Nvidia Dithering
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JTL Slacor If it works for you, too, you might want to try the alternative open source driver, nouveau. It doesn't have a lot of energy saving features but at least the dithering options should still work (and chances are by default it won't enable dithering).
Did both of you get eye strain or what exactly are the latest issues?
Slacor Motivated by your post, I reverted to 2014 drivers for my nvidia GeForce cards (730, 750TI) in windows 7 and I have to say it made a noticeable difference. Now I am looking for the oldest nvidia card that can work in 64 bit windows 7 and will try it. Currently looking at nvidia Quadro FX 4400 with 512 MB memory. Not sure if there are any other better options.
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KM Just an update.
i reverted to Debian 8 and tried the older nVidia driver (367 I think) and still get some strain there.
To be honest I never really used this card much except for GPU accelerated computing (think password cracking and stuff) so I never really used it's display outputs until recently, just briefly to install an OS.
I am using an EVGA GTX 1070 reference edition purchased in July 2016.
I switched to a BenQ GW60HS (27" VA) to rule out monitor dithering as well.
I have a 560 i can swap with so i will try that tonight.
I could also a) Contact EVGA and warranty the card (Warranty is until 2019) or b) I noticed on NewEgg that some Nvidia Quadro cards from ~2015 are still being manufactured. Should figure out what generation they are from.
There is definitely something that changed in the output of the 10x0 series. It happened, actually, midway through the 9x0 generation. I had no problem at all with an MSI GTX970 which was introduced in 2015 I suspect... whereas the Zotac and EVGA models (which were the "lower power consumption" variety which only needed one power header) were instantly problematic. The display actually LOOKED FLICKERY, leading me to suspect that Temporal Dithering is on by default in hardware for those chips.
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Gurm Yeah. I can see the pixels shifting on a static image :/
Not really any harm in trying to RMA the card, since it was $600 might as well?
Could also be a VBios thing.
For reference, here is the model of 1070 I have.
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Dithering is actually really obvious to see once you know what to look for. Glad that others see it too.
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degen Speaking of Nvidia drivers, this isn't related to dithering, but I remember on WIndows Nvidia had a bug where with the GTX 5xx and most 6xx cards, any driver newer than 314.22 until 337 (I think) would cause the system to completely freeze so bad even the power button stopped working.
Lost a couple WIndows installs to it a few years ago 
Just thought it was an interesting anecdote regarding Nvidia driver quality.
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Trying a manually focused, manual camera settings up to a monitor to see what results I get.
Camera: Canon 80D
GPU: EVGA GTX 560 (released in late 2010, purchased in May 2012)
Monitor: BenQ GW2760HS using DisplayPort
I wonder how much of it is possible dithering and the other is moiré interference patterns?
Gurm There is definitely something that changed in the output of the 10x0 series. It happened, actually, midway through the 9x0 generation. I had no problem at all with an MSI GTX970 which was introduced in 2015 I suspect... whereas the Zotac and EVGA models (which were the "lower power consumption" variety which only needed one power header) were instantly problematic.
Pretty much matches my findings.
Idea I had
if we can find a GTX 970 submodel (as in MSI/EVGA/Gigabyte/Whatever GTX 970) that doesn't seem to have dithering and another that does, we might be able to dump the VBios to see what changed, if any. Might even be possible to downgrade it as well.
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For what it's worth, my 'good' 970 is a Gigabyte G1 Gaming edition:
GPU: GM204-200-A1
BIOS reported as: 84.04.2F.00.80
EDIT: I'm running the latest Nvidia drivers without any hassles.
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I think my MSI 970 is fine. It doesn't seem to be any worse than my Asus 650 Ti Boost. I'm using old drivers (368.81, would like to try a pre-10xx release however) and WIndows 7.
Video Chipset Codename: GM204-200/D17U-20
Video BIOS Version: 84.04.84.00.29
Video Chipset Revision: A1
I bought this 970 very late into it's manufacturing lifespan. They had already switched to Elpida memory, which always happens after the reviews are done and such.
It does require the 2 power cables like the other MSI 970s.
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Alright.
Now I think a good idea is to find a bad 970, dump the BIOS (use GPU-Z) and compare the version and the files.
This proves if it's the BIOS or something deeper.
Good luck
pocupine White isn't really white, I assumed everyone knew that but perhaps not. Black text on a white background means that you've got massive amounts of FRC happening, might as well be a beige or purple background at that point. All three subpixels are firing to make white. Also "white" is a relative term, depending on gamma, color profiles, etc. so the assumption that there's no dithering with a white pixel is ... 100% incorrect.
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Gurm White as in the color #ffffff or rgb(255,255,255) should not require any dithering. And black, as is the color #000000 or rgb(0,0,0) should require it either.
Dithering occurs when a monitor can't display a certain color, or more precisely a combination of RGB values (which correspond to the amount of light allowed to pass through the RGB subpixels). There's no reason at all that any display that uses 2-bits per pixel or more would need to dither for those two black and white values that I mentioned.
I assumed everyone knew that but perhaps not.
EDIT: Just to clarify, it is not possible to dither for the highest or lowest values a pixel can have. If a monitor can't display rgb(255,255,255) without dithering, then it can't do that with dithering either. This is only completely true for both the values rgb(255,255,255) and rgb(0,0,0).