New video card = lower framerates?

So I received a new video card for Christmas and after installation I was starting to notice some stuttering, which I don't recall ever seeing before.

Old card = NvIdia GTX 650TI
New card = Radeon R9 280

So I brought up the Radeon control panel on my second monitor to have a look at my GPU performance. It was capping at near 100% in larger cities, and in the mid to high 90's in low population areas. I never recall it being this high with the NvIdia card.

I have taken shadows down, and bumped up the voltage on the card, and it's still damn near 100% in most situations.

My questions is, is this normal for Radeon cards and did I really upgrade or was this a $200 waste of money?

Thanks in advance.

AMD's drivers are half broken in this game.

Turn on Occlusion culling, and low detail lod.

turn off any settings in the catalyst control panel.