quick note: I have tried the game on my Linux Mint partition, which is NOT on a SSD and has WORSE video drivers than my Windows installation, and the game runs fine on that. So its not a problem with my hardware
Windows 8 Pro build 9200 64bit
Just tested and it DOES happen in superflat worlds as well.
It when I reload worlds the problem remains, there might be a correlation between chunks loaded and drop.
I would like to mention, that anything that you would think to speed up performance DOES speed up performance but does so at an insignificant amount.
For Example:
Render Distance Far: 24 FPS
Render Distance Tiny: 35 FPS
Looking through heavy jungle (what is seen in original screenshot)
All settings maxed: 8FPS
All settings lowest: 20FPS
Keep in mind All settings maxed I use to be able to run this game at 60+FPS
EDIT: I am using the newest Nvidia Drivers - 306.97 and Intel HD drivers - 9.17.10.2287
Ok, so originally I had the NVIDIA WINDOWS 8 Drivers installed, so I thought I might just try out the Windows 7 drivers.. and.. what do you know.. problem solved
Solution: Install Windows 7 Drivers
Lesson: Current Win8 Drivers suck?