Oblivion slightly stuttering

[Infinity000]

See link below for background:

http://www.tomshardware.com/forum/forum2.php?config=tomshardwareus.inc&cat=33&post=273035&page=1&p=1&sondage=0&owntopic=1&trash=0&trash_post=0&print=0&numreponse=0&quote_only=0&new=0&nojs=0

I moved the topic to this thread as I believe the problem is no longer a hardware issue but a software/hardware setting somewhere.

Basically I experience a slight stuttering whenever objects/textures are loaded in the distance when running around outside. I guess the stuttering has always been there but more so evident since I made the changes listed in the link. This stuttering is BY NO MEANS a game killer, nor would I switch the graphics back to lessen the suttering as it is not as important to me. This is just slightly annoying.

I've already tried the tweaks listed by tweak guides for oblivion, and others, and even some mods that supposedly lessen stuttering.

ifpsclamp=60 is NOT an option as my fps do fall below 60 outside with all settings maxed and running 32xAA and 16xAF at 1920 x1080 resolution, as expected it would be, oblivion is a very demanding game.

I was just wondering if there is anything else that could be suggested to lessen or get rid of the stuttering I might not have tried. And no, I haven't had a chance to defrag the hard drive yet, so that may still be the answer. Thanks

 

[Infinity000]

UPDATE: Defragging hard drive did nothing to help this problem. The stuttering definitely occurs when objects/textures are loaded in the distance in the tasked IO cache.

I'm now wondering if Oblivion is running on just one core. This would explain things and the single 2.4GHz core would not be able to handle all this information on its own along with the graphics. I will look into this further with regards to getting it to run on multiple cores. Is there any way to tell if it is running on multiple cores and how much the usage is? I know task manager can show usage, but does it also store usage history?

Also, any additional tips would help. thanks

NOTE: Vista's defragmentation SUCKS! It shows no visual progress, percentage complete, or time left to go. It took almost 15 hours to defrag my 500GB HD (it was the first defrag though) but still! I definitely recommend getting 3rd party defrag software.