Way back in beta, this one noticed that higher resolution textures had a delay in loading.
After some searching it was discovered that there was a setting that controls this in the user settings text file.
The default setting is:

SET MIP_LOAD_SKIP_LEVELS "0"

If you change this to:

SET MIP_LOAD_SKIP_LEVELS "-3"

Then the texture loading delay disappears, no more shifting visual changes of texture resolution.
It was mentioned by whoever figured this out, that it may affect performance.

This one has been using this setting through 9 years worth of machines, and has never noticed any difference in performance.
Thus it occurs to Khajiit to wonder why this setting is still at default.

The difference in general appearance alone makes it seem like something that would be worth incorporating into the visual settings as an adjustment.
o.0