posted a novel, i apologize but i learn as i type this stuff out ( also, a bit of a celebration i guess bc of my ability to do this with the least suffering i have felt in a long time, so dont loose hope)
I mean it may be worth a try. i have had better luck with amd on Linux. I posted to the Ubuntu forum about which graphics card to get and who maintains the drivers for the AMD just to be sure it remains that way.
The response was as follows:
"There is a public driver maintained by the public and an AMD official driver maintained by AMD themselves. Don't use AMD's driver as they are still working out some issues with it from what I understand. You can try it though, it might be a lot better since the last time I saw news about it as they have gotten pretty good at updating their drivers pretty regularly. Either way you can always switch to the public driver if it doesn't work out and you should be just fine."
Here is the link: https://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=2362926&p=13652664#post13652664
If on Linux (ubuntu) I do not recommend installing proprietary drivers for either. I think i may have different types of eye strain than many people here but I may go for a mac once i have the money so I can get to the bottom of this. Which i realize people here do not recommend as well.
Many people here say dithering causes eye strain for them but i dont think that is the cause of my eye strain for me. I mean for me thus after getting what feels like a supported graphics driver, it has been the lighting. Fluorescent lighting has not been very good neither has a DC driver attached to led lights. But the led light attached to the DC driver I have feels very harsh. they may be like 8000k with a low cri, they were in the back of a tv panel though. I would not think they are low cri but do not know.
The led tubes that are powered through a ballast have been the best thus far. So far i have the Phillips Instant fit but have some Veriluz on the way. and may order a few more different brands and see which kelvin temperature works the best. I have 10 tubes total, both fluorescent and led tubes, its a descent combo. but one 4 tube fixture has all fluorescent and I can tell instinctual that my eyes vier away from it. The fluorescent tubes i use have are mainly 98 cri,5000k and 82 cri, 4100k. The led tubes are 5000k at 82 cri. The tubes on the way are 6500k at 90 cri. I may get some others that are 4000k or 3000k at 82 cri. So hard to find high cri ballast compatible led tubes. Cree made some at the 4000k range but i cant find any of them. i think they were recalled. Hollywood Lights makes some that are 93 cri but they are 45 dollars a piece. Yikes.
Heres an interesting tid bit as well. I had all three of my fixtures holding the tubes in a row behind my screen and the eye strain was worse. The second I moved them around my screen. One in front, or behind me (two tube) and one on each side (4 tube). the strain got exponentially less. So for just putting light, in an ambient way with serious diffusion( two fixtures are using the diffusers that came with the fixture and also pieces that came out of the led panels accross the other), has made serious difference. But after getting the driver issue mostly figured out i think, the ambient lighting is so crucial to fooling my eyes to thinking that what I am seeing is natural in nature.
Just to note, when i had the propriety driver installed from AMD on my Ubuntu system, this was not possible. the screen conflicted it felt like with the exterior lighting i provided. a bad graphics driver will cause the screen to flicker, visibly with a camera or noticeably by my eye. I have experienced this with both AMD and Nividia at this point, installing there propriety drivers. For now I stay away from proprietary drivers. I wish i could try Nvidia open source driver for Ubuntu to see how it does. I haven't researched it at all but would be curious to see how it does.
The first commend on this reddit post is very telling:
https://www.reddit.com/r/linux_gaming/comments/5gf0fk/amd_vs_nvidia_drivers_on_linux/
Also, i have a couple pair of blue blocking glasses that fit over my eye glasses. Pulled them out yesterday after moving my lights. If I put on a more yellowish pair verses a more orange pair, my computing experience becomes much better as well. Using the yellow verses the orange pair my eyes definitely prefer with all the ambient light.
The end solution to for me may be non proprietary drivers with low kelvin temperature ballast compatible led tubes. For instance maybe in the 3000k range.
I think the reason the led tubes work is because of the frequency (AC current) at which they operate, 42 khz. This to me has been better than DC driven leds operating in a constant current circuit which is what most monitor back lights use today if i am not mistaken. So i think, the way the software draws whats on screen, the 42 khz may match better with my personal biology than the DC driven leds which is very shocking to me.
Lastly, I found a supplier out of China that will provide me with four strips of leds in series that will work with a constant current power supply that are cri of 90 at 4000k or possibly 3000k. I may give these a try just to see how they do.