I'm having a strange display problem with a new Windows 11 PC. The system has an Intel Core i9-14900KF, an Asus Z790 motherboard, 32GB of DDR5-6000 memory, and an RTX 5080. I use two monitors: an Acer S271HL and an AOpen 27HC5R. Both are connected through HDMI-to-DisplayPort cables or adapters.
The monitors flicker only while browsing certain sites, including Kick, Peacock, and an ICD-10 website. It can start after clicking around or leaving a page open for a while. Games work normally, and the issue has occurred in Edge, Chrome, and Firefox. I've tried enabling and disabling hardware acceleration, swapping cables, using different connection types, testing one monitor at a time, updating drivers, updating the BIOS, and reinstalling Windows.
The problem first happened with another PC using an RTX 5070 Ti. That system and graphics card were returned, but the replacement PC with an RTX 5080 has the same behavior. The graphics card and cables were also tested or replaced through the manufacturer's support process.
My husband tested both graphics cards in his computer with his setup, and the websites worked normally. Could the RTX 50-series cards be interacting badly with these older monitors, the HDMI-to-DisplayPort connections, or a Windows browser display feature? What else should I test before returning another PC?
3 Answers
Before buying or returning another computer, isolate the displays themselves. Connect one monitor directly to the 5080, set it to its native resolution at 60 Hz, and use it for the affected sites. Then repeat with the other monitor. Avoid HDMI-to-DP adapters during the test if at all possible.
If the flicker remains with either monitor but disappears when the 4070 Ti Super is installed, it may be a compatibility bug involving the RTX 50-series driver and the monitors’ timing or signal format. If it only happens when both monitors are connected, mismatched refresh rates or multi-monitor compositing may be the trigger.
The fact that the issue follows the combination of your monitors and the newer graphics cards suggests a display-signal or driver feature problem more than a defective PC. HDMI-to-DisplayPort cables are especially worth investigating, since many are directional or rely on active conversion. Try direct DisplayPort-to-DisplayPort or HDMI-to-HDMI connections with known-good, properly rated cables if the monitors support them.
Also test with both monitors forced to 60 Hz, disable HDR, adaptive sync or variable refresh rate, and temporarily turn off Windows hardware-accelerated GPU scheduling. In the NVIDIA control panel, try setting a fixed refresh rate and disabling G-SYNC for those displays. If possible, test the RTX 5080 with a newer monitor or television using a direct connection; that would help confirm whether the older monitors or adapters are involved.
This sounds like a browser GPU-rendering issue rather than a gaming load issue. Websites can use video playback, animated content, overlays, and hardware-accelerated compositing that games do not trigger in the same way. Check whether the flicker disappears in a private window with extensions disabled, and try disabling graphics acceleration in the browser again after restarting it completely.
You can also test a clean NVIDIA driver installation, or try one earlier stable driver version instead of the newest release. If the problem only occurs with the 50-series cards and disappears with the 4070 Ti Super, record a short video and provide the exact monitor models, connection type, refresh rates, browser versions, and driver versions to the graphics-card manufacturer.
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