On a previous save, I was having a completely different issue that I eventually just gave up on and made a new game.

On the new save, I was having huge drops in frame rate when I went outside, whether it be in a major city or out in the wilds.

I turned my draw distance to the lowest possible settings and it made no difference.

I tried disabling my most recent mods. That also made no difference.

This got annoying and I heard some people say that it was an issue with their save. I had no other save to go back to, so I started yet another new game.

That didn't help either.

My first character had no issues with lag whatsoever and my new save has even less graphical improvements than my first one due to the removal of several mods.

I don't know what's doing this and I want it to stop!

If you have any ideas, I would love to hear them.

--Thanks!

Do you have AA/AF on both in-game and in driver settings?

Have you changes ini/prefsini settings?

Do you have ENBoost/ENB and SSME or SKSE latest version?

Do you have a lot of scripted mods (Frostfall etc.)?

If it's a VRAM problem, Nexus has optimised versions of both vanilla and HD DLC textures, saving a bit of VRAM that you can then use for other stuff.

I'm still kind of new to modding, so I don't know what AA/AF is.

I haven't changed any ini/perfsini settings.

I have the latest version of SKSE

I only have a few scripted mods, but they worked fine on my original save.

I have no idea if it's a VRAM problem, nor do I know how to find out if it is or not.

I use NMM for all of my mods.

I have run TES5Edit several times and corrected every error detected until it stopped coming up with problems.

Try Tony 971's Speed and Stability guide on the Nexus. It looks a bit daunting, but just take one step at a time.

Another easily overlooked possibility is dust. If your computer gets dusty, your graphics card can get hotter. I know it sounds daft, but it could be the cause of stuttering.

(Oh, sorry, AA is anti-aliasing, turning jaggies to straight lines, goes up to x8 but you only really need x4. AF is anistropic filtering, adds detail to textures, keep at x16, performance gain for lower setting isn't worth it. Always turn off in game and activate in driver settings, far superior.)

Guide to settings:

http://www.geforce.co.uk/whats-new/guides/the-elder-scrolls-v-skyrim-tweak-guide#1

really useful, and

http://www.rcrncommunity.com/vga-guide/ati-amd