Random screen dimming?

Danny1337 · 21 Dec 2021 at 21:49

Hi

I recently bought a new PC and monitor to go with it specs below. I noticed pretty quickly there was some strange dimming or changing of brightness contrast on the screen like it would just randomly get abit darker then lighter. Not huge amount but more then enough to notice often. It seems to occur randomly but is most repeatable if I change a program window size or just change the window im viewing. I don't believe it's happening while I am gaming although it could be since it's suttle but on desktop very noticeable.

I came across this thread of people who seemed to be having the same issue however later on they say it has been fixed by the latest graphics drivers which Im now on and still having the same issue.
https://answers.microsoft.com/en-us...1/59f926a7-4c00-43ef-b484-3ac3602d99fb?page=1

So my question is, is this some kinda of bug, feature or wrong setting I need to adjust. My first thought was Window 11's HDR setting. Turning this off makes my new screen look pretty dark and not good, the screen looks so much darker Im not sure if this fixs the problem or since the screen is dark it's more suttle. As im typing this occasionally it's like I can see my screen shifting in contrast/brightness slightly.

I've done a bunch of searching online and saw some suggestions like disabling night light, windows game bar, checking automatic brightness settings. None of which make any difference. I used Display Driver Uninstaller in safe mode and did a fresh install of my graphics driver also. My monitor is connected via display port and im running 1440p and just have the refresh rate set to the max Windows allowed me to.

Specs
CPU: AMD Ryzen 5 5600X Six core CPU with 4.7GHz boost
Motherboard: AMD B550 DDR4 Motherboard
Memory: 16GB DDR4 3600MHz Dual Channel Kit
Graphics: Nvidia GeForce RTX 3060Ti 8GB Graphics Card
Operating System:Windows 11

shankly1985 · 22 Dec 2021 at 10:30

Does your monitor support local dimming or energy saver settings enabled?

My LG 27GP950 has a few energy saving settings enabled by default one of them resulted in adjust the brightness based on what's on the screen.

Danny1337 · 22 Dec 2021 at 14:13

shankly1985 said:
Does your monitor support local dimming or energy saver settings enabled?

My LG 27GP950 has a few energy saving settings enabled by default one of them resulted in adjust the brightness based on what's on the screen.

I can't see anything like that I tryed messing with HDR and dark stabilizer. It dims the screen so much on occasion I couldn't see it being a feature but more a bug since it's so obvious and annoying. Maybe its the HDR in Windows 11, it's just super annoying making this expensive upgrade and new monitor but for the screen to just never look right.... Im new to a lot of this display tech so maybe I have a setting wrong but I can't really figure out if it's something I've done wrong. All I have done is just plug and play...

Edit: im not sure if this helps but when using Shadowplay screen recorder the clips show in black and white if I have HDR in Windows 11 turned on and show as normal when off. This could just be a whole other bug but incase it helps. As far as Im aware Shadowplay supports HDR so I don't think this should be happening wonder if that would help track anything down.

https://ibb.co/TLfN54M
https://ibb.co/p2RjCzh
https://ibb.co/0m697mC
https://ibb.co/sFY6s2V

mickyflinn · 23 Dec 2021 at 22:47

Do you have a spare hard drive to put Windows 10 on to do some testing ?

This may tell you if windows 11 is the problem.

Danny1337 · 23 Dec 2021 at 23:34

mickyflinn said:
Do you have a spare hard drive to put Windows 10 on to do some testing ?

This may tell you if windows 11 is the problem.

Thanks that's a good idea, but I did some further testing and Im pretty confident it's Windows 11's HDR mode causing it... Which Windows 10 doesn't have I believe? would be a shame to have to go back I've enjoyed using 11 over 10. I noticed my monitor has some HDR settings maybe If I tweak that It will help with the HDR mode turned off because with it on I notice a big difference in screen quality.

sadbuttrue · 24 Dec 2021 at 22:47

When it happens do you notice a boldening effect applied to the text on the screen for a second or so? I've been getting this randomly in Windows 11 and have no idea why. Five different monitors with an nvidia graphics card.

Danny1337 · 24 Dec 2021 at 23:58

sadbuttrue said:
When it happens do you notice a boldening effect applied to the text on the screen for a second or so? I've been getting this randomly in Windows 11 and have no idea why. Five different monitors with an nvidia graphics card.

Not really. Don't think I have had that kind of effect though, just the darkening is driving me kind of nuts. It's most noticeable if Im in a app or website with a dark kind of theme it's like it darkens the whole screen because of this more so if I have a window maximized then if I unmaximize the window so it's a smaller window it's instantly brighter no idea whats going on :/ It seems to affect the whole screen even the toolbar at the bottom for Windows.

Danny1337 · 25 Dec 2021 at 15:29

sadbuttrue said:
When it happens do you notice a boldening effect applied to the text on the screen for a second or so? I've been getting this randomly in Windows 11 and have no idea why. Five different monitors with an nvidia graphics card.

Wait yes I just noticed on some website when it dims on the more worse examples I noticed white text got like bolder and kind of fuzzy on the edges :/