Horizontal flickering lines whilst in game

[MasterFlash]

Hello peeps,

I cant get rid of some annoying flickering horizontal lines, on a couple of games, its just noticeable but its there. If I force V-Sync, it stops it happening on other games like HL2, RACE 07, DOD source. But still does it on crysis and cod4 (even on the menu of cod4).

The first game I installed on my new new system was COD4 It runs great except for this flickering, and after installing Cysis last night, the same thing is happening.

If I set the refresh rate to 60hz there are less lines and they move slower, but if I put it to 75hz they move faster (up and down) and there's a lot more of them.

Q6600 (Stock)
Asus P5k-E
4 gig Corsair
512MB BFG Technology 8800GTS (latest drivers)
520W Corsair HX Series Modular PSU
Vista Home Prem

I've spent the day googling the issue with no real results. Just thought one you fine fellows might have a clue.

Best Regards

[iranu]

What monitor are you using? What resolution and what Hz is the monitor running at?

[MasterFlash]

Belinea 19", running at 1440 x 900

[Max Tractor]

Try another set of drivers, or anything close to the monitor that may cause interference?

[lilcompt]

have you checked your hardware aceleration?

[MasterFlash]

Thanks for your replies.

I've played with different drivers, with no joy. The system is in the same space as my old one, with nothing near by that could cause interference.

I've looked at the hardware acceleration, and its greyed out. Apparently that's normal for Nvidia drivers???

I was playing with it again last night. At 75 hz, 1440 x 900 with V-sync on, on games like HL2, TF2 etc - if I look really close I can see faint lines not moving. If I turn the V-sync off or put the refresh rate to 60hz, the lines move like they do in COD4...

So basically its drawing faint lines across my screen, that are naturally moving or not with the resolution/refresh rate. Important point is that in all of this, it doesn't make the games unplayable in any way. Its just its there, and kinda niggling me why

That fact that I'm totally pants at COD4 on-line, and often get my man's bits handing to me on a plate is frankly, far more annoying

[this_is_gav]

I was playing with it again last night. At 75 hz, 1440 x 900 with V-sync on

Might not solve your problem, but all TFT/LCDs that I know of should be set at 60Hz. It's different to the old CRT days with the higher the Hz, the longer your eyes lasted. 60Hz is very much the norm now.

Added to that if you force VSync at any resolution it will be fine so long as the FPS stays at above the refresh rate (so if FPS is greater than 60fps and you run at 60Hz). If it drops to 59fps or lower the frame rate will essentially show at half speed - eg. 30fps.

VSync has it's uses, but it's pretty limited with cutting-edge games, even on the ultimate of set ups.

[bcsbcs]

Maybe worth trying the 169.28 drivers which are most recent beta, I am playing Crysis with them and they seem fine though like others have said you should be driving your panel at its native refresh (usually 60hz) make sure you have the driver setup for single display also. By default i think its set to multiple displays, though i have not personally found this to be a problem.

[MasterFlash]

Thanks for the replies. Will have a look tonight

[MasterFlash]

Update - basically, at 60hz or 75hz makes little difference. The biggy is having V-sync on. Turning it off makes other games suffer from the lines including menus in game. Different drivers make no difference.

Getting a little miffed

[Max Tractor]

Can you try another monitor, just to rule that out

[bcsbcs]

Probably not what you want to hear but it could be that the lines are actualy as a result of the card's overheating, this would also explain why V-sync helps as it limits the frames calculated to 60 instead of letting the card calculate 100 or so and still only displaying 60 of them a second.

What you need to do is run a game till its flickering like crazy, then window out where you have the GPU temps showing and see what its going up to but dont be too supprised if the GPU goes up to 90'c that supprisingly isnt that unusual for these recent cards. If you use rivatuner (freeware GPU application) and see the GPU overlayed on the screen but its a bit unecessary. If it is temps then hopefully you'll be able to get it sorted with the supplier, if not it maybe possible to change the fan (assuming loose cables in the case arnt hindering the fans ability to spin.

Good luck

BS

[Flibb]

Sppedfan or tne nvidia cotrol app should show GPU temp, but it wont cover the other components on the card. COD 4 really toasts my 7600, was hitting 90oC yesterday, am trying to cool it better with an 80mm fan blowing on to it.

[MasterFlash]

Will have a look tonight and post my findings.

Many thx

[Hunain]

hey, just to rule things out, you dont see the lines in windows right? Only in 3D apps?

[MasterFlash]

Yes just in 3D apps. But not all. Re-installed Company of Heroes last night and it was fine.