hpst The big issue here as you have mentioned is that, within the next 5 years, all older W7 installs will no longer be supported (officially). Granted you could install W10 on an older PC however there is no guarantee that it will be as comfortable as W7, and Intel/AMD could drop support for legacy hardware at any point. Also, the hardware is simply going to be too slow for any realistic tasks soon.
The majority of companies have already switched to W10. Creative offices are 100% Mac-based and new CPU's only allow W10 installations - the fact is in any current working environment we are forced to use this latest tech NOW. I am still finding it hard to believe we are such a minority given the multi-millions of people in the world using the latest iPhones, Consoles, and PC's without (perceptible) issues.
I agree that I believe it is software, for me it seems largely any driver/GPU/console >2012 is a no go. I'm on an incredibly slow and noisy 2010 W7 machine that will not last forever, but after trying almost a dozen machines over the last 5 years, I can't use anything else.
My theory is that I suspect it is some sort of dithering. We have all seen the push in the last decade for sharper, brighter and more life-like screens. Dithering could be the modern equivalent to the 'Store Mode' on most TV's sold in the last decade, meant to attract attention and wow the audience - but in practical use this new technology is simply too dazzling for me.
The solution? If dithering is the cause the solution is already out there as Amulet Hotkey have tools for Windows and Mac to disable dithering for use of their PCOIP hardware. I have tried to get a copy from their UK reseller and after a month they finally replied to advise me that it is Amulet's IP and to contact them directly - which I did at the time, and haven't received any response.
Maybe if somebody buys a used AHK blade workstation they could then receive support from the company and receive the files (good luck).
It's also hard to explain this situation to your family/friends who think you're going mad. When clearly there has been an industry-wide agreement to employ these new visual effects on as many devices/on as many mediums as possible. We need an off-switch 🙂.