Having game lag even with good specs

[Meeeh]

I got an alienware x51 2 years ago and I have been having lag since then, since I don't know about computers at all (I knew less by that time), I thought those extreme amounts of lag were normal because some games like Minecraft require a lot, but I recently bought Skyrim and I found it curious that when I used the recommended settings, it would use the High or Ultra graphics, when it can barely manage them on Low; its not constant lag but lag spikes that come every 10-15 minutes, forcing me to pause the game, wait a couple of minutes, and then unpause it when it starts running "smoothly" again.

I have the following specs:
CPU: Intel Core i7-3770 3.40ghz
GPU: GeForce GTX 660
RAM: 8GB
Windows 7

I have tried changing the power usage, using razser game booster, disabling things such as v-sync, setting Skyrim's priority to high, changing the games resolution, and I have even set every single setting to the lowest possible, and still, I get a lot of lag
Also keep in mind that its not the only game with lag, I have also played Minecraft, Kerbal Space Program, Fate, Ace of Spades, Blockland, and even Terraria and Don't Starve have given me a bit of lag once or twice.

I made a test and played on windowed mode with medium graphics to see what it would show me, this is what it looks like with lag (that little gap is what it looks like when I pause it):
http://i.imgur.com/kAOKT2B.png
http://i.imgur.com/nIDIx1l.png

 

[Dunlop0078]

That system should have no problem at all maxing any of those games. It sounds like thermal throttling but that should not happen at those temps. It almost sounds like your running on integrated graphics on the cpu and not the graphics card but gpu z sees the gpu so im not sure. If you want download unigene valley benchmark and run it, it should say what gpu its using at the top of the screen you want to see gtx 660 there.

 

[Meeeh]

It does say that at the top, I have also noticed that running Skyrim in windowed mode makes it lag a bit less, and a couple hours ago it was so laggy that I exited and started playing Mount & Blade for around 10 minutes, and then I came back to Skyrim and it didn't lag for more than 2 hours and it wasn't as intense as usual