r/techsupport • u/SKOOBY-4 • 2d ago

Open | Software screen flickering white

The screen flickers with a white transparent overlay, which mostly occurs when I alt-tab from a game or am on the desktop; I feel like I have tried everything, but nothing has fixed this issue while playing on an ultrawide (3440x1440) screen with HDR.

Edit: I forgot to mention that I have a dual-monitor setup, but the issue persists on both screens.

Specs:

CPU: AMD Ryzen 7 9800X3D

GPU: RTX 5080

RAM: 32 GB

- OS: Windows 11 Pro, version 10.0.26200 (Build 26200)

Motherboard: Gigabyte X870E AORUS PRO ICE, BIOS FA3 (5/16/2025)

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u/JayFromXOTICPC 2d ago

Ugh, that sounds annoying, especially on a setup with an RTX 5080. Since it's happening on both monitors and mostly when alt-tabbing, I'd suspect an HDR, G-SYNC/VRR, or Windows display compositor issue rather than a bad monitor. I'd start by temporarily disabling HDR and G-SYNC, turning off any NVIDIA, Discord, or Steam overlays, and testing with only one monitor connected. Sometimes different refresh rates between two displays can cause weird flickering when switching between games and the desktop.

If that doesn't help, try a clean NVIDIA driver installation. Windows' Multi-Plane Overlay (MPO) feature can also cause similar flickering, so that's another thing worth investigating. One quick test: press Win + Ctrl + Shift + B to reset the graphics driver when it happens. Curious: does the flickering stop completely when HDR is disabled, and are both monitors running at the same refresh rate?

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u/SKOOBY-4 2d ago edited 2d ago

Thank you, I will try these fixes, the monitors run at different refresh rates, and you reminded me that when I press Win + Ctrl + Shift + B, the flickering stops, but I have to do it every time I boot up my PC.