Trust me, your CPU is holding you back. https://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/AMD/HD_7970_CPU_Scaling/16.html («-- that's with an AMD FX-8150 @ 3.6 GHz) To move Skyrim to an SSD, use Steam Mover https://www.traynier.com/software/steammover P.S.: Adding an extra 4GB of RAM (total 8GB) wouldn't hurt either. I'm playing Skyrim with all settings maxed and dozens of texture and re-texturing mods and that leaves me with only 2GB of free RAM out of 8GB. So, yeah, that could help too. STEP mods put more strain on the GPU than CPU, the game has been optimised to put more load on the GPU since its launch, with several patches. I wouldn't think CPU is a deciding factor here, a Phenom II X4 should certainly cope with Skyrim just fine. SDD is certainly a good addition though. So what if they strain more the GPU? If the CPU is weak to begin with, the game will suffer. Almost 20fps less than a Sandy Bridge CPU is what any sane person would consider "a deciding factor". I posted proof of that. Where is yours? This is a GTX 670 we're talking about here, not some budget video card.