Hi, I just upgraded my PC to a major gaming rig, I swapped out my GeForce GTX 550 Ti which did an okay job playing Skyrim for a beast GeForce GTX 970. I'm running @ 1920x1080 and I finally get to do what I always wanted to do... completely overload Skyrim with HD glory! So I'm hoping to find lots of good suggestions for both HD mods and optimization tips. I highly doubt my rig will buckle under the weight of graphically intensive mods now. I'm also interested in possibly trying ENBs though I know very little about them and wouldn't mind some beginner tips for them and what to look for?

Second of all, I really am interested in mods that make Skyrim more "alive" by like adding more people to cities and creatures to the wild, any good mods like that are appreciated too, I really want to experience Skyrim in ways my previous GPU denied me.

Full system specs:

Intel i7 4790K @ 4GHz

Asus Maximus VII Hero Motherboard

Ultra LSP750 750-Watt PSU

16GB DDR3 RAM

Zotac GEForce GTX 970 (4GB VRAM)

2TB Seagate HDD Sata 6.0 x2 (one HDD for OS, one for game installs)

Windows 7 Professional SP1

2 ACER 21.5" LCD Monitors @ 1920x1080 Resolution (Connected via DVI)

You and I have similar rigs.

I recommend RealVision ENB. It can be found here: http://www.nexusmods.com/skyrim/mods/30936/?

I am running most of the mods RealVisions's author suggests to use with his mod. The results are fantastic. The first time I loaded the game up with RealVision and the other mods installed, my jaw dropped.

Here are some screenshots I've taken: http://steamcommunity.com/profiles/76561198064682364/screenshots#scrollTop=50

Be sure to closely read the installation instructions for RealVision and the other mods.

In terms of optimization, I recommend the following: http://www.nexusmods.com/skyrim/mods/32505/?

Here is another gorgeous ENB preset: http://www.nexusmods.com/skyrim/mods/61826/?

From what I can tell, this might look better than RealVision. I haven't tried it yet, though.

Be mindful that some ENB's are really demanding and will cut 20+ fps off the most beastly rigs.

Creatures? - http://www.nexusmods.com/skyrim/mods/24913/? and http://www.nexusmods.com/skyrim/mods/10175/? (adds additional variants of animals - rat sized skeevers for example.)

Cities? - http://www.nexusmods.com/skyrim/mods/8058/? and it's http://www.nexusmods.com/skyrim/mods/59937/?. http://www.nexusmods.com/skyrim/mods/61035/? is a nice overhaul of the major cities. There is a Open City patch for JK but it's currently being revised so I would wait for the next release.

NPCs? http://www.nexusmods.com/skyrim/mods/36334/?, http://www.nexusmods.com/skyrim/mods/8429/?, http://www.nexusmods.com/skyrim/mods/12977/?

Graphics? Besides the Official HD textures I would recommend using http://www.nexusmods.com/skyrim/mods/607/? (comes in 1k and 2k, I use 1k for stability which still looks very nice) as it stays true to the original concept of Skyrim's graphics. If you want more flashy try looking at http://www.nexusmods.com/skyrim/mods/51467/? for some ideas or use it.

Something to keep in mind with graphics. While your rig could handle 8k textures across 20 1080p screens (not really just making a point) Skyrim's engine cannot. Pick and choose what you want to look the best and sacrifice where you can. I for example use 1k textures for the environment, 2k textures for armors and weapons and 4k textures for dragons (though I may drop that down to 2k as well to cover area's that are more demanding).

For stability look at the Memory patch that is in SKSE and look into ENBoost (which is included in recent enb's). These two tweak the skyrim engine in different ways to make it much more stable and able to handle more demanding graphics and environments. Without the memory patch most people cannot run Open Cities because the game will straight up crash or lock up when trying to load up the city from save or from exiting a building.

Congratulations on the upgrades! I just recently upgraded my pc as well and know how you feel. Just try not to go crazy with mods and stay sensible, doing so will save you some headaches.