In my case, I can confirm that it is Vividian that eats up the extra FPS. Without graphical enhancements turned on in enblocal, I gain 7-10 FPS back on average. Concerning CPUs: It is well documented that I5 3500 and 4500 series owns nearly every other chip in terms of gaming. However, the AMD FX series is a great everyday computing chip and shines in applications that can make use of the extra cores. That's why I went with it. I think for me it would be more cost effective to simply add another 760 ($300) to get the frame rates up as opposed to going with and intel board and chip ($450 or so). Some time this year I might get around to turning my current rig into a server and building a true gaming machine. At that point...yeah, Intel all the way. I fear I've led the discussion astray and speedily apologize before before Phazer comes in and hits me with a broom. The new drivers seem to be getting good reviews from the community here and Neo's word counts for a lot as I'm using his guide so here's hoping for an improved Skyrim once my SSDs come in.