KM Are there any known eye strain problems with AMD Ryzen "G" CPUs

I haven't tested that and I don't know of any other empirical tests unfortunately.

I wonder if the integrated GPU could be turned off in case of eye strain and be replaced with a known-safe separate graphics card as last resort. Or is this a case where the separate graphics cards video output always runs through the CPU, potentially inheriting bad output from the CPU?

It generally is possible to disable the integrated GPU on most desktop motherboards. As an aside the practice of dedicated GPUs being run through the integrated connection is usually just a feature on laptops and requires a specific system design to implement.

      JTL As an aside the practice of dedicated GPUs being run through the integrated connection is usually just a feature on laptops and requires a specific system design to implement.

      Not True, I've been doing this on desktops for years.

      • JTL replied to this.

          Seagull I'm talking about the builtin behavior of the design of desktop versus laptop motherboards. (e.g NVIDIA Optimus)

            a month later

            I bought an AMD Ryzen 5600G APU. The "G" means the CPU has a graphics chip integrated (similar to the usable PlayStation 4 Slim AMD chip, which was one reason I even considered buying this). I have been using it for 2 weeks now on Linux Debian Xfce with specific settings. Looks promising, but I must test it for a few more weeks to be sure. There was small initial eye strain. If there is eye strain left right now after 2 weeks, it is not debilitating. I will continue to use this PC as a daily driver and am ready to push through any (small) eye strain. I did previously push trough the small Nvidia GT 710 (1st gen) Linux eye strain, which took some months but then it kinda went away. I believe this is somehow an eye muscle issue, so being exposed to small eye strain (of the type where it hurts one eye immediately, while not being too strong) seems to have a muscle training effect, perhaps similar to eye patching which some users claim has helped them in the long term. However, there may be video driver settings that are a no-go as with the previous Nvidia card. "TearFree" seems to be one of them. Again, need more testing. However, I wanted to drop this information because it may be worth a try for people who desperately need a recent CPU/GPU. I'm not interested in Windows anymore, so I won't be testing Windows for now. The amdgpu driver was not active by default. It required some setup, like adding non-free and non-free-firmware apt repos. IIRC there was steady eye strain (left eye, as usual when the eye strain is only pixel-related) until the driver was set up properly. As I have pushed through Nvidia Linux eye strain for over a year, I cannot say if I'm already trained in this regard. I still have the same issues with flickering lights as before. So if the training did anything, it just helped with (small) pixel eye strain but not with the debilitating issues of PWM, flickering LEDs/headlights/monitors etc.

            There's a lot of AMD driver updates coming through including some colour management support. I'm looking forward to seeing how it looks on my steam deck when they release that big OS update (newer drivers) and it will also have firmware updates as well so a lot will change.

            In its current state, it is useable if I need to. Except I don't want to. 🙂 I like my Win10 setup on the other machine, feels easier to work with, including the interface.

            So yeah I will be updating to see how it is.

            Lots of AMD driver stuff to read here, you can try the DDX one if you are using x.org: https://wiki.archlinux.org/title/AMDGPU

            21 days later

            A small update on my Ryzen APU adventure: it's great on desktops that don't use compositing nor 3D GPU acceleration, but if something uses the GPU directly it's hit or miss. For example, Debian 12 Bookworm is great on Xfce with Xfce's compositing disabled. Firefox is usable, as are other desktop applications that don't use the GPU. But Fedora 38, which uses Gnome and Wayland as a 3D accelerated desktop, that's severe eye strain.
            So, at least this Ryzen APU model, 5600G, if not the whole generation, is not bad per se. It's a matter of finding correct settings and usable applications. And I found the TearFree option is not causing eye strain. It's actually a good replacement for a compositor.

            You could try using an alternate compositor, like compiz. That one is years old.

            • JTL replied to this.

              Sunspark See also picom.

              Of note there are several configuration options that directly impact rendering. So potentially worth a try.

                2 months later
                8 months later

                moonpie In the meantime I got a laptop with Intel HD Graphics 520, which to my surprise with the same Debian 12 setup does not cause the pixel eye strain I have with some apps (VS Code etc.) on the AMD machine.

                  6 days later

                  Hi guys did you experienced pain on temples, a sort of pressure. I tested 2 builds and in last 2 days I developed this side effect.
                  One build 2070s, another build 2060, win 23h2, hdmi cable, on monitor Hp x27i. and color control app to diaable dithering.
                  Do you think that an AMD solution is better?

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