New computer w/ Windows 8.1 No mods other than DLCs--Dawnguard & Dragonborn

Fired up Skyrim for the first time and, whoa, the cart heading to Helgen bumps the roadside and starts madly spinning 360. Poor tethered horse doing the same. Horses/cart in front of us shoot off into space. Because the cart does not advance down the road, dialogue does not progress.
Loaded a previous early save (on exit of cave), thought all might be ok until meeting 2 wolves on the road. One leaped off a rock ---- and soared all the way across the valley---as Buzz Light Year would say, "Into infinity and beyond!"

Reinstalled Skyrim, had Steam verify files, tried w/o the DLCs....no luck

System Information
------------------
Operating System: Windows 8.1 64-bit (6.3, Build 9600) (9600.winblue_gdr.140330-1035)
Language: English (Regional Setting: English)
System Manufacturer: ASUS
System Model: All Series
BIOS: BIOS Date: 05/08/14 10:51:04 Ver: 09.01
Processor: Intel® Core™ i7-4770 CPU @ 3.40GHz (8 CPUs), ~3.4GHz
Memory: 16384MB RAM
Available OS Memory: 16326MB RAM
Page File: 2197MB used, 17072MB available
Windows Dir: C:\Windows
DirectX Version: DirectX 11
DX Setup Parameters: Not found
User DPI Setting: Using System DPI
System DPI Setting: 96 DPI (100 percent)
DWM DPI Scaling: Disabled
DxDiag Version: 6.03.9600.16384 64bit Unicode

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DxDiag Notes
------------
Display Tab 1: No problems found.
Sound Tab 1: No problems found.
Sound Tab 2: No problems found.
Sound Tab 3: No problems found.
Input Tab: No problems found.

--------------------
DirectX Debug Levels
--------------------
Direct3D: 0/4 (retail)
DirectDraw: 0/4 (retail)
DirectInput: 0/5 (retail)
DirectMusic: 0/5 (retail)
DirectPlay: 0/9 (retail)
DirectSound: 0/5 (retail)
DirectShow: 0/6 (retail)

---------------
Display Devices
---------------
Card name: AMD Radeon R9 200 Series
Manufacturer: Advanced Micro Devices, Inc.
Chip type: AMD Radeon Graphics Processor (0x67B0)
DAC type: Internal DAC(400MHz)
Device Type: Full Device
Device Key: Enum\PCI\VEN_1002&DEV_67B0&SUBSYS_92901682&REV_00
Display Memory: 12002 MB
Dedicated Memory: 4066 MB
Shared Memory: 7936 MB
Current Mode: 1920 x 1080 (32 bit) (144Hz)

Play with Vsync enabled !!! (Force it through your Ati CCC panel)

Will give it a try...many thanks

Vsync isn't going to help unless you run the monitor at 60Hz. You need to limit the framerate to 60. I recommend using MSI Afterburner to limit framerate to 60.

Will give a try too! Trying to get Skyrim up and running smoothly as I understand that SureAI's "Enderal" might be released this year.

Yeah, didn't see it. You have a 144 Hz monitor.

Use MSI Afterburner as Níeh?ggr suggested.

You can download it here: http://event.msi.com/vga/afterburner/download.htm