Screen tearing outside of games in Windows 10 / Dual monitors

[Green98]

I'm experiencing severe screen tearing on my new PC on a specific application, Android Studio (a development editor based on the IntelliJ Java IDE).

Screenshot demonstration:
Showing a typical screen tear: http://i.stack.imgur.com/u2Ns1.jpg
Showing no tearing: http://i.stack.imgur.com/cM7ET.jpg

Symptoms:
- The screen tearing is always concentrated around where the mouse cursor or keyboard input is located, never randomly on the screen.
- It happens whether the app is fullscreen or windowed.
- The screen tearing is only happening within Android Studio. No screen tearing happens within games or other applications. From extensive googling, other Android Studio users are not/have never experienced screen tearing issues.
- The issue is intermittent, but when it does start, it's there until I reboot my machine. In other words, it doesn't relate to my running a phone emulation or having a specific phone emulated, nor what other programs are running on my machine at the same time, nor if a code build is running in the background, etc.
- The issue is not occurring when the monitors are set to Duplicate their displays, rather than Extend the desktops.
- The issue occurs no matter which of my monitors is set to the Main display in Windows, and no matter which screen Android Studio is showing on

Various things I've tried to fix the problem:
- Changing my graphics card settings in the Nvidia GeForce application, changing VSync from Adaptive to On, and Triple Buffering from Off to On. This is globally as well as for the specific application .exe within the 3D settings section
- Switching from a Display Port cable to a HDMI cable on one of the monitors
- Changing my monitors' refresh rate from 60hz to 59 and 50. No luck.
- Changing many of the Android Studio appearance settings e.g. turning window animations on or off, turning off file synchronization/file saving on frame activation and background saving entirely, changing config e.g. -Xmx2048m to provide 2 gig of memory instead of the default 750mb.
- Installing MSI Afterburner and Rivatuner to limit the FPS of my machine to 60fps globally, and/or then I tried specifically for that application .exe too.

Can anyone advise on what else I could try to fix the awful screen tearing issues?

At first I thought it was an application-specific issue, but I now suspect it's a hardware/general graphic-type issue, hence this post to Tom's Hardware for advice.

---- My System Details ----
- Running Windows 10 from a clean media creation tool install disc, no updates outstanding
- Two Asus 27-inch Widescreen LED Monitors (Model VS278Q, running at 1920x1080 and set to 60hz by default)
- Monitors are connected with DisplayPort to DisplayPort Cable (Rankie Gold Plated 4K Resolution Ready)
- An Nvidia GTX 980 Graphics Card (DC2OC-4GD5 256 Bit 4GB, GDDR5, Dual Link, PCI Express) running the latest stable drivers available, v358.50
- OS and Android Studio is installed on the Samsung MZHPV512HDGL PCI-e Solid State Drive (SM951 512GB M.2 Gen3 8Gbps x 4 AHCI)
- Extra storage provided by Western Digital Blue WD10EZEX 1TB (7200 RPM 64MB Cache SATA 6.0Gb/s 3.5-Inch Internal Hard Drive)
- Using Corsair Vengeance LPX Memory 32 GB (2400 MHz CL14 XMP 2.0 DDR4, it's 2 x 16 GB sticks)
- An Intel Core i7 6700K Processor (4 GHz, 4 Core, 8 Threads, 8 MB cache, LGA1151)
- The MSI Z170A Gaming M7 Motherboard
- A Cooler Master Closed Loop Liquid Cooler Silencio Fan (RL-S12V-24PK-R2 Seidon 120 Ver.2 120mm Radiator)
- The PSU is Corsair AX Series AX860 860W Platinum Power Supply (CP-9020044-UK, ATX 12v v2.3, Active PFC, EPS 2.92, 80 PLUS Platinum)
- Asus DVD-RW Bulk Drive (DRW-24F1ST, S-ATA, DVDR: 24x, CD-R: 48x, E-Green, Disc Encryption II)
- Icy Box IB-864 Front Panel for 3.5 inch Bay with Card Reader and Multiport Hub USB 2.0 / 3.0
- All inside a Corsair Carbide 500R microATX Midi PC Tower
- Using a wired TeckNet M008 Programmable Laser Gaming Mouse
- Using a standard Apple USB Keyboard

 

[R4lNM4N]

Turn Vsync OFF

http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/graphics-card-myths,3694-3.html

(OFF)

 

[Green98]

Hi there,

Done, I've turned it off globally and on the app-specific settings now. It hasn't helped with the screen tearing, alas.

I did get a PM from a member here who mentioned it may be a Windows 10 compatibility issue with Android Studio, but after a brief time spent googling around this afternoon, can't really find much evidence anyone else is having real issues (similar issues) either.

Any other ideas?

 

[R4lNM4N]

Hi there,

Done, I've turned it off globally and on the app-specific settings now. It hasn't helped with the screen tearing, alas.

I did get a PM from a member here who mentioned it may be a Windows 10 compatibility issue with Android Studio, but after a brief time spent googling around this afternoon, can't really find much evidence anyone else is having real issues (similar issues) either.

Any other ideas?

Double check Windows update?

Hmmm. Most Windows 10 issues I've seen so far are video related. I would first try re installing the driver and selecting the "clean install" option during the install process.

Also, I would try running the trouble program in compatibility mode like so...http://www.windows10forums.com/articles/compatibility-mode.7/

 

[Green98]

Hello, thanks for the further suggestions.

1. When I kicked off a manual check, Windows Update definitely reports that I'm up-to-date and have nothing further to install.

2. I've done a clean removal (following the instructions here: https://www.reddit.com/r/nvidia/comments/2ha3q9/howto_fresh_driver_install_for_new_gpu_or_any), then a reinstall of the v358.50 GTX 980 driver (via GeForce Experience program).

3. I've run the Android Studio application in Compatibility mode, setting it to Windows Visa, then Vista SP1, then Vista SP2, then Windows 7 and then Windows 8, then them all with "Disable display scaling" ticked again (just in case that made a difference).

Unfortunately, the screen tearing issue continues (I tested it at every step above, so that I could isolate what the resolution would be for some future reader).

For what it's worth, this still hasn't been happening on any other application or games (i.e. I've played Diablo3 quite a bit on it, no issues, it's running perfectly, as do other editors and office applications/email/browsers/etc).

(As another random idea, I did try to run the 32-bit version of the Android Studio .exe but got an error popping up saying it couldn't find my Java install/to run the proper 64-bit version of the exe because I'm on a 64-bit system. No luck there.)

 

[Green98]

Having poked around with this for so long, this morning I was ready to give up on this and stick to just using a single monitor whilst using the application in future. So I set up a little desktop batch script to make it easier in future:

::AndroidStudio.bat
DisplaySwitch.exe /clone
C:\Windows\System32\schtasks.exe /RUN /TN "Android Studio\ElevatedAndroidStudio"
exit

... only to work for 30mins and spot the screen tearing starting to occur again!

So it looks like my fifth assertion about Symptoms, in the original post, was incorrect. It IS happening when the displays are Duplicated, as well as Extended, just not as much. Gah.

 

[Green98]

For future readers, looks like another Android Studio user has reported similar issues on the developer forum, earlier this month:

http://code.google.com/p/android/issues/detail?id=189308&q=repaint&colspec=ID%20Type%20Status%20Owner%20Summary%20Stars

Just wanted to point folks in that direction in case a resolution is found - will also update here as needed.

 

[R4lNM4N]

Having poked around with this for so long, this morning I was ready to give up on this and stick to just using a single monitor whilst using the application in future.

Are you saying that this doesn't happen when using a single monitor? Also, if this is the only application with this issue, then it is either something with the application itself or something in the NVIDIA settings for that application.

A "clean installation" of the video driver is also worth a shot...

 

[0nard00]

This is likely a Windows 10 driver issue. I'm having the same issues at times... Some anti-aliasing issues, and my keyboard not being able to type on one area of the screen, but able on others. If you're using any OC software's or any software's that affect video... I suggest removing them. That's the only way to avoid the issues.

It's a combination of Software and Windows 10 drivers not really up to par with each other yet. Wait it out until the big update comes out next month, should fix some stuff after that--- hopefully.

 

[R4lNM4N]

Take the time to read this article and consider a clean install of windows 10 itself

http://www.tomshardware.com/faq/id-2784691/ditch-problematic-win10-upgrade-replace-clean-install.html

 

[Green98]

Hi, just to flag - looks like the issue has been fixed by rolling back to a previous version of Android Studio (1.3.1). It's not a root cause fix but does help in the meantime.

For what it's worth/avoidance of doubt, the Windows 10 install was a clean install and it was definitely occurring on a single monitor, yup.

Thanks for all the suggestions and help here though