This problem persists for many people even years later and we are still unable to pinpoint what the exact issue is, but it is not solely related to Skyrim as it effects a variety of games as well. The only people I see that have been able to fix this issue are people who have constructed entirely new rigs. To me this says there are multiple possibilities effecting people in a variety of ways, but it burns down to the architecture and component communication between GPU, mobo and CPU.
I have a feeling it may yet be driver related, perhaps something back door in some update that is component related but it seems next to impossible for us to track down a relative cause between all the people having this issue. We've also attempted various NCP settings and ensuring we've tried 3d app, forced settings, quality settings, etc. The only single change for me was the GPU.
The one piece of evidence I have that confuses me is my 55" TV shows no signs of this problem where as my old 720p and my current 144hz 1080p monitors DO. My old 970 is now in the hands of my girlfriend who has 0 issues. There are other theories, less likely, about ENB needing to be cleanly removed (some people don't use it at all, of course) and about electrical issues stemming from the home or PSU (neither of which are my problem). The real issue here is that it did not PREVIOUSLY take THIS much effort to smooth out Skyrim and many people also do NOT have this problem to date. Even with DSR, 8x NCP aliasing, 8x in game aliasing and Nvidia inspector, etc, the problem persists although it is nearly rectified. I am sure we've all tested different cables and I've personally tested various monitors.
I am sure we have all cleaned our drivers with DDU and reinstalled and backrolled. This is not hundreds + people hyper focusing, we've all been triggered by the sudden change, some people without changing hardware or drivers at all. Again, it isn't a matter of "the game should look like that" because there is a clear difference in what once was and what now is. Yes, we are aware of TAA/TXAA addressing temporal aliasing, but unfortunately it does not exist in most games. Most of the other games (the lists are long) are more or less solvable via DSR (which should not be required to achieve an appealing level of smoothness/lack of jaggies and shimmering). I then swapped to a 1070 and received this issue, like most people, on ALL of their games. Crystal clear, 0 aliasing with 2x DSR on a low res monitor. I do not believe it is Z-fighting/buffering. Yes, it appears to be an Aliasing or Filtering issue. Secondly I want to make it clear to people posting who suggest this is normal it is not. This is a long post but filled with vital information that may help someone narrow it down: Firstly, I do not have a fix. We know it is not normal, we know it is aliasing, we know about deferred rendering, so please read carefully. Please read below before commenting that this is normal, aliasing, or about deferred rendering. Many people are also likely unaware this problem exists because they were introduced to it as "normal". I am sure people with better CPU's than me (FX 8350) could obtain 8x/8x/4x dsr and see quality but that's pushing the limit for many people who otherwise were previously fine.
The best managable results I have achieved are 4x NCP aliasing, and 4x in game aliasing at 2x DSR. It is not a sharpness issue as it persists beneath blurring, so FXAA brute force yields no true result other than poorly masking the issue which is clearly visible, as is the case with forced techniques via inspector. It includes all textures in the game near or far, ground, trees, weapons, mountains, grass, clouds, building textures, pixels in general. This problem is not limited to Skyrim but effects it in a very pronounced way. This is a small example, but it is not limited to textures like this. Any help is appreciated but it is paramount the information within is read to avoid redundant conversation. Please read carefully I apologize if this is amateur sounding, poorly worded or in the incorrect subreddit. I am cross posting this in order to see if anyone can come to (or close to) a conclusion on a wide-spread issue many gamers are experiencing across a variety of titles. Much more than what was and or should be required.
Pro tip, it won't without pushing it to 8x/8x/2x DSR. Perfect representation of my problem across various games.