What mods do you use? Been a while since I played NV and might give it a try again if the mods are good
I went through Gopher's mod videos.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-SAeXsA6Nt8 I haven't extensively modded New Vegas so far, just Fallout 3, but he has a similar series for that.
EDIT: To answer in a bit more depth, I'm using:
AHUD - Adjustable HUD, gives more control and helps various mods coexist.
Automatic Lawbringer/Contract killer - makes perk automatic as a function of karma.
Better durability - makes high level adventuring possible without packing three sets of armor and an armload of each weapon.
Better trader repairs - improves the Repair skill of traders.
Billboard camps - adds accessible camps to five very tall billboards; some are scavengers and some are raiders.
Darnified UI - improves the user interface and adds controllability to its layout.
DC Interiors Project - adds detailed interiors to many otherwise inaccessible buildings.
Director's chair - adds many special effects, none of which I like, but necessary for
Dynavision - makes depth of field changeable.
EVE - Enhanced Visuals for Energy weapons.
F3 Project Reality - Adds weather effects.
Fallout 3 reanimated - replaces many of Bethesda's character animations with improved, more realistic animations.
Fallout 3 Redesigned (formerly Project Beauty) - makes Fallout 3 prettier in many, many ways.
Fallout Interoperability Program - FOIP is necessary to make disparate mods play nicely together.
Fallout Stutter Remover - Removes the stutters and microstutters that commonly plague Bethesda games.
FWE - Fallout 3 Wanderers Edition - Makes a more immersive, less forgiving wasteland, with faster and more deadly combat. Largely eliminates my complaint that most high level critters require multiple magazines of all weapons to be delivered to the head at point blank range.
Immersive HUD - allows some or all parts of the HUD to fade away when not in need, giving a more immersive experience.
Malika the Gypsy - an NPC who can function as an unofficial follower, or as another trader, or simply as local color.
Martigen's Mutant Mod - adds variability to standard monsters plus a wealth of new monsters - not so realistic, but much more enjoyable.
New mall - Franklin mall - a new place to explore, which I have not yet done.
New office - Muldoon Electronics - Yet another building to explore.
NMC's performance texture pack - Improves almost all textures for those of us whose computers are solid gaming platforms but not quite up to making NASA drool.
Rivet City Merchants - Adds a few new merchants to Rivet City.
Rockville Commons - Adds a new town with 60+ NPC, 400+ voiced dialogues, and 12 new quests (none of which I have yet seen.)
The Imaginator - Adds visual controls and special effects.
Unified HUD project - another mod for controlling your HUD.
Weapon Mod Kits - Adds - well, you know.
Wearable Black Wolf Backpack - Adds wearable backpacks in several sizes/carrying weights and finishes, to increase your carrying weight.
Taken together, these mods allow me to do things like change the flow of time to 1:1, make the characters and the scenery much prettier, add extra content, and make the game much harder, especially gunfire. They also make leveling much slower to make the game more challenging, but that didn't actually affect me because when I began the loading my character was already maxed out and the main quest finished.