Camera Labs

Hi guys,

I changed my wallpaper about a week ago to the one supplied with the Illuminate Window Blinds 5 theme by Code2.



The middle of the top part of the wallpaper(where it is brightest) seems to be flickering. I have never had this problem with any wallpaper before. I know that it is definitely not the wallpaper that is causing this, it was probably there all the while but it seems to have made this flickering noticeable. I tried changing the refresh rate in the ATI Catalyst drivers from 60hz to 75hz and this seems to fix to the problem.

You probably can't see it in the image but apart from the gradient extending from the top middle there are also many closely spaced diagonal lines running at a 45 degree angle downwards from the top.

I am interested in why the patterns in this wallpaper seem to make the refresh of the on screen image obvious to me because I haven't noticed them before. Also, I would like to know if a higher refresh rate puts extra load on the graphic card. Can anybody clarify this?

Thanks

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Graham
Flickr

Hello grahamnp,

I'm certainly no expert in graphics card troubleshooting, but restarting the computer always solve my problems. However I didn't think a wallpaper with a high refresh rate is out of the card's reach, I think it could be the monitor.

Keep me posted on how things turn out.

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Assistant News Photojournalist
Nikon and Canon Systems
A variety of f/2.8 lenses from 10.5 to 400mm
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Thanks for the reply fearless leader. I have found a way to fix the problem, I was just wondering if it means that the computer has to deal with a higher load due to the increased refresh rate. The flickering is no longer obvious at 75hz so I think I'll just leave it for a while and see how it goes.

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Graham
Flickr

I don't know anything about this either, but could there be an interaction with background florescent lighting, which would flicker at 60 hz?

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BrianS
D50, 70-300mm VR, 50mm f/1.8

Actually when the lights and fan are on in the room the whole room sort of flickers because the fan blades block some light as they go round. Not in this case though.

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Graham
Flickr

The higher the refresh rate the greater the load on the GPU. This will be fine for most modem GPUs.

It is also the case that LCDs have a native resolution and a refresh rate of 60Hz.

Although the native resolution is LCD size specific, refresh rates for LCDs have creep up.

So the fix for you was to increase the refresh rate. Just make sure that your monitor is designed to handle this refresh rate.

Make sure you have set your monitor to its native resolution - this may be the reason for the 45 degree diagonal lines.