Weird Flickering Problem on 2nd display

[CriscoCube]

Its a brand new build, all components are brand new.
Video card is the evga 580 gtx
two identical 24" displays

the 2nd "non primary" display is constantly flickering, and there is sometimes a bit of horizontal noise going on, its super annoying.

i tried switching ports on the card, and no matter what, it is always the display that is the secondary, so its not the monitor (plus i tried plugging it into another computer) but there are no problems whatsoever using only 1 display, using either port on the video card.

all ports on computer and displays are dvi


i have no idea on this one, i've checked all my drivers and updated them all and nothing has changed =\

 

[CriscoCube]

Let me amend that, regardless of what display is the primary display, its still the same display that has the flickering problem. Ive tried it has secondary display, and primary display, in both the first and the second dvi port, and it still has this flickering problem.
However, when plugged into my other computer, it has no such problem, nor does the 2nd monitor that is the exact same model have this problem regardless if it is primary, secondary, or whatnot.

....?


Edit: I used a 3rd monitor in place of the flickering one with the exact same settings, and it does not have the problem in any mode (its an old crappy 15" that uses vga and a hdmia converter)

It almost seems like the flickering monitor is going out but somehow dosnt have problems with the other computer....

Thanks!

 

[CriscoCube]

nothing?

 

[The Halo Don]

It could be the card, just in case, try removing the current drivers and install a previous update, and just wait for a later one to come, if this does not resolve it, RMA would be the best thing to do. Cards do sometimes come faulty.

 

[CriscoCube]

So, I just got a brand new 580GTX from newegg via rma... same problem, the entire time i was waiting for it, i was using an older 8800 ultra from evga (nvidia again) with 0 problems of the flickering crap....... wtf?

i've tried the newest drivers, and older drivers, and like i mentioned before, switching the cables, the ports, and which monitor is set to "main" with no luck... the ffffff?

 

[bystander]

Woups, didn't read your last post.

Try loading GPU-Z or MSI Afterburner and check to see what the memory clock is for your card(s).

 

[CriscoCube]

Woups, didn't read your last post.

Try loading GPU-Z or MSI Afterburner and check to see what the memory clock is for your card(s).

Ok I can do that... what the heck would that have to do w/ this problem though...? they are not oc'ed.

 

[CriscoCube]

memory clock is 1002Mhz

 

[bystander]

What does the memory show when you enter a 3D game? The reason I ask, is that a lot if not most of the memory numbers Nvidia shows, is the base memory clock x4 and if that is the case, this is the problem. When using 2 monitors, your memory clock needs to be much higher, near the 3D clocks, or one of your monitors will flicker. But if that is the 3D clocks, then it's ok.

 

[CriscoCube]

Using GPU-Z, i see no "3d" clock unless u mean the GPU core clock. The memory clock speed does not change in or out of games,

the core clock out of games is 50.6 mhz and in games in games jumps up to 772, the memory clock out of game drops down to 67mhz, and goes up to around the same as the gpu clock when i go into a game, though it tends to peak a bit higher (the max on the memory is 1002 where the max on the core clock is 772)

 

[CriscoCube]

now that i have been out of game for a while, the core clock idle is higher than the memory clock idle by about 3x, in case that matters (405 vs 162)


also... the flickering happens in or out of games, but not in bios....

 

[bystander]

Using GPU-Z, i see no "3d" clock unless u mean the GPU core clock. The memory clock speed does not change in or out of games,

the core clock out of games is 50.6 mhz and in games in games jumps up to 772, the memory clock out of game drops down to 67mhz, and goes up to around the same as the gpu clock when i go into a game, though it tends to peak a bit higher (the max on the memory is 1002 where the max on the core clock is 772)

I'm confused, the first sentence you tell me that the memory clock never changes which should be the case, but the 2nd sentence you said it drops down to 67 mhz which definitely cause flickering with 2 monitors hooked up. Which is it?

The 3d clocks, are the clocks that a game uses while it's active. This requires you to read the history log of the clocks, as when you look at it, they drop down to your desktop clocks/idle/2d.

 

[CriscoCube]

I have never used gpu-z before, and clicked the box that displays the gpu memory clock and had it set on max instead of current.

Right now, on idle, the memory clock is 162, but when i go into starcraft 2, it goes up to 1002. If this is related to the flickering (which is happening right now) how would that be fixed... this is the 2nd 580 with the same problem

 

[bystander]

I have never used gpu-z before, and clicked the box that displays the gpu memory clock and had it set on max instead of current.

Right now, on idle, the memory clock is 162, but when i go into starcraft 2, it goes up to 1002. If this is related to the flickering (which is happening right now) how would that be fixed... this is the 2nd 580 with the same problem

Yes, this may very well be what's causing the flickering. When running 2 monitors, the memory cannot go into such low clock speeds, or the monitor flickers. I'd suggest uninstalling your drivers and doing a clean sweep of all Nvidia and ATI/AMD drivers then reinstall.

Make sure the drivers you do install, come directly from Nvidia at Nvidia.com.

 

[CriscoCube]

Alrighty ByStander, my memory clock idle is now 67.5 MHz and the core clock is 50.6 MHz, with no flickering problem... lol? So its lower than it was before, and the problem is gone.

I did what you suggested, doing a clean install of the drivers, I uninstalled all the drivers in device manager, restarted the comp, then used the drivers i downloaded off the nvidia website and did a custom clean install. The weird thing is, I already did this once, but with the drivers that EVGA gave me on a disc with the card.

The drivers thing seemed to work great, which is pretty weird that it was always the same display that would have the problem... despite having 2 identical monitors. The speed of the memory is also running SLOWER than before, so I'm not sure how that works into this, as you were saying that it should be running higher?

Oh well, computers are forever a pain sometimes... thanks!

 

[bystander]

Well, I'll keep that in mind next time, but it's great it's working

Edit: I just realized something that may account for it working with low clocks. Do you have your monitors plugged into separate cards?

 

[CriscoCube]

No, they are both plugged into the same card... maybe the 580 has a different architecture or something, like multiple memory controllers? idk lol, i know it was designed to do the 3d vision with like 3 monitors, so maybe it would...

 

[CriscoCube]

Best answer selected by CriscoCube.

 

[bystander]

No, they are both plugged into the same card... maybe the 580 has a different architecture or something, like multiple memory controllers? idk lol, i know it was designed to do the 3d vision with like 3 monitors, so maybe it would...

Yah, it's obviously a different architecture thing. I was thinking in terms of AMD cards. It's good to know, however.