Text looks weird on two thirds of main monitor

LikeABossNT

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Today I booted up my PC and saw that all text on 2/3 portion of my main screen looked really weird.
The text looks darker and has added pixels (pictures at the end of post).
The weirdest part is that it's only on my main monitor (I have 3 monitors) and even on that it's not on the whole monitor, but just on two thirds of it.

My main monitor is a Asus rog swift pg278q and it has been working perfectly since I bought it in 2014. My main monitor is 1440p and side monitors are 1080p. Also I'm running Windows 10.

For some reason lowering the refresh rate from 144hz to 60hz makes it seem a bit more normal and also reduces the issue to half of the screen instead of two thirds.

I haven't downloaded, installed or done anything during the night that could have caused this.

Any suggestions on a fix are welcome or is the screen broken?

Pictures (sorry about bad quality):
Left side (the normal side): http://i.imgur.com/G5yhuEK.png
middle: http://i.imgur.com/UDijWqq.png
Right side:http://i.imgur.com/chQ9KDx.png

EDIT: After looking at the pixels very closely, the extra pixels seem to be blinking between light gray and white.
At this point I'm 90% sure the monitor is broken, but I hope I'm wrong.

EDIT 2: A portion of the screen started flickering noticeably now.
Since, both of my other screens are working perfectly, I'm sure that either the cable or the monitor is the problem.
 
Solution


Sounds like the screen is dying. Is it under warranty?

LikeABossNT

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Mar 22, 2014
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Oh right, completely forgot those, sorry.
PC: https://pcpartpicker.com/user/LikeABossNT/saved/sdQhP6
Cables: DisplayPort on main monitor, HDMI on side monitors.
Driver: Downloaded today the newest driver (376.33) in an attempt to fix this, but that didn't fix the issue. Before I had a month or two old driver (can't remember the version).
 
To be honest, I'm not sure where your problem lies.

In case of GPU driver issues:
1) Download DDU
2) Restart into Safe Mode
3) Uninstall display drivers
4) Restart normally
5) Download and install newest drivers from geforce.com
6) Restart normally
7) Check for any changes in system behavior

In case your display is configured incorrectly:
1) Open cmd as Admin
2) Type in SET DEVMGR_SHOW_NONPRESENT_DEVICES=1 and press Enter
3) Close cmd
4) Open Device Manager
5) Drop down the View tab across the top
6) Select to show hidden devices
7) Find the problem monitor in the devices list
8) Uninstall it. If it asks about drivers, tell it to get rid of them too
9) Restart normally
10) Check for any changes in system behavior
 

LikeABossNT

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Thanks for the answer, but the device manager thing didn't work and I always install drivers with DDU.

Do you know if the issue is more likely caused by Windows or the monitor?
What kind of tests I should do to help solving this?
 


Have you tried taking the DP connector out of the graphics card and the screen and putting it back in?

Have you tried different cables to hook up the screen?

Have you tried Microsoft ClearType? Just open the Start Menu and type Cleartype. It should be the first result.
 

LikeABossNT

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Yes to removing and putting back the DP connector as well as ClearType.
No to different cable as this monitor only has DP connector and I'd rather not spend 35€ on a cable just for a test (I live in the middle of nowhere so don't have many options regarding tech).

Also I edited the OP with new info, so please check that out.
 


Sounds like the screen is dying. Is it under warranty?
 
Solution

LikeABossNT

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If I remember correctly it still should be (and I really hope I'm right).
Is it safe to assume it's the monitor dying and not cable, because if I send it for repair and the fault was in the cable I'll probably have to pay for wasting their time including the shipping there and back.
Or can faulty displayport cable cause partial flickering like this?
 


Do any of your other monitors have DP connectors? If so, hook the cable up to one of them and see what happens.

If the issue moves to the other monitor, the cable is bad. If the issue does not happen on your secondary monitors, your primary monitor is bad.
 

LikeABossNT

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No they don't sadly.
I'll just take a gamble and order a new cable online. Found one for 15€ and it should be here within a week so I think I can manage that.

Anyways, thank you so much for answering all my questions throughout the day.