Oh, it's quite possible PWM (even of this shallow depth) can be the cause of eyestrain!
Especially if this is your first (few) times, then this becomes the automatic top 5 ergonomic culprits to investigate. You should test other displays too, while you're at it too;
But there's practically
over 100+ different ergonomic issues with displays. Sometimes (dice-roll style) it ends up being something completely different, even if purchasing another monitor that also happens to be PWM-free (e.g. older Apple non-PWM-MiniLED screen) but also happens to be glossy too (e.g. older Apple non-PWM-MiniLED screen). Those were very eye friendly, relatively speaking but solved multiple ergonomic issues all at the same time.
It's often very expensive to try to eliminate multiple ergonomic issues one at a time, so Blur Busters general recommendation is go dramatically left-field to try different things;
So, to help provide more data points:
When trying to troubleshoot yourself, please be as detailed as possible:
- Whether it has only been 1 display bothering you; or you've tried many
- What you tried
- What framerates you're testing at
- Whether you get eyestrain only during motion
- What refresh rates you tried (even test out 24Hz refresh rate)
- What settings you tried (resolution, color, VRR, strobe, etc)
- What displays bother you
- What displays don't bother you
- When experimenting, try to go left field as far as you can
If you can add more data points, I can make better judgements. For example if you say you had no eyestrain with "Display X" (and I know Display X had PWM) then that's another datapoint your eyestrain might be caused by additional issues above-and-beyond PWM issues. And if you give a consistent history of displays with PWM you eyestrained on and displays without PWM that you never eyestrained on; it's almost certainly PWM style effects contributing to your ergonomic issue.
Knowing whether this is your first display with bad eyestrain, or the umpteenth -- is important too, because:
...We see too many people try 10 displays, but often users keep rolling dice on 24-27" only-LCD only-LED-backlit only-high-Hz only-antiglare-filtered monitors, without going Super Left Field.
...Trying the Same Thing Over And Over.
...The "Go Left Field" (try dramatically different displays of size, tech, coating, refresh rate, resolution, size, distance, panel type, etc) to
rapidly binary-search their way through >100 display ergonomic issues. Some that may or may not go far beyond just PWM (or that this tiny leftover PWM becomes an accidental redherring, as it often does a double-digit percentage of time)
At this stage, IF, this is your first display you're eyestraining on, then you definitely want to try a display rated as completely PWM-free. You want to rule out the most common double-digit-percent-chance ergonomic culprits as quickly as possible, even if none of them is a majority chance. But as a timesaver, you should list-off all displays that did / didn't give you eyestrain -- in order to even attempt to extrapolate a "What To Try Next?"
If you have TN, try IPS/VA/OLED. If you have QD-OLED and want to stay OLED, try WOLED. Etc.
