Pixels Flickering/Jumping

[Salv]

Hi there!

I'm currently in the process of setting up my PC (a new tower with old peripherals and screen). Unfortunately, it appears that games (and possibly other demanding programs) are causing issues for the monitor.

The best way I can think to describe it is by saying that pixels or, perhaps more specifically, pixels around the edges of other pixels begin to flicker or jump about.

I don't have any devices capable of photographing the problem and screenshots do not depict any faults (hence my assumption that the problem is with the monitor). Thankfully, I found a video on YouTube that demonstrates exactly what I'm experiencing. This will happen for minutes at a time before stopping and starting again until the game is closed. Changing resolution, refresh rate and other monitor settings made no noticeable difference. I also reattached the power and vga cables to make sure they weren't loose.

Strangely, I experienced this issue before a couple of years ago. It was exactly the same monitor but different hardware.

I'm currently using:

Intel i5-3470
Asus P8Z77-V LX
PowerColor 6870
Corsair TX650
Samsung SyncMaster P2250

Does anyone know what might be going on here and if so, is there anything that can be done about it? I believe the monitor is still under warranty but I have no spare so that's kind of a last resort.

Thanks.

 

[Steltek]

One easy thing to check is to try swapping out your video cable. Sometimes, a cheap or damaged cable will cause this type of issue.

You might also try removing and reinstalling the video drivers. If you have access to another computer, it would probably be a good idea to test the monitor on another machine so you can see if your video card might be defective.

 

[exdeath]

Refresh rate? I've seen drivers switching things up via game profiles cause signal problems like that trying to run at 59 or 61 hz instead of 60.000.

Otherwise use a digital cable and/or test on another PC per above.

 

[Salv]

As I said, this happened previously on my old system. It went away after I replaced the 4850 in there with a 5770 but I'm still not sure what was actually causing it (especially since the 5770 developed problems of its own).

This is now the only machine I have so testing different hardware is next to impossible. When you say video cable, do you mean the VGA?

Refresh rate? I've seen drivers switching things up via game profiles cause signal problems like that trying to run at 59 or 61 hz instead of 60.000.

Otherwise use a digital cable and/or test on another PC per above.

In game it was set to 'default' and as far as I'm aware, it's 60hz everywhere else. I've reinstalled the monitor's drivers but I'll do the same with the gpu just to see if it makes a difference. One thing confuses me though, if this was a card problem, would it not show up in a screenshot?

 

[Steltek]

As I said, this happened previously on my old system. It went away after I replaced the 4850 in there with a 5770 but I'm still not sure what was actually causing it (especially since the 5770 developed problems of its own).

This is now the only machine I have so testing different hardware is next to impossible. When you say video cable, do you mean the VGA?



In game it was set to 'default' and as far as I'm aware, it's 60hz everywhere else. I've reinstalled the monitor's drivers but I'll do the same with the gpu just to see if it makes a difference. One thing confuses me though, if this was a card problem, would it not show up in a screenshot?

Yes, swap out the cable between the monitor and video card (VGA, DVI, HDMI, or whatever you are using). Cheap cables are usually poorly shielded, which can cause exactly these types of issues. So can a damaged cable. If your cable is old, it simply might not have enough shielding for a newer model video card.

Video card drivers can sometimes contain profiles designed for specific games to optimize performance for that game on that video card. I'd try totally removing the video drivers, then reinstalling. Since you are going to all the trouble of doing this, make sure to download the most recent drivers for the card from the manufacturer website. The AMD website will have the absolute most recent drivers available. If you are already running the most recent drivers and a reinstall doesn't fix the problem, try stepping back to a slightly older driver as there could be a glitch in the most recent drivers causing your issue.

If the driver and cable aren't causing the problem, doesn't your specific motherboard have an integrated video port? If so, pull the video card and switch the video over to the integrated chipset for a few days. If the problem goes away, you've pretty much traced the problem to the video card. If your motherboard doesn't have a port compatible with your monitor, you can buy video cable adapters to make it work (Monoprice sells just about any type of video cable adapter you could ever think of needing).

Is your video card one of the factory overclocked models? Are you overclocking your machine, or are you running any type of overclocking software for the video card? If so, the card could be having issues and backing off to standard clocks could help. The card itself could also be having a video memory issue or a component failure, so a RMA may be necessary. If you have a friend or relative with a computer, you really need to test the monitor and/or video card on another machine if you have reach this point in troubleshooting - if nothing else, find a local computer shop and have them test both the monitor and video card for you.

 

[Salv]

Thanks for the detailed response. I found a spare DVI cable yesterday and left Diablo III (relatively) idle for a while. Didn't notice any issues so I thought I'd actually play for a few hours for stress/attention purposes.

So far, so good. No jumping pixels. If it returns, I'll try your other suggestions. Hopefully that won't be necessary!