Explain this to me.

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Max_Xman

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Nov 29, 2012
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So, it seems that this isn't my lucky year when it comes to technology. A while ago I purchased a Radon HD 7870(XFX) that only had one fan when I really wanted to purchase one with two fans. Anyway, one day I decided to connect my monitor via DVI instead of the previous HDMI and I noticed something weird. Whenever I went back to desktop the image would flicker when looking at it up close, especially when showing white colors, but it wouldn't do that when I went back into the game. The same thing would also happen when viewing websites with relatively light colors up close, such as this forum.

So, I figured that I would use this as an excuse to return the card. I didn't really like it from the beginning and even when I made sure that all the drivers were updated and tried another confirmed working DVI cable from another computer, the same thing would happen.

Anyway, in the meantime I was gaming on my old Nvdia GTX 260 and none of that would happen. When my new card shipped - another Radeon HD 7870 but this time an XT (Sapphire) things seemed fine at first, but now I have the same problem going on. Obviously I don't want to keep replacing cards and wonder whether or not this could be fixed somehow. Funny thing there is no flickering when connected via HDMI, but it's defenitely not the monitor, because it worked fine with my old Nvdia.

So, does one have any advice on what this could be?

I'm not sure how to explain it, but I'll do my best. Basically when you move up closer to the monitor you'll see those pixels flickering, kind of like an old TV, but as said before it doesn't happen when in-game or when playing using an HDMI cable.
 
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I did that today actually, the weird thing is though when I view something with a white background such as this website and I do it via the Chrome web browser (for example) there will be flickering, but when I do it in-game using Steam's web browser and try to view this website, there will be no flickering at all. The same thing happens when I exit a game and go back to my desktop, the whiter colors would flicker, but it never does that with light colors when in-game. Could this somehow be OS related?
 
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Yeah, that's one of the first things I did. This is my monitor
http://www.amazon.com/ASUS-VH236H-23-Inch-Full-HD-Monitor/dp/B002453K5G/ref=sr_1_1?s=electronics&ie=UTF8&qid=1362541388&sr=1-1&keywords=ASUS+VH236H+23-Inch+Full-HD+2ms+LCD+Monitor

,but it's set to run at 60Hz - which is what the monitor needs.

It's so weird, in-game this problem is non-existent, but when I exit I still seeing it right away. Plug in an HDMI cable and it works fine both in game and out in the desktop and this problem wasn't happening at all when I was using my GTX 260 via DVI.
 
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Browser issue? download firefox and see what happens using that. You can even compare the two side by side on the same webpage.

I'm wondering if you are using the analog dvi port. dvi can be either analog or digital and hdmi is digital only. Try the other dvi port if you have one.
 
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To answer your question, Firefox shows the same problem, but this doesn't look like a browser issue to me, because my Windows wallpaper also has that flickering, but just like everywhere else it only shows up in bright (white) areas, otherwise you can't really see it.

As to how my DVI is connected, I actually have it connected to a mini diplay port-to dvi adapter (active one) and a second monitor (it's actually an old LCD tv) connected to my card's actual DVI part via a VGA to DVI adapter and that works fine, no flickering whatsoever. The same with my second (main) TV which I have connected via HDMI, no problems whatsoever. The thing is though even if I were to connect my main monitor (the one that has the flickering problems) directly without an adapter it would still flicker, but as stated before it worked absolutely fine via the same DVI cable I'm using now on a different video card, but this is my second Radeon HD 7870, so I mean what would be the odds that they would both suffer from the same problem.

Now the flickering itself isn't like the screen is flashing back and forth or something. Basically, whenever there is a white color, but only when not gaming (weird) there will be those grainy-like pixels when connected to DVI. It doesn't make the image unwatchable, but I just find it slightly annoying. If it can't be fixed, I won't be replacing the card as I really like its performance in demanding games, just wanted to see if this was a common issue and if anyone has any theories.
 
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Hmm, have you tried it with just the one monitor hooked into various outputs? It could be that the TV is forcing a lower refresh rate. (I don't think thats even possible but at the risk of sounding like an idiot I thought I should bring it up...)
 
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Well guys, I finally solved the problem. Before I came with the solution I tried connecting via VGA (which worked fine), but then I disconnected all of my displays except the main one and the problem happened again when I reconnected via DVI.

Then, just for the heck of it, I went into CCC again and started looking at all the settings. One in particular caught my attention. The one called "Desktop Management" and then the last one under it called "Desktop Color", I clicked "Reactive AMD color controls" and BAM! the flickering disappeared.

I would have never guessed that the be problem (started to think that maybe the GPU was at fault hardware-wise), but now that I think about it, it does kind of make sense, because the white colors in games would not flicker, but they would always do so whenever I went back to desktop.

So, thanks for trying to help guys and I hope that in the future if someone has the same problem they will find this post.
 
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Indeed it is. As a matter of fact I was just as surprised as you were to see it work. The funny thing is shortly after I fixed it I tuned on my TV (which is connected to the GPU via an HDMI cable), so I could watch a movie and after a while the whites on my main monitor started flickering again and just like before changing the colors in CCC fixed the problem.
 
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