Visual sensitivity due to Windows 10 and/or 32-bit color?
Posted: 25 Aug 2019, 12:52
I hope you will be able to help me figure out what I should do in order to
solve my problem, as I can't figure out whether I should replace my GPU, monitor, or do something else.
I am one of those people who have some visual sensitivity. I can't go to the movie, strobe lighting causes problems, and so do high contrast stripes on someone's shirt, and so on. Things get worse in low light conditions.
As far as desktop displays are concerned, when I used a CRT, I was only able to work with a refresh rates of 100Hz or higher. Anything below this refresh rate was clearly flickering and caused nausea, headaches, vertigo and other symptoms. The 100Hz was unnecessary on the LCD displays. However, although I could not (consciously) observe such flicker with LCD screens, these monitors did nonetheless lead to the same problems and symptoms.
At the time, someone figured out that it was because of dithering or something like that, and with suitable hardware I was again able to look at the monitor without problems (also setting software to reduce movements as much as possible; and adapting contrast, brightness, colors, size etc).
So, until recently, I was using the following and had no problems:
System Windows 7 home premium SP1 64-bit
Motherboard ASUS P8H77-M / CSM
Processor Intel i5-3470 CPU@ 3.20GHz 6MB 1155 QUAD
RAM 8GB (2x4 DDR3)
GPU Asus Nvidia GeForce GTX 650 1GB
Display (IPS) NEC MultiSync LCD2490WUXI2, DVI-D, 1920x1200 (connected with a
DVI-D-dual-link cable).
I used a 16-bit color mode.
However, recently I installed Windows 10 Home-64-bit, and since that moment
I can hardly use my computer, due to the visual sensitivity symptoms. I do
not know why. I do not know whether it is concerns flickering, FRC, dithering, PWM or other things. I only know that there is a problem. I cannot observe flicker, but the monitor causes those same problems as I have with other displays.
I really hope you can help me with this. I do not know what the problem is, what caused it, and how to solve it: should I change any settings? Change my GPU? Something else?
The only hardware change I did was adding a SSD Hard disk (on which Windows 10 is installed), and I suppose this has nothing to do with the problem I have.
Thus, I assume the problem results from the changing from
Windows 7 64-bit, 16-bit-color
to
Windows 10 64-bit, 32-bit-color
I tried to install updated drivers for the display and for the GPU. I also
tried to change in the color management settings. However, it did not help.
I do not know whether the following information is relevant, so I add it:
When I look at the Settings; advanced display settings; display information:
I see Refresh rate 59Hz although it is set to 60Hz.
Also, the following information is presented regarding the colors: Bit depth: 8-bit; Color
format: RGB; Color space: Standard dynamic range (SDR).
As far as I know, my display is a true 8-bit IPS, so as far as I understand, it should be able to deal with a 32-bit color definition without any problems (i.e., without those various
FRC, dithering, PWM etc. "adjustments").
Does this mean that whatever is happening which causes my problems results from the GPU or can this result from other things?
Is it possible that the GPU (it is a GTX650 1GB, not 2BG) was able to deal with the 1920x1200 resolution on the 16-bit color definition on windows 7, but is not able to deal with this resolution on 32-bit color and consequently, does some dithering/ FRC/ PWM or something else that causes my problems?
Could this be the case? and if so, how can I solve the problem? Do I need a different GPU or other parts? and is my hardware compatible with these changes?
If this is not the case, what is causing the problem and how can I resolve it?
(p.s. Obviously I am not a gamer, but in all previous computers, the onboard Graphics or simple Graphic cards did present the 1920x1200 resolution, but did not solve my visual sensitivities symptoms, whereas the gaming GPU's did. I do not know why, but that happened several times).
I really hope you will be able to give me some advice on this.
Thank you!
solve my problem, as I can't figure out whether I should replace my GPU, monitor, or do something else.
I am one of those people who have some visual sensitivity. I can't go to the movie, strobe lighting causes problems, and so do high contrast stripes on someone's shirt, and so on. Things get worse in low light conditions.
As far as desktop displays are concerned, when I used a CRT, I was only able to work with a refresh rates of 100Hz or higher. Anything below this refresh rate was clearly flickering and caused nausea, headaches, vertigo and other symptoms. The 100Hz was unnecessary on the LCD displays. However, although I could not (consciously) observe such flicker with LCD screens, these monitors did nonetheless lead to the same problems and symptoms.
At the time, someone figured out that it was because of dithering or something like that, and with suitable hardware I was again able to look at the monitor without problems (also setting software to reduce movements as much as possible; and adapting contrast, brightness, colors, size etc).
So, until recently, I was using the following and had no problems:
System Windows 7 home premium SP1 64-bit
Motherboard ASUS P8H77-M / CSM
Processor Intel i5-3470 CPU@ 3.20GHz 6MB 1155 QUAD
RAM 8GB (2x4 DDR3)
GPU Asus Nvidia GeForce GTX 650 1GB
Display (IPS) NEC MultiSync LCD2490WUXI2, DVI-D, 1920x1200 (connected with a
DVI-D-dual-link cable).
I used a 16-bit color mode.
However, recently I installed Windows 10 Home-64-bit, and since that moment
I can hardly use my computer, due to the visual sensitivity symptoms. I do
not know why. I do not know whether it is concerns flickering, FRC, dithering, PWM or other things. I only know that there is a problem. I cannot observe flicker, but the monitor causes those same problems as I have with other displays.
I really hope you can help me with this. I do not know what the problem is, what caused it, and how to solve it: should I change any settings? Change my GPU? Something else?
The only hardware change I did was adding a SSD Hard disk (on which Windows 10 is installed), and I suppose this has nothing to do with the problem I have.
Thus, I assume the problem results from the changing from
Windows 7 64-bit, 16-bit-color
to
Windows 10 64-bit, 32-bit-color
I tried to install updated drivers for the display and for the GPU. I also
tried to change in the color management settings. However, it did not help.
I do not know whether the following information is relevant, so I add it:
When I look at the Settings; advanced display settings; display information:
I see Refresh rate 59Hz although it is set to 60Hz.
Also, the following information is presented regarding the colors: Bit depth: 8-bit; Color
format: RGB; Color space: Standard dynamic range (SDR).
As far as I know, my display is a true 8-bit IPS, so as far as I understand, it should be able to deal with a 32-bit color definition without any problems (i.e., without those various
FRC, dithering, PWM etc. "adjustments").
Does this mean that whatever is happening which causes my problems results from the GPU or can this result from other things?
Is it possible that the GPU (it is a GTX650 1GB, not 2BG) was able to deal with the 1920x1200 resolution on the 16-bit color definition on windows 7, but is not able to deal with this resolution on 32-bit color and consequently, does some dithering/ FRC/ PWM or something else that causes my problems?
Could this be the case? and if so, how can I solve the problem? Do I need a different GPU or other parts? and is my hardware compatible with these changes?
If this is not the case, what is causing the problem and how can I resolve it?
(p.s. Obviously I am not a gamer, but in all previous computers, the onboard Graphics or simple Graphic cards did present the 1920x1200 resolution, but did not solve my visual sensitivities symptoms, whereas the gaming GPU's did. I do not know why, but that happened several times).
I really hope you will be able to give me some advice on this.
Thank you!