Lot of eye strain from new setup

Blaze

My eyes were fine for years (36 to be exact). I had an old setup for a while which I kept upgrading but kept the same old monitors for at least 7 years. It ended up with a gtx 1080 and 9th gen intel processor until I decided it couldn't hold out any longer and had to upgrade. So I changed everything, including the monitors into a brand new setup:

13th gen i5-13600K
32GB of Tridentz 3600 DDR4 RAM
RTX 3080

windows 10 pro edition 22H2

I started with some mild discomforts until I had real bad strain, to the point I even had more light sensitivity than usual, even turning down the brightness, altering contrast etc all the settings I could think of did not change this. I tried 3 diff monitors (as I didn't know what was wrong) all with similar results:
MSI Optix G241 (IPS)
Samsung Odyssey G3 (VA)
Gigabyte G24F2 (IPS)

I even went to the doctor to have my eyes checked but it would seem my eyes are healthy.

I don't know a lot about PWM/Dithering or anything like that but searching for the solution to my problem I stumbled upon this forum and figured I would give it a shot. Is there a way I can diagnose whats the root cause behind my discomfort?

I am growing a bit desperate because I used my pc for everything (both work and content creation) and now the strain is so bad I can't really bare to sit down for too long of a session unless I want my eyes to hurt bad. Thanks everyone

glvn

Blaze My eyes were fine for years (36 to be exact). I had an old setup for a while which I kept upgrading but kept the same old monitors for at least 7 years. It ended up with a gtx 1080 and 9th gen intel processor until I decided it couldn't hold out any longer and had to upgrade.

could you describe the old(intel 9th) setup in more detail?

jordan

Blaze can you try switching PCIE setting in bios from auto to pcie3 and see if it helps?

rdu

I'm in a similar context, my advice is to try with a different GPU, if you still have the 1080 install it in the new system and see how it goes.

Blaze

machala rdu

So a small update, I got to try my sister's pc (she also had a new setup but slightly less new. Difference in this case is hers is a:

AMD Ryzen 7 5800X Processor
RTX 3060

Windows is at 21 H2 (not 22 H2)

She also has an Odyssey G3 but the 27 inch version. And even though she has light mode on everything, I experienced 0 eye strain on her setup. It makes me think that then its something 100% to do with my setup, but I dunno if its the motherboard, the GPU or what haha. I wonder if I can take it someplace to diagnose or even have a technician check it.

The trouble is a lot of ppl don't experience this sensitivity so its hard to get someone who doesn't have the trouble to believe that its real.

machala

I have some bad news for you. The problem may not be just the monitor, but it is quite probable it is also the GPU and even the motherboard (our latest finding). If you can, please try to insert the old GPU and use the old monitor and see if anything changes. You may be surprised to find it's still equally bad. There is hardly any help in that case other than try a different motherboard or an older system. 🙁

We have no idea here what is going on, but it is something really weird. What I can only say is that it is some kind of flicker. If it is temporal dithering or it is caused by some form of interference on the motherboard, some even theorize of compression between the motherboard and the GPU on the PCIE slot… really don't know.

With every year more and more products are being impacted by this strange eye straining. 5-10 years back I could buy any PC without having any such issues provided the monitor was OK. Many monitors were good too at that time and 15 years back I could even buy any monitor I wanted. Now I am running our of options. And nothing changed on my end, old systems are still equally good as they used to be.

Again, I propose you try to swap the GPUs and hook the old monitor to it, if it is bad, file a complaint with your motherboard manufacturer. They MUST hear about this otherwise they will always claim "we do not record any other complaints". I already did that with my motherboard manufacturer (Gigabyte), but they haven't replied yet.

machala

Blaze

You can't swap components with your sister's PC I presume?

If you can't, definitely try to put your old graphics card in and see what happens… I am afraid it is the motherboard given our latest findings… 🙁

Lauda89

You can try to install the same windows version on you PC, so the 21H2 of your sister and see if something changes.
If it doesn't work, keep the same windows version 21H2 and swap the GPU. After this you will have the same GPU (install also the same driver of your sister 3060) and same OS. If still give you problems it means that the motherboard or the bios do something strange like happened to me unfortunately.

Patoli

Man, this stuff is crazy. You can try using your previous GPU and see what happens (if you have it). You can try your old monitor (if you have it). You can try your system monitor and monitors before 2018. Test whatever you can.

For me all monitors before 2018 caused trouble. I bought a 2017 model and everything back to normal, but when I updated the Windows to 22H2 the hell started over. I rolled back to 21H2 two days before it and everything was ok again. Crazy stuff.

As you can see, same system with different monitor causes problem, same system with different version of Windows causes problem too. As the fellow friend said before, nobody really knows what is happening and we have so variables such as monitors, GPU, Windows, GPU drivers and other stuffs. If one variable changes the strain begins.

glvn

Patoli

For me all monitors before 2018 caused trouble. I bought a 2017 model and everything back to normal, but when I updated the Windows to 22H2 the hell started over. I rolled back to 21H2 two days before it and everything was ok again. Crazy stuff.

could you describe the setup in more detail?
MB model(+bios version)
GPU model, GPU driver version
Monitor model, connected via DP ?? HDMI??

Len-B

Here is my story. I have a Desktop PC with Windows 11 Pro and it was the only device that caused my eye strain. I tried many tweaks, new GPU, changed various graphic settings, all with very minor improvements. I even purchased a new pair of varifocal glasses although the optician said my eyes seemed fine.

Just recently the problem the pain got worse so I sat down at my Desktop PC and did some Google research. While I was searching my eyes were extremely painful.

With the help of this site and various other resources I was directed towards the idea of dithering but there appeared to be no settings that would change this. However, I believed that HDR (High Dynamic Range) is achieved using a similar process.

I turned off HDR and immediately started to notice some benefits. I spent several subsequent hours using my PC and my eyes were significantly more comfortable.

I'm sure many people will write this off but it's so easy to try that I recommend you give it a whirl. Nothing lost.

In Windows 11 it can be found under 'Windows Settings; System; Display'.