Low CPU and GPU load, LOW FPS

[slaahg]

Hello friends.

I have had an issue with low fps for as long as I can remember, however I thought my graphics card (HD 6950) was the culprit.
I ordered my new AMD Radeon HD 7950 graphics card in hopes that it would fix things, but alas, my problems still persist. I've done as much research as I am able to, but I have not been able to find a solution to my predicament.

Let's take Skyrim as an example. In some areas I get as low as 30 fps, while my load on both CPU and GPU remain very low. I have customized the .ini-files of Skyrim so that the game utilizes 5 of my 6 cores. The load on the graphics card never goes above 30%, and the CPU load is around 70% on a couple of cores, the other 4 remaining around 15-20%.

I regularly reformat and reinstall my OS (windows 7 64bit), so I doubt that it can be the cause for my woe. Any insight to my situation would be much appreciated.

My specs are as follows:
CPU: AMD Phenom II X6 1090T (6 cores, overclocked from 3200 to 3600 Mhz)
GPU: AMD Radeon HD 7950 3GB GDDR5 (GPU overclocked to 1080 Mhz, memory overclocked to 1375 Mhz, voltage 1.187 and +5% board power limit)
RAM: 4x 4GB, DDR3 I believe, don't remember frequency
Skyrim is installed on a SSD drive with 120GB capacity
Windows is installed on a 1TB HDD which is quite slow
If you need more thorough specs I can provide them.

 

[chromic]

try to download msi afterburner and increase the voltage / power limit

 

[slaahg]

try to download msi afterburner and increase the voltage / power limit

I'm using Sapphire Trixx atm, it does the same thing. It was bugged however which was why it said that the memory clock was at 6000 Mhz. I reinstalled it and redid my GPU overclocking. Now I have GPU clock 1080 Mhz, Memory clock 1375 Mhz, VDDC 1187 and +5% Board Power Limit.
Problem still remains though.

 

[Greatatlantic]

... you installed Windows on the slow drive? Why?

Anyways, here is a list of different CPUs benchmarking Skyrim: http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/gaming-processor-frame-rate-performance,3427-6.html .

AMD's offerings just don't work as well as Intel's. Now, are we talking a short dip as low as 30 fps, or just a straight constant 30 fps? What resolution are you playing at? Because you should still be doing a lot better than 30 fps, except for really intense combat scenes.

 

[slaahg]

... you installed Windows on the slow drive? Why?

Anyways, here is a list of different CPUs benchmarking Skyrim: http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/gaming-processor-frame-rate-performance,3427-6.html .

AMD's offerings just don't work as well as Intel's. Now, are we talking a short dip as low as 30 fps, or just a straight constant 30 fps? What resolution are you playing at? Because you should still be doing a lot better than 30 fps, except for really intense combat scenes.

I installed windows on the slow drive because as I understand it, it only affects boot time, and I'd rather have room for 1 more game with quick load screens than having a quick boot (I only boot once a day)

I always got Dxtory running while I play Skyrim, limiting the framerate to 59, because when it goes higher than that it can create stuttering (bethesda aren't the best programmers in the world), and my fps problems are definitely not constant. It happens in situations where there's a lot of shader work involved, but what surprised me was that there was no noticeable improvement from my 6950 (not overclocked) to my 7950 (overclocked)

A surprising example (for me) of where I get low fps is staring down the street towards the well outside belethor's goods in whiterun, standing beside the blacksmith. I don't have any crazy 8k texture packs or anything installed, and I was really expecting to run Skyrim on a stable fps of around 50-60 and not dip to 20-30 for seemingly no reason.

Thanks for answering btw.

Oh I forgot to answer, my resolution is 1920x1080