Skyrim ultra graphics settings?

[Ashanmaril]

So, I recently built a gaming PC with a friend of mine, and I'm really liking it so far.

However, when it came to playing Skyrim, the framerate gets really bad. Like, it will be good for a few seconds, then suddenly it will drop to like, 1fps for a few seconds, then it will go good again for a few seconds, rinse and repeat. It's mainly when I'm in bigger areas like outside or in towns, but it's still super annoying. The worst part is that I'm only playing on high settings, when I really should be able to play on ultra. My PC's specs:

AMD FX 4100 Quad-Core Processor at 3.6GHz
Radeon HD 7770 Graphics
8GB DDR3 1866MHz
1.5TB SATA HDD

Is there a reason it's not working. The best graphics settings I can run it on are medium, and that's ridiculous compared to this thing's specs. Also, yes, my video drivers are all up to date.

 

[cuecuemore]

What GPU are you using? (the 9770 won't be out for 18 months) Skyrim is heavily CPU dependent, though it doesn't sound like the issue you're having would be characteristic of a CPU bottleneck. Can you overclock your CPU? Skyrim will be able to eat up all the extra power you can eke out of your CPU.

 

[amuffin]

Skyrim is VERY CPU dependent.

The FX-4100 is a very low end CPU, while tons of things are generated by the CPU in Skyrim.

 

[Ashanmaril]

Ah, that's what I thought.

Darn. I paid $120 for that thing...

 

[Deemo13]

Skyrim is very CPU dependent. Also what is your power supply. The 9770 does not exist. Do you mean 7970? 7770?

 

[Ashanmaril]

Sorry. 7770. Edited the OP.
http://www.tigerdirect.ca/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=2021921&CatId=7387