Strange diagonal screen tearings

I'm investigating weird screen tearing artefacts I'm getting on my notebook and I need your help with testing to see what other systems may be affected.

Test is quick and easy, just visit few webpages and post here if you see anything unusual or even if it worked ok on your notebook (both success and failure info is valuable, I'm trying to narrow down when it can happen).

Please use Chrome and set it to run on Nvidia GPU (in Nvidia Control Panel set preferred GPU for Chrome to Nvidia).

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Test 1:

Visit this YouTube video in a separate tab, watch for few seconds, reload few times (epilepsy warning: don't watch it if you have troubles with flashing lights):



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Test 2:

Visit this WebGL demo, maximize browser window, move mouse left-right a bit:

http://threejs.org/examples/webgl_particles_shapes.html

Edit: this page doesn't exist anymore, use this one instead for quick test (move mouse up-down):

http://threejs.org/examples/webgl_materials_cars.html

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Let me know your notebook model, GPU (if it uses Optimus) and your OS. Please mention if you have something special, like SLI, or display refresh rate other than 60Hz.

For comparison, here is what I get (photos, as these tearings don't show in screenshots):




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What do I already know: I managed to establish those problems can happen also on other notebooks. So it's not just broken hardware on my notebook, or some design / manufacturing flaw of just one notebook model.

It may be for example software problem in GPU drivers or Windows 8 compositor or maybe some Optimus design trouble or some Nvidia or Intel GPU hardware issue.

These tearings show up just when running DirectX content in windowed mode on Nvidia GPU. They don't show up in fullscreen mode or when running on Intel GPU or when running OpenGL content.

These tearing problems happen also elsewhere, e.g. in games or other browsers like Firefox and Opera (Internet Explorer doesn't seem to be affected). So this is not just Chrome issue, it's just the easiest way how to replicate tearings.

So far problems were reproduced on:

MSI GS43VR with GTX 1060 (Optimus)
MSI GS63VR with GTX 1060 (Optimus)
MSI GS60 with GTX 970M 3 GB and 1080p screen (60Hz, Optimus, Windows 8.1)
MSI GS60 with GTX 870M 3 GB and 1080p screen (60Hz, Optimus, Windows 8.1)
MSI GS60 with GTX 970M 6 GB (Optimus)
MSI GE62 with GTX 970M (Optimus)
MSI GE62 with GTX 960M (Optimus)
MSI GE72 with GTX 970M (Optimus)
MSI GP72 with GTX 960M (Optimus)

Clevo P651SG with GTX 980M 4 GB and 4K screen (60Hz, Optimus, Windows 8.1)
Clevo P650SE with GTX 970M 3 GB and 1080p screen (60Hz, Optimus, Windows 8.1)
Clevo P650SA with GTX 965M 2 GB and 1080p screen (60Hz, Optimus, Windows 8.1)
Clevo N150RD with GTX 960M (Optimus, Windows 10)
Clevo P170SM-A with GTX 980M (Optimus)
Metabox (Clevo) with GTX 970M (Optimus turned on in BIOS)
ADK HW 8600 (Clevo) wih GTX 870M (Optimus, Windows 7 Aero / Windows 10)
Schenker F526 (Clevo N550RC) with Geforce GTX 950M 2GB (Optimus)


Lenovo Y50-70 with GTX 860M (Optimus, Windows 8.1)
Lenovo IdeaPad Y700 with GTX 960M 4 GB (Optimus)

Alienware 15 with GTX 965M (Optimus)
Alienware 15 R2 with GTX 980M (Optimus, Windows 10)
Alienware 17 R3 with GTX 980M and UHD screen (Optimus, Windows 10)

Dell XPS 15 with GTX 750M (Optimus, Windows 10)
Dell XPS 15 9550 with GTX 960M (Optimus, Windows 10)
Dell Inspiron 7559 with GTX 960M (Optimus, Windows 10)
Dell Inspiron 15 with GTX 960M 4GB and 4K screen (Optimus, Windows 10)
Dell Precision 5510 with Quadro M1000M

Asus UX501VW with GTX 960M (Optimus, Windows 10)
Asus GL752 with GTX 960M (Optimus)
Asus GL552VW with GTX 960M 2GB (Optimus, Windows 10)
Asus N752VX with GTX 950M (Optimus)
Asus GL502VT with GTX 970M 3GB (Optimus)

Acer Predator 17 with GTX 970M 3GB (Optimus)
Acer Predator 17 with GTX 980M 4GB (Optimus)

HP Envy with GTX 650M 2GB (Optimus, Windows 10)
HP Omen 15 with GTX 860M 2GB (Optimus)
HP Omen 15 2016 with GTX 965M (Optimus)

Gigabyte P27G with GTX 860M (Optimus)

Problems didn't show on:

Razer Blade 2014 with GTX 870M, 1600x900 and 3200x1800 (60 Hz, Optimus, Windows 8.1)
MSI GS60 with GTX 970M and 4K screen (48Hz, Optimus, Windows 8.1)
Thinkpad W520 with Quadro 2000M and 1080p screen (60Hz, no Optimus, Windows 7)
Thinkpad T500 with Radeon 3650M and 1050p screen (60Hz, Windows 7)
desktop PC with Quadro 600
notebook with GTX 980 and G-Sync (no Optimus)
Metabox (Clevo) with GTX 970M (Optimus turned off in BIOS)

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Apologies if you have already seen similar post. I tried to ask also elsewhere but so far only very few people responded (thanks Cakefish and SeagateBoy ).

The more data we get the better. It's very annoying problem, though you may not run into it if you just use your notebook in a typical way (games in fullscreen, browsers running on Intel GPU by default).

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See also this Nvidia GeForce forum post:

https://forums.geforce.com/default/...irectx-windowed-mode-on-gtx-970m-amp-gtx-870m

And another, newer post with many more people having the same issue:

https://forums.geforce.com/default/...sues-on-gtx-860m-870m-960m-965m-970m-980m-/1/

 

For that seizure inducing YouTube clip, I got some tearing at first then nothing. If I go full screen, no tearing at all.

For that threejs one, tearing if in a window, but no tearing at full screen (F11).

GTX 970m 3GB from Clevo P650SE

 

@ HTWingNut Thanks, this is helpful. I updated the post with your info.

Yup, since I started to observe those tearings I noticed they are less likely to show up at full screen, even if it's just borderless windowed fullscreen (Chrome can't do true fullscreen). Though they did show up even there if I tried hard enough (reload + resize).

On the other hand, tearings are more likely to show when you resize window, e.g. when opening and closing developer tools console (F12).

 

Added two more notebooks where those tearings were confirmed:

Clevo P650SA with GTX 965m 2 GB and 1080p screen (60Hz, Optimus, Windows 8.1)
Lenovo Y50-70 with GTX 860M (Optimus, Windows 8.1)

 

Had no problems on my Blade (2014)

Using latest drivers from both Intel and nVidia.

 

@hfm Thanks. Just to make sure: it was with Windows 8.1, your iGPU is Intel HD4600, your screen is 3200 x 1800 at 60 Hz, you set Chrome to use Nvidia GPU and reloaded those pages few times?

I noticed these artefacts seem to be harder to observe with high-DPI screens (though @Cakefish did manage to see them on his 4K screen with GTX 980M).

My working theory so far is that artefacts are more likely to be visible when GPU can update screen much faster than its natural refresh rate (e.g. 100-200 fps on 60 Hz screen). This is harder to get with 3K/4K screens than with 1080p screens.

The easiest way how to induce them is to resize window (e.g. in Chrome press F12 to toggle developer console, or press F11 to alternate between windowed fullscreen and window mode).

 

I was using 1600x900 but everything else is correct.

 

Thanks, updated the post with your data.

Seems these artefacts can come and go depending on small timing variations. Maybe running non-native resolution makes it less likely to desynchronize.

I tried non-native resolutions on my 1080p screen:

- 1600x900 and 1280x720 were tearing
- 1024x768 wasn't tearing

 

Tried again at 3200x1800, also setting chrome to both the integrated and 870M in the control panel (did this for both resolutions). Didn't see any tearing in all 4 of those scenarios. (also restarted chrome after each one to make sure the binding to the specific GPU was in effect.)

 

Thanks. Just to be sure - you were running Chrome in desktop mode (default), not Windows 8 mode (where those tearings don't appear)?

Another possibility: this is a hardware related issue where MSI / Clevo / Lenovo cheaped out on some components, while Razer used something higher quality.

 

I am always in desktop mode

Try forcing vsync in the nvidia control panel with chrome. I didn't have to do this, but maybe it'll work.

For the record I have chrome using the iGPU at all times by default. But maybe that'll help you if you're forcing the nvidia GPU for chrome.

 

I tried forcing v-sync in Nvidia Control Panel but unfortunately it has no effect on this type of artefacts.

V-sync on/off influences just the usual horizontal tearing artefacts, those weird diagonal ones are independent of v-sync settings (both in games / application or in Nvidia Control Panel).

There are workarounds for Chrome running on Nvidia GPU (I work with WebGL so iGPU is just too slow):

- artefacts don't appear when running with OpenGL rendering backend (command line switch "--use-gl=desktop")
- or when running in Windows 8 mode (though this one is just fullscreen and noticeably slower than desktop mode).

But I still want to figure out what's the root cause and get it fixed by whoever is responsible (Microsoft, Nvidia, Intel, notebook manufacturers).

 

Update after 1 year: still unresolved.

Many more people on different notebooks and with different Nvidia GPUs observed this issue by now, see this big thread at Nvidia forum:

https://forums.geforce.com/default/...sues-on-gtx-860m-870m-960m-965m-970m-980m-/1/