saints Row The Third still likes to lag out if I use the steam web overlay or big picture mode one too many times.
I think Saints Row is just unstable programming when mixed with Steam though and it really isn't a problem. I can Alt + tab out to check email/forums instead of the overlay.

[DeltrusDisc]

I've got my second SSD installed and have Skyrim and a few other games on it. So far there hasn't been a problem, but Saints Row The Third still likes to lag out if I use the steam web overlay or big picture mode one too many times.
I think Saints Row is just unstable programming when mixed with Steam though and it really isn't a problem. I can Alt + tab out to check email/forums instead of the overlay.

Boom there ya go! Glad to hear it worked out! Now put that 240GB to use and have a little fun:

http://www.pcgamer.com/2012/11/19/skyrim-graphics-mods/

You have the hardware! Better yet, you have better than what this guy has. :P

[Libram]

Boom there ya go! Glad to hear it worked out! Now put that 240GB to use and have a little fun:

http://www.pcgamer.com/2012/11/19/skyrim-graphics-mods/

You have the hardware! Better yet, you have better than what this guy has. :P

The link isn't working for me, but I know what you are tying to link since I am subscribed to PC gamer in fact. :P
Those screen shots are crazy awesome but weren't most of the graphic mods for the Nexus version of Skyrim? I have only the Steam version. Wasn't sure if they would be compatible or if Steam workshop wouldn't play fair with Nexus mods.

Also my second computer that I gave my GTX 460 and the CX500 PSU is running Skyrim just as smooth now (I guess since it only has a single drive haha.) >_<