Flickering Pixels, Brand New Build

[Garrzilla]

Graphics card: Asus STRIX GTX 960
 
So I just finished building my first PC. Everything went smooth, and I have been installing drivers & programs. Everything was OK until a small popup on the bottom right saying there is a new nVidia driver update (this was after I installed the CD that came with the GFX card). I installed the update and imediately saw small flickering pixels on darker parts of the screen (even after reboot). See here
Another thing is when my PC is booting up, there is no flickering at all, even at login screen.
 
I uninstalled all the drivers for my GTX 960, then went to nVidia's website and got the latest version, v359.06. This definitely improved the amount of flickering pixels, but can still a decent amount. I REALLY hope I don't have to return the card since I had to remove the bar code from the box for the rebate, and I doubt Frys would accept it.

[r1Ns3]

Hmm, it could be the monitor, have you used the monitor on another computer to eliminate the possibility of it being dead or stuck pixels?

[Garrzilla]

Hmm, it could be the monitor, have you used the monitor on another computer to eliminate the possibility of it being dead or stuck pixels?

Sorry forgot that part. I have my old PC plugged into the same monitor and It's perfectly fine.

[Hunched]

Try increasing your voltage/lowering your core/mem clock and see if it goes away.

You could be suffering from Nvidia's 1 size fits all power saving feature GPU Boost which causes instability on cards that need a little extra juice than normal.

 

If you want to check if it's insufficient voltage you can download EVGA Precision X. It will allow you to raise your voltage and lock your voltage and clocks at their maximum with K-Boost, aka disabling GPU Boost, a good way to see if the dynamic voltages/clocks are a cause of instability.

[Garrzilla]

Try increasing your voltage/lowering your core/mem clock and see if it goes away.

You could be suffering from Nvidia's 1 size fits all power saving feature GPU Boost which causes instability on cards that need a little extra juice than normal.

 

If you want to check if it's insufficient voltage you can download EVGA Precision X. It will allow you to raise your voltage and lock your voltage and clocks at their maximum with K-Boost, aka disabling GPU Boost, a good way to see if the dynamic voltages/clocks are a cause of instability.

Ok, I downloaded EVGA PrecisionX 16. But I have no clue what to do and don't want to mess anything up. Can you explain what to change?

 

Edit: I applied Overvoltage & Kboost separately and neither of them reduced the flickering.

[Hunched]

Ok, I downloaded EVGA PrecisionX 16. But I have no clue what to do and don't want to mess anything up. Can you explain what to change?

GPU Clock Offset (Core Clock) and Mem Clock Offset are things you could try lowering/downclocking by moving them to the left, but this will decrease your performance.

 

The voltage slider to the top right increases your voltage, but not beyond what your card limits. It's very unlikely you could damage your card with this, but nothing is impossible. If this is a cause of insufficient voltage, obviously increasing it would solve that.

 

K-Boost forces your card to run at its current maximum voltage, memory clock, and core clock when enabled. 

 

You can use a program called GPU-Z to more accurately monitor all the temps/voltages/clocks etc of your GPU.

 

If you're not comfortable doing this, don't do it just because I'm suggesting it. Research it more and make yourself comfortable.

I would have recommended reseating the GPU, but if you're convinced a driver update bettered the issue I doubt that will help

 

You could also try a different connection from the GPU to monitor, could be a bad cable, could be a connector is just dirty.

Just gotta try shit and see if it helps, so many variables and things that could be the cause.

[Garrzilla]

Sweet, I fixed it! I'm not exactly sure what was the cause but I did 2 things:

 

- I re-seated the graphics card

- I swapped the PCIe power adapter (my psu came with 2)

 

Also, thanks a lot @Hunched for taking the time to help. <3

[Hunched]

Sweet, I fixed it! I'm not exactly sure what was the cause but I did 2 things:

 

- I re-seated the graphics card

- I swapped the PCIe power adapter (my psu came with 2)

 

Also, thanks a lot @Hunched for taking the time to help. <3

Good to hear it's fixed even if we don't know exactly what did it  :lol:

These things can be so difficult to figure out, so many things can cause the exact same problem.

Insufficient voltage, not seated perfectly, faulty cables and/or ports, etc...

Could have taken a lot longer to solve than it did.

 

Enjoy your new PC!