So this time I got around to trying Skyrim v1.6. Note that the 1.4 patch brought significant performance increases, so keep that in mind when comparing this impression to the many articles that appeared when Skyrim was first released. I let the Skyrim launcher auto-detect my settings, which it set to "High", and then ran the game through the Nexus Mod Manager.
The only mods I had at the time were the official high-res texture pack, SkyUI, and the Categorized Favorites Menu (which required some tweaks to work at 1600x900, see this post and the one below it). The latter two mods require the Skyrim Script Extender.
I copied my save files from my desktop and loaded the latest one. It started out at Honingbrew Meadery just outside of Whiterun. Running from there to Whiterun's entrance netted me an average of about 20FPS, according to Fraps. It would dip into the high teens once in a while as it loaded new data from disk.
Inside Whiterun, I ran from the entrance to Dragonsreach (the Jarl's palace at the top), ranging from 20 to 24FPS or so. Inside Dragonsreach, I was seeing mainly high 20s and into the 30s. It really did vary quite a bit, but was mostly smooth. It did hit low 20s when looking directly into the fire pit in the middle of the hall. I then walked back outside and looked over Whiterun standing at the top of the stairs to Dragonsreach. Depending on where I looked, I'd get between 16-20FPS here. This spot seems to be known for being stressful, especially before the 1.4 patch.
After this, I fast-travelled to Markarth, which in my experience is the most demanding of the cities. I started at the entrance to Understone Keep at the back of Markarth and wandered around the city. For the most part, the frame rate stayed around 20FPS, but it would sometimes dip down to 15FPS when looking at the waterfall near the keep or when near the smelter outside Cidhna Mine (there's quite a bit of mist from the water there).
Finally, I travelled to Kolskeggr Mine east of Markarth to find someone to fight. A dragon showed up and fighting it seemed to keep the FPS around 18-20; however, some magical effects would slow it down to about 15-16FPS, such as when I would use one of the shouts or sometimes when the dragon would breathe frost. Inside the mine, it was a similar story. Most of the fights with Forsworn were pretty smooth, even with my summoned Dremora, but one of the Forsworn had some magic spell around him (some lightning thing, I think), which dropped the FPS to 16-17 momentarily.
For the most part, the game was very much playable even during the times the FPS would drop to mid-high teens. What little fighting I did was fine. The drops didn't last very long and the game was mainly able to stay in the low 20s. I don't think the number of people or enemies had too much of an effect on the frame rate; it was mainly shader effects, like certain spells (oddly enough, my fireball or Lightning Storm spells didn't seem to affect the frame rate at all), large waterfalls, and the mist in certain parts of Markarth.
I haven't gone back and messed with settings to try to get the game at a consistent 30FPS, though I don't think you'd have to sacrifice too much to do that, especially if you can deal with little dips every now and again.
EDIT: I set the AA to 2x and the AF to 4x. I think that's the sweet spot for me. Running around kept the FPS in the mid-20s to low 30s for the most part, even in fights and with magic. I did travel into the Dwemer ruins in Understone Keep (Markarth), which had several Falmer fighting a Dwemer Centurion Master (the big mechanical guys). That did drop down to the low 20s I think because one of the Centurion's attacks involved firing a large stream of steam at the Falmer. Once that enemy was taken care of, the FPS went back up to the mid-20s even with several more Falmer present. Kolskeggr Mine seemed to range between 30 and 40FPS with the Forsworn enemies and my summoned Dremora. The magic effects surrounding the Forsworn Briarheart didn't seem to have much impact on FPS this time around. Running around Markarth kept the frame rate between 23 and 30FPS or so, even when the waterfalls and mist. Similarly, looking down at Whiterun from the top of the stairs to Dragonsreach yielded a frame rate between 22 and 27FPS or thereabouts. Inside Dragonsreach, I was seeing over 30FPS almost the entire time and was even getting over 50 every so often!
In summary, I'd definitely have no problem playing this game on High settings with the AA at 2x and the AF at 4x. This is with the official HD texture pack loaded as well.
The only mods I had at the time were the official high-res texture pack, SkyUI, and the Categorized Favorites Menu (which required some tweaks to work at 1600x900, see this post and the one below it). The latter two mods require the Skyrim Script Extender.
I copied my save files from my desktop and loaded the latest one. It started out at Honingbrew Meadery just outside of Whiterun. Running from there to Whiterun's entrance netted me an average of about 20FPS, according to Fraps. It would dip into the high teens once in a while as it loaded new data from disk.
Inside Whiterun, I ran from the entrance to Dragonsreach (the Jarl's palace at the top), ranging from 20 to 24FPS or so. Inside Dragonsreach, I was seeing mainly high 20s and into the 30s. It really did vary quite a bit, but was mostly smooth. It did hit low 20s when looking directly into the fire pit in the middle of the hall. I then walked back outside and looked over Whiterun standing at the top of the stairs to Dragonsreach. Depending on where I looked, I'd get between 16-20FPS here. This spot seems to be known for being stressful, especially before the 1.4 patch.
After this, I fast-travelled to Markarth, which in my experience is the most demanding of the cities. I started at the entrance to Understone Keep at the back of Markarth and wandered around the city. For the most part, the frame rate stayed around 20FPS, but it would sometimes dip down to 15FPS when looking at the waterfall near the keep or when near the smelter outside Cidhna Mine (there's quite a bit of mist from the water there).
Finally, I travelled to Kolskeggr Mine east of Markarth to find someone to fight. A dragon showed up and fighting it seemed to keep the FPS around 18-20; however, some magical effects would slow it down to about 15-16FPS, such as when I would use one of the shouts or sometimes when the dragon would breathe frost. Inside the mine, it was a similar story. Most of the fights with Forsworn were pretty smooth, even with my summoned Dremora, but one of the Forsworn had some magic spell around him (some lightning thing, I think), which dropped the FPS to 16-17 momentarily.
For the most part, the game was very much playable even during the times the FPS would drop to mid-high teens. What little fighting I did was fine. The drops didn't last very long and the game was mainly able to stay in the low 20s. I don't think the number of people or enemies had too much of an effect on the frame rate; it was mainly shader effects, like certain spells (oddly enough, my fireball or Lightning Storm spells didn't seem to affect the frame rate at all), large waterfalls, and the mist in certain parts of Markarth.
I haven't gone back and messed with settings to try to get the game at a consistent 30FPS, though I don't think you'd have to sacrifice too much to do that, especially if you can deal with little dips every now and again.
EDIT: I set the AA to 2x and the AF to 4x. I think that's the sweet spot for me. Running around kept the FPS in the mid-20s to low 30s for the most part, even in fights and with magic. I did travel into the Dwemer ruins in Understone Keep (Markarth), which had several Falmer fighting a Dwemer Centurion Master (the big mechanical guys). That did drop down to the low 20s I think because one of the Centurion's attacks involved firing a large stream of steam at the Falmer. Once that enemy was taken care of, the FPS went back up to the mid-20s even with several more Falmer present. Kolskeggr Mine seemed to range between 30 and 40FPS with the Forsworn enemies and my summoned Dremora. The magic effects surrounding the Forsworn Briarheart didn't seem to have much impact on FPS this time around. Running around Markarth kept the frame rate between 23 and 30FPS or so, even when the waterfalls and mist. Similarly, looking down at Whiterun from the top of the stairs to Dragonsreach yielded a frame rate between 22 and 27FPS or thereabouts. Inside Dragonsreach, I was seeing over 30FPS almost the entire time and was even getting over 50 every so often!
In summary, I'd definitely have no problem playing this game on High settings with the AA at 2x and the AF at 4x. This is with the official HD texture pack loaded as well.
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