I've run into a problem that is driving me nuts. Skyrim has started running like trash. I lag horribly in any battle with mages (because of the spell graphics) or when there are more than 3 enemies. Even just running around the map, the graphics are jerky.

I'm not running anything on my computer except what I need to run Skyrim.
I've lowered my graphics settings.
I cut back on how many mods I'm running. (Only a little. I went from 176 to 169.)
I cleaned my save.

Does anyone have another idea ideas for how I can salvage my current playthroughs?