Color Banding because of motherboard?

[Ohr Rafa]

Hey all,

I have had a issue with color banding for a long time, about a year or two.
It started when I had unparked cores in my cpu on win 7 (stupid me) I would unpark and park to see if its good,i also used a tool that would change RGB limited to full or full to limited. (This was before Nvidia added the option in the control panel which i have done today.)

After that my cpu overheated, and had issues. I would keep playing games while the pc beeped, not for hours but a long time. I noticed some color banding when messing with the RGB tool and unparking cores i believe.
I had my CPU replaced and now its fine.
But I still have color banding!

Its been driving me crazy and at least i can say i learned a lesson to not mess around with stupid tools and what not.
But could it be that my motherboard is to blame?
Maybe because my cpu overheated it burned something in the Motherboard? Something that maybe channels the GPU ?

I am 90% sure my monitor and GPU are not to blame and neither is my monitor because:

1.) I tried my pc on a TV and still got the banding issues, so it can't be my monitor.
2.) I switched the hdmi cables my tv used, to my pc and monitor and still got it, so it can't be because of my hdmi cable.
3.) I disabled my gaming GPU (i have a gtx 770 4gb) from the display manager so my intel hd would work, and my intel hd GPU also had the color banding issue.
4.) I've tried different versions of drivers and have done multiple clean reinstalls of windows since

So could this be because of my motherboard? Or is it a issue with a PSU ?
I remember when i bought my PSU the guy told me i don't need such a high psu but i got one anyways. I have a 750 watt psu .

Anybody know what could be the issue?

 

[Viking2121]

Color banding? Im not sure if I understand what your saying. Are you saying that you see different colors on the screen? If you can get a picture of it, It might help. But if your screen is turning different colors, I'd try to swap out your VGA/DVI/HDMI or DP cords and test. I doubt that its your 770 since your onboard dose it as well.

 

[Ohr Rafa]

Color banding? Im not sure if I understand what your saying. Are you saying that you see different colors on the screen? If you can get a picture of it, It might help. But if your screen is turning different colors, I'd try to swap out your VGA/DVI/HDMI or DP cords and test. I doubt that its your 770 since your onboard dose it as well.

Its hard to explain.
Its like these circles/wavy lines.
On this wiki page look at the two pics on the right
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Colour_banding

 

[Viking2121]

Ok, I think I understand better, Have you tried to swap monitor cables? Or even reinstalling the display drivers?

 

[Ohr Rafa]

Ok, I think I understand better, Have you tried to swap monitor cables? Or even reinstalling the display drivers?

Yeah I have, i've tried different HDMI cables (1 that i got with my monitor and one from my tv.
And i have tried drivers, but nothing helped.

 

[Viking2121]

Well, since you reinstalled windows It has to be hardware related somehow, It can't be the PSU, PSU's typically work or they don't, Heck I run a 1300 watt, more wattage isn't going to hurt anything, better to have the extra room anyway for upgrades.

For the CoreUnparking it isn't going to hurt anything, it shouldn't, if anything some well threaded apps you will see a performance improvment if windows isn't managing parking correctly. The RGB thing could be the issue, but you said you reinstalled windows which should have fixed that if you didn't touch the RGB tweak.

My I ask what CPU do you own?

Im guessing its Intel Core I CPU, if so it could vary well be a defective CPU as well since the Core I series has PCI-E lanes directly on the CPU.

Another thing you could try is to re seat the CPU, Take it out, make sure all the pins are not damaged, Intel the pins are in the socket (try not to touch the pins, and do not blow into the socket) You can use caned air but do not spray the air close to the socket or with too much pressure, you don't want the stuff coming out of the can and sprying at the socket. I don't think it will be a video issues with AMD CPU's, but you can certainly try it, The pins are on the CPU, they are fragile, but no where near like what Intel's is, make sure the pins are not damaged, and no hair/dust in the pins and place the CPU back with thermal paste and mount the cooler and see if your problem is fixed.

 

[Ohr Rafa]

Well, since you reinstalled windows It has to be hardware related somehow, It can't be the PSU, PSU's typically work or they don't, Heck I run a 1300 watt, more wattage isn't going to hurt anything, better to have the extra room anyway for upgrades.

For the CoreUnparking it isn't going to hurt anything, it shouldn't, if anything some well threaded apps you will see a performance improvment if windows isn't managing parking correctly. The RGB thing could be the issue, but you said you reinstalled windows which should have fixed that if you didn't touch the RGB tweak.

My I ask what CPU do you own?

Im guessing its Intel Core I CPU, if so it could vary well be a defective CPU as well since the Core I series has PCI-E lanes directly on the CPU.

Another thing you could try is to re seat the CPU, Take it out, make sure all the pins are not damaged, Intel the pins are in the socket (try not to touch the pins, and do not blow into the socket) You can use caned air but do not spray the air close to the socket or with too much pressure, you don't want the stuff coming out of the can and sprying at the socket. I don't think it will be a video issues with AMD CPU's, but you can certainly try it, The pins are on the CPU, they are fragile, but no where near like what Intel's is, make sure the pins are not damaged, and no hair/dust in the pins and place the CPU back with thermal paste and mount the cooler and see if your problem is fixed.

Shit I accidentally picked you as the solution lol
I haven't tried it and don't think i'll try it because first i have a i5 4590
I used to have a 4570 but it overheated and the store replaced it, even though they replaced my cpu i still had the same issue 🙁

I'm thinking maybe its motherboard because of my old cpu reheating and i played while it beeped and heated, maybe burnt something in the motherboard that signals the video to my monitor?

 

[Viking2121]

U un selected the best answer, It happens.

Its possible the motherboard is dead, Or a they sold you a defective CPU. If it was software, a windows reinstall should have fixed it. So its hardware related. And since will do the same with the on board video, it can't be your 770. And I don't see a power supply causing this issue.

Only a few things at this point to try, Take the CPU out an place it back into the socket, Re seat your RAM and go from there.

 

[Ohr Rafa]

U un selected the best answer, It happens.

Its possible the motherboard is dead, Or a they sold you a defective CPU. If it was software, a windows reinstall should have fixed it. So its hardware related. And since will do the same with the on board video, it can't be your 770. And I don't see a power supply causing this issue.

Only a few things at this point to try, Take the CPU out an place it back into the socket, Re seat your RAM and go from there.

Trust me its not a defective CPU since they replaced my old one with a new one, and they both had the color banding/gradient issue.

If the motherboard was dead nothing would work i believe.
I don't wanna start touching my cpu its too much of a risk. Why would reseating my RAM help?

 

[Viking2121]

U un selected the best answer, It happens.

Its possible the motherboard is dead, Or a they sold you a defective CPU. If it was software, a windows reinstall should have fixed it. So its hardware related. And since will do the same with the on board video, it can't be your 770. And I don't see a power supply causing this issue.

Only a few things at this point to try, Take the CPU out an place it back into the socket, Re seat your RAM and go from there.

Trust me its not a defective CPU since they replaced my old one with a new one, and they both had the color banding/gradient issue.

If the motherboard was dead nothing would work i believe.
I don't wanna start touching my cpu its too much of a risk. Why would reseating my RAM help?

Motherboards can go bad and still function some what, I seen motherboards where 3 of the 4 ram slots were dead, no matter what you put in the slot it did not work or read the stick of ram, and the ram is good. I also seen Ethernet Ports, Audio Ports, USB ports die and the mother board function normally in windows just acted like the ports never existed.

I do agree if your old CPU was doing that color thing, and the new 1 is then it isn't the CPU itself.

 

[Ohr Rafa]

U un selected the best answer, It happens.

Its possible the motherboard is dead, Or a they sold you a defective CPU. If it was software, a windows reinstall should have fixed it. So its hardware related. And since will do the same with the on board video, it can't be your 770. And I don't see a power supply causing this issue.

Only a few things at this point to try, Take the CPU out an place it back into the socket, Re seat your RAM and go from there.

Trust me its not a defective CPU since they replaced my old one with a new one, and they both had the color banding/gradient issue.

If the motherboard was dead nothing would work i believe.
I don't wanna start touching my cpu its too much of a risk. Why would reseating my RAM help?

Mothers can go bad and still function some what, I seen motherboards where 3 of the 4 ram slots were dead, no matter what you put in the slot it did not work or read the stick of ram, and the ram is good. I also seen Ethernet Ports, Audio Ports, USB ports die and the mother board function normally in windows just acted like the ports never existed.

I do agree if your old CPU was doing that color thing, and the new 1 is then it isn't the CPU itself.

So i'm guessing its the motherboard :/

 

[Viking2121]

U un selected the best answer, It happens.

Its possible the motherboard is dead, Or a they sold you a defective CPU. If it was software, a windows reinstall should have fixed it. So its hardware related. And since will do the same with the on board video, it can't be your 770. And I don't see a power supply causing this issue.

Only a few things at this point to try, Take the CPU out an place it back into the socket, Re seat your RAM and go from there.

Trust me its not a defective CPU since they replaced my old one with a new one, and they both had the color banding/gradient issue.

If the motherboard was dead nothing would work i believe.
I don't wanna start touching my cpu its too much of a risk. Why would reseating my RAM help?

Mothers can go bad and still function some what, I seen motherboards where 3 of the 4 ram slots were dead, no matter what you put in the slot it did not work or read the stick of ram, and the ram is good. I also seen Ethernet Ports, Audio Ports, USB ports die and the mother board function normally in windows just acted like the ports never existed.

I do agree if your old CPU was doing that color thing, and the new 1 is then it isn't the CPU itself.

So i'm guessing its the motherboard :/

Thats what im going to bet. I mean can ya install a fresh version of a different OS and see if the issue is still there? I would guess if you were to install win 10 and it does it, then something like Windows 7 or linux would do it, Bios wouldn't do it as its like 256bit color if that on some boards.

Unless someone posts something else to try, Im completely stumped otherwise.

 

[Ohr Rafa]

U un selected the best answer, It happens.

Its possible the motherboard is dead, Or a they sold you a defective CPU. If it was software, a windows reinstall should have fixed it. So its hardware related. And since will do the same with the on board video, it can't be your 770. And I don't see a power supply causing this issue.

Only a few things at this point to try, Take the CPU out an place it back into the socket, Re seat your RAM and go from there.

Trust me its not a defective CPU since they replaced my old one with a new one, and they both had the color banding/gradient issue.

If the motherboard was dead nothing would work i believe.
I don't wanna start touching my cpu its too much of a risk. Why would reseating my RAM help?

Mothers can go bad and still function some what, I seen motherboards where 3 of the 4 ram slots were dead, no matter what you put in the slot it did not work or read the stick of ram, and the ram is good. I also seen Ethernet Ports, Audio Ports, USB ports die and the mother board function normally in windows just acted like the ports never existed.

I do agree if your old CPU was doing that color thing, and the new 1 is then it isn't the CPU itself.

So i'm guessing its the motherboard :/

Thats what im going to bet. I mean can ya install a fresh version of a different OS and see if the issue is still there? I would guess if you were to install win 10 and it does it, then something like Windows 7 or linux would do it, Bios wouldn't do it as its like 256bit color if that on some boards.

Unless someone posts something else to try, Im completely stumped otherwise.

i've tried windows 7-10 , same issue.

I'll live with it until i upgrade my rig its not biggy
thank you!

 

[Viking2121]

Yup, no problem. Hope someone comes along and has had the same issue and reply's.

 

[Sanjay_56844]

hmmm

i too have same problem
i thought it was monitor fault so i have got replaced with new monitor
but in new monitor also same color banding
this color banding got appeared after i have installed windows 10
🙁
waiting for solution
tiered of searching in google
tried different versions of os also

 

[rellikFlow]

Hi, Ohr Rafa.

First of all, I would like to say that my english isn't good. That said, I am sorry for any mistakes.

Back in may this year, I was so frustrated because I just had finished building my new computer on april 15 and almost a month later the color banding issues began. I had never seen anything like that before and so, my first thought was "S**t, my GPU is broken!". Then I started exploring all over the internet about the problem. I was wondering where this came from and how could I fix it. I'd tried unsuccessfully, a week later I gave it up. Not that I can't really try hard to solve a problem but as I said before, since I just had finished building my new PC I decide to not get bored with this issue.

Now I'm back again and I really want to find a solution for this, that thing on screen is so distracting. Is it a hardware fault? I think it is but not entirely. I agree with you that this problem could be related to the motherboard and probably because of the overheat. I came to this conclusion after turn off HyperThreading. The color banding issue still persist but less noticeable, if the temperature goes up then it start to be noticed more easily. But I can say for sure that unpark cores doesn't cause any harm.

I've done some tests, my computer specs are:

MOBO: Asus Maximus VII Ranger
CPU : Intel Core i7 -4790K
GPU : Gigabyte GTX 980 G1
RAM : Corsair 16GB 1866Mhz
PSU : Corsair RMS750 Watt

I'm using a DELL U2312HM monitor, both DVI/DisplayPort connectors were tested. Just for the knowledge, the VGA connector was tested as well. I tried on Windows 7/8/10 and a few Linux distros, just to eliminate a possibility of a bad software configuration. Then I started to mess up with the ICC profiles and Monitor Calibration what just made the situation even worse.

Here is where I have this issue:

- Games (Not all games)
- Videos (Both local HDD/SSD and Internet content)
- Images (Not so much, only if I look too close)

The color banding in the skies (Games and movies) are disgusting. The interest thing is that the issue isn't present in every games. For example, The Vanishing of Ethan Carter (Unreal Engine 3) has but the Redux version (Unreal Engine 4) hasn't. Other games like Tomb Raider/CS:GO doesn't have, while GTA V/AC Unity has a lot. I think you should try (if already not) download and run the Unreal Engine 4 Elemental TechDemo and see for yourself, I'm assuming you won't notice any color issues. About the games, AntiAliasing and HDR techniques increase the color banding. The light source (both Games/Movies) has a big part on that matter, if there multiple light sources is easily to see the shapes around the light until they crash each other.

Sorry for the long text I just wanna share my case, maybe this can bring another way to look at this problem. That's all for now, I'll continue searching for a solution and if I do any advance on this I'll inform you.

Good luck!

 

[rellikFlow]

Microsoft has released a new update Build 10586 of Windows 10 (Ver 1511) to public which comes with many bug fixes and improvements. I've seen some reports on NVidia GeForce Forums by users who stated that the latest update fixes the color banding issue present in GTX 900 series, so I did it and for some reason it really works. Again, the problem still present but now it's too (I really mean a lot) less noticeable.

Hope this works for anyone who have this annoying issue, because nVidia didn't release a fix or a explanation on what may this problem occurs.

 

[Ohr Rafa]

Hi, Ohr Rafa.

First of all, I would like to say that my english isn't good. That said, I am sorry for any mistakes.

Back in may this year, I was so frustrated because I just had finished building my new computer on april 15 and almost a month later the color banding issues began. I had never seen anything like that before and so, my first thought was "S**t, my GPU is broken!". Then I started exploring all over the internet about the problem. I was wondering where this came from and how could I fix it. I'd tried unsuccessfully, a week later I gave it up. Not that I can't really try hard to solve a problem but as I said before, since I just had finished building my new PC I decide to not get bored with this issue.

Now I'm back again and I really want to find a solution for this, that thing on screen is so distracting. Is it a hardware fault? I think it is but not entirely. I agree with you that this problem could be related to the motherboard and probably because of the overheat. I came to this conclusion after turn off HyperThreading. The color banding issue still persist but less noticeable, if the temperature goes up then it start to be noticed more easily. But I can say for sure that unpark cores doesn't cause any harm.

I've done some tests, my computer specs are:

MOBO: Asus Maximus VII Ranger
CPU : Intel Core i7 -4790K
GPU : Gigabyte GTX 980 G1
RAM : Corsair 16GB 1866Mhz
PSU : Corsair RMS750 Watt

I'm using a DELL U2312HM monitor, both DVI/DisplayPort connectors were tested. Just for the knowledge, the VGA connector was tested as well. I tried on Windows 7/8/10 and a few Linux distros, just to eliminate a possibility of a bad software configuration. Then I started to mess up with the ICC profiles and Monitor Calibration what just made the situation even worse.

Here is where I have this issue:

- Games (Not all games)
- Videos (Both local HDD/SSD and Internet content)
- Images (Not so much, only if I look too close)

The color banding in the skies (Games and movies) are disgusting. The interest thing is that the issue isn't present in every games. For example, The Vanishing of Ethan Carter (Unreal Engine 3) has but the Redux version (Unreal Engine 4) hasn't. Other games like Tomb Raider/CS:GO doesn't have, while GTA V/AC Unity has a lot. I think you should try (if already not) download and run the Unreal Engine 4 Elemental TechDemo and see for yourself, I'm assuming you won't notice any color issues. About the games, AntiAliasing and HDR techniques increase the color banding. The light source (both Games/Movies) has a big part on that matter, if there multiple light sources is easily to see the shapes around the light until they crash each other.

Sorry for the long text I just wanna share my case, maybe this can bring another way to look at this problem. That's all for now, I'll continue searching for a solution and if I do any advance on this I'll inform you.

Good luck!

Thanks for commenting and sorry i'm responding late. I'm glad to know i'm not alone and i hope that we can find a fix for this issue, Good luck to you too!

 

[Ohr Rafa]

Microsoft has released a new update Build 10586 of Windows 10 (Ver 1511) to public which comes with many bug fixes and improvements. I've seen some reports on NVidia GeForce Forums by users who stated that the latest update fixes the color banding issue present in GTX 900 series, so I did it and for some reason it really works. Again, the problem still present but now it's too (I really mean a lot) less noticeable.

Hope this works for anyone who have this annoying issue, because nVidia didn't release a fix or a explanation on what may this problem occurs.

Wow, that sounds interesting.
Although i'm currently not using windows 10, i'm using 8.1

But i don't believe its an OS issue. It sounds weird to me.

Could they really have had this kind of issue for so long in windows but wasn't a big deal?