I recently bought a new ASUS TUF 24-inch 1080p 200Hz gaming monitor, and it briefly flashes black for about 0.1 seconds every few minutes before returning to normal. It happens most often when I Alt-Tab between borderless-windowed games, Discord, and my browser, although I have also noticed it while watching videos. I have already tried switching from HDMI to DisplayPort, using a different DisplayPort cable, changing refresh rates, and adjusting HDR and G-Sync settings. I never had this issue with my previous monitor, so I'm wondering whether this behavior is expected, possibly caused by graphics-driver hardware acceleration, or a reason to return the monitor.
2 Answers
This may be related to a recent NVIDIA driver problem involving hardware acceleration. Install the latest driver hotfix or update, then restart the PC and test with hardware acceleration disabled in apps such as your browser and Discord. If the issue continues after the driver update and those settings changes, testing the monitor on another computer would help determine whether the monitor itself is faulty.
A brief black flash during Alt-Tab can happen when the display mode, refresh rate, HDR, or variable-refresh setting changes. That part isn’t necessarily a sign that the monitor is defective, but repeated flashes while you’re only browsing or watching videos are less typical. It’s worth checking the graphics driver and application display settings before returning the monitor.
That makes sense for Alt-Tab, but it also happens occasionally while I’m watching YouTube, so I’ll keep troubleshooting instead of assuming it’s normal.
I found the driver hotfix and I’m going to install it first. Hopefully that takes care of the flicker.