Top part of monitor screen flickering (1660 Super)

[kupori]

I recently just built a new rig - ryzen 3600, zotac gtx 1660S, gskill flare cli16 3200mhz etc...

Currently plugged into 2 displays (Dp - 144hz main, HDMI - 60hz secondary)

I've realized that the top part of my main monitor flickers once every 5-10 minutes when I'm doing light stuff (Chrome/Office/Discord/Spotify etc..). The secondary monitor does flicker in the same area but alot less frequent, once every hour)

The strange thing is that the flickering disappears when I'm gaming (csgo, valorant, fall guys).

I've been using my monitors and the cables for pretty long and they didn't have any issues with my previous PC with the same screen setup. (i7-3770 + gtx 1080)

 

I've reinstalled my gpu drivers and updated bios, no change. 

[kupori]

Update: I dusted off my old gtx 970 and swapped it in, didn't have any issues. So its definitely 1660 super which is semi faulty. Going to RMA it. 
Uploaded a video of it in case anyone experiences a similar issue

[lydriga]

I'm having the exact same issue with my brand new MSI 1660 Super after installing it today. The flickering happens every few minutes and just like yours only in the top part of the screen. I'm using a 4K 60Hz Monitor connected with HDMI and the wqhl driver (version 452.06).

[kupori]

update: I RMA'ed it, the distributor tested it and didn't find any issues. I told him that swapping in my 970 fixed it. Since it was a 1 week old card, they gave me a brand new 1660 super. Plugged the new one in and the issue is back. I'm starting to think its a software/driver issue but I don't know how to solve it.

[kupori]

Update: I found a fix to the issue.

 

I first reformatted my PC to check if it was software related, the issue persisted after the reformat.

I did some thinking about why the issue was happening only during light load (Web browsing/Documents/Videos) and not during Heavier loads (Gaming).

The artifacts/flickering only appeared when the core clock speeds were low (idle) and did not occur when it was higher (Gaming). 

I did some research on clock speeds and came across this reddit post on gpu power management.

Changed the setting to Maximum Performance so clock speeds and voltage are constantly higher. No more artifacts!

Getting higher idle temperatures as expected (48c) but issue is fixed (for now)

TLDR: Set Nvidia power management settings to Maximum Performance fixed the artifact issue during idle.

[nchaps]

Hey - thank you so much for this post... This has been driving me insane and I couldn't find anything in google.. But like you said it didn't impact any game play.  I noticed that it was fine when I got the GPU, but it wasn't until I updated to the driver after flight sim came out that i had the flicker.  The driver update from today 9/29 seems to have fixed the issue as well. It's only been about an hour, but no flicker. So if it does come back, I'll try the power change you suggested.

 

EDIT:

Driver 456.55 - Release date 9/28/20 doesn't fix it. Maybe I just missed it for the past hour... Trying your fix now.

Edited September 29, 2020 by nchaps

[FlyinSpaghet]

Have the same problem.

 

I change the mode from optimal power to adaptive instead of maximum performance. The problem seems to be gone as well. I think the flicker may have something to do with the optimal power mode particularly.

 

Edit: Adaptive doesn't fix it, would try maximum

Edited October 1, 2020 by FlyinSpaghet

[nchaps]

Adaptive screws up my computer... I keep switching back to optimal after every driver update.. still nothing. So looks like maximum is the only fix.

[kizsantos]

Does this fix still works? im having the same issue even with 456.71 update. This is not a gpu problem right? This only occurs when i set it to 144hz on DP but when I switch to HDMI  60hz its not occurring. Also, is it safe to set power to maximum?

[Keefer]

Hi, I just replaced my old 60hz monitor with 144hz monitor (AOC 24g2) and now I encountered the same problem. I have the Zotac 1660 Super with the latest driver (456.71).

Setting power management to maximum should be safe but it would be a waste of power I think.

 

Edit: NVIDIA just released a new driver (457.09) but it doesn't fix the flicker.

 

Also searching in NVIDIA forum it seems that other people are having the same problem with 1660 Super, so it seems to be a driver issue?

https://www.nvidia.com/en-us/geforce/forums/geforce-graphics-cards/5/402009/span-classhighlightflickeringspan-while-working-on/
https://www.nvidia.com/en-us/geforce/forums/geforce-graphics-cards/5/403333/span-classhighlighttopspan-bar-shaped-span-classhi/
 

 

 

[kizsantos]

On 10/28/2020 at 10:33 PM, Keefer said:

Hi, I just replaced my old 60hz monitor with 144hz monitor (AOC 24g2) and now I encountered the same problem. I have the Zotac 1660 Super with the latest driver (456.71).

Setting power management to maximum should be safe but it would be a waste of power I think.

 

Edit: NVIDIA just released a new driver (457.09) but it doesn't fix the flicker.

 

Also searching in NVIDIA forum it seems that other people are having the same problem with 1660 Super, so it seems to be a driver issue?

https://www.nvidia.com/en-us/geforce/forums/geforce-graphics-cards/5/402009/span-classhighlightflickeringspan-while-working-on/
https://www.nvidia.com/en-us/geforce/forums/geforce-graphics-cards/5/403333/span-classhighlighttopspan-bar-shaped-span-classhi/
 

 

 

yes it temporarily fix the flickering when setting to max performance. I also think that there is a problem on 1660 super drivers.I found new posts about this on the forums and a lot of peeps are experiencing it too. I hope they fix this. I have the same card as well Zotac 1660 super

[logicwinner]

Thank you so much for the solution. I've just built my new Pc with the Msi 1660S and faced the same issue, not the big problem but super annoying. Googling around for the solution but found nothing that could help. And then this. I've tried the maximum performance mode in Ndivia control panel and so far so good. Thanks again OP.

[338Lapua]

Thanks for posting your solution to this, thought I was going to have to return my GPU or monitor.

[flexyy]

I have the same problem

[tauhidd]

just like you guys said , i am also experiencing flicker just on the top part of the screen, comes randomly every 3 mins interval , scared me for a while cuz i also just built my rig. with ventus 1660 super , ryzen 3600 . 

i have tried putting it on maximum power setting and so far no flicker , it seems like its more of a driver issue.(457.3)

[kizsantos]

can you guys comment on this post in the geforce community forum under the comment of the Nvidia staff so that they'll know that a lot of people are experiencing this issue and finally make a move for it. 

 

https://www.nvidia.com/en-us/geforce/forums/geforce-graphics-cards/5/405393/span-classhighlight1660span-span-classhighlightsup/

[lbarmen]

Thank you for your answers! Can you please show us in the screenshot what exactly needs to be changed in the nvidia settings to solve the problem?

[ManuelG_NVIDIA]

My name is Manuel and I work for NVIDIA.  Thank you for your feedback.  I need some assistance so that our dev team can determine the root cause of this issue.  I will need full kernel memory dump file after reproducing this bug.  Please do the following:

1. Follow the instructions in the FAQ below to enable full kernel memory dump files and learn how to manually force a crash:
http://nvidia.custhelp.com/app/answers/detail/a_id/4641/
2. Reproduce the flicker and then force as crash as described in the FAQ.  
3. Upload the dmp file to a file sharing site and then send me an email with the following information
* Link to download the crash dmp file
* Make and model of your monitor(s) connected and how each of the monitors are connected (HDMI/DVI/DisplayPort/etc.)?
* Graphics card model
* Windows 10 version (eg. 20H2)
* Dispdiag log file from your monitor as described in the following FAQ: https://nvidia.custhelp.com/app/answers/detail/a_id/3468

Email this information to driverfeedback@nvidia.com

 

Regards,
Manuel

www.twitter.com/ManuelGuzman

[logicwinner]

I'm here to update about the temp fix (setting the power mode to max perf). So far the flicker gone, but the fans were so loud and kind of noise even if there were no heavy load. So I attempted to another fix, I used the DVI cable in replace of HDMI cable. And from a few days ago until now, the flicker is gone even in Optimal power mode. I will update for you guys in a few days later. 

My setup:

CPU Ryzen3 3100

Mainboard MSI B450 PRO-VDH MAX

GPU MSI 1660S

RAM GSKILL 2x8GB DDR4 2666MHz

 

[logicwinner]

On 11/18/2020 at 3:31 PM, lbarmen said:

Thank you for your answers! Can you please show us in the screenshot what exactly needs to be changed in the nvidia settings to solve the problem?

Change it to the Max performance. You're welcome.

[Razorish]

Made a LTT account to comment on this.

I've got the same issue too and I thought the card was broken in a new build. Thanks for giving us a temporary solution as I was slowly losing my mind over it. 

[Rokson]

From what I saw it happens relatively often when monitor is on 1920x1080 and 144Hz, when I was using another monitor with 60Hz and 1360x768 it never happened.

After the recent update it didn't change anything, optimal power and 144Hz is still flickering at the top, so I guess maximum performance is truly the only way.

So I was using 120hz for some time, and now I can cofirm, it doesn't flicker as much as at 144Hz.

Edited December 3, 2020 by Rokson

[kizsantos]

On 12/3/2020 at 8:25 AM, Rokson said:

From what I saw it happens relatively often when monitor is on 1920x1080 and 144Hz, when I was using another monitor with 60Hz and 1360x768 it never happened.

After the recent update it didn't change anything, optimal power and 144Hz is still flickering at the top, so I guess maximum performance is truly the only way.

So I was using 120hz for some time, and now I can cofirm, it doesn't flicker as much as at 144Hz.

I tried this as well and it did the same. Currently in 120hz and the flicker does not occur much unlike 144hz

[parkanoid]

Same issue with my new MSI GeForce GTX 1660 Super Ventus. I'm running 3840 x 2160 at 60hz on a workstation, and it is really quite distracting.

 

Is there much chance of a driver update to fix this if the issue has been dated back to (at least) August 18th?

 

Thanks for the workaround @kupori

 

[slvrtrn]

Can confirm the same issue with ASUS Phoenix 1660 Super 6G (https://www.asus.com/Motherboards-Components/Graphics-Cards/All-series/PH-GTX1660S-O6G/)

It flickers on 2 PCs, both PCs are with Ubuntu and Windows, any driver version (from 440 to 455), 4 different HDMI or DisplayPort cables.

Unfortunately, Performance mode does not fix the issue for me, at least not on Ubuntu.

GPU-Z shows that it has Hynix memory. It seems that likely some batches are faulty.