# Horizontal lines on my screen when I play games.



## Modinstaller (Jul 27, 2014)

Hello, I'm having horizontal lines (moving or not depending on fps) on my screen when I play games.

I just changed my gpu yesterday, I upgraded from a Radeon HD 6670 to a 7850. All good until I tried playing a few games and found out that I now had horizontal lines moving all over my screen. This happens only when I play games.

I expected screen tearing (and I additionally got some, which is not a problem) since my monitor displays 60Hz and tried V-sync (in-game option), which stopped the lines from moving all over the screen, but they're still there, static, and they flicker a bit which makes them definitely noticeable during gameplay.

It's most noticeable when I don't move and when I look at something dark. If I record my gameplay, the recording has a clean image. I tried playing Payday 2, Planetside 2 and Metro 2033, they all had this issue, the worst being Payday 2 and the least noticeable being Metro 2033. V-sync definitely made it bearable, but I'd still like them completely gone.

If that can help : it only happens when the game is being displayed. If the game's running, but is in full screen and I tab out, the effect is gone. If the game's running and is in windowed and I tab out, the effect will stay on the whole screen (and therefore on web pages, youtube videos etc...).

My monitor is rather old (10 years at least), 1280*1024, 60Hz VGA, but never gave me any problems until I changed my gpu yesterday. I'm using an adaptater and my gpu's DVI port.

What do you think could it be ? Thanks for your time


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## Panther063 (Jul 13, 2009)

I have read that a slow refresh rate can cause this issue.
Can you alter the Hertz of the display and lower it?


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## Modinstaller (Jul 27, 2014)

A slow refresh rate ? Are we talking about my monitor ? It has 60 Hz, which is pretty common, and the problem appeared when I changed my gpu. Before, it was fine, and it was still 60 Hz.

I can control the framerate in Payday 2. Changing it doesn't solve the issue, the lines stay whether it is at 30 or 135 framerate, but there are much more with 135. Activating V-sync makes the lines stop flashing all over, but they're still flickering a bit.

As for the refresh rate of my monitor, I haven't seen any option for that. Catalyst Control Center gives me an option to manually set the maximum refresh rate, but it's capped at 60 minimum and it doesn't seem to do anything if I increase it (by the way, it auto detects it at 75 Hz, even if my monitor is at 60).

It doesn't seem like I can limit the speed at which my gpu draws images, other than with V-sync and in-game framerate limiting. Which smoothes the number and flickering of horizontal lines, but doesn't entirely remove them.


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## Tyree (May 10, 2009)

Brand-Model-age of the PSU? The 7850 requires 100W more minimum that the 6670.
Brand of the 7850?
Does the problem occur if you use the 6670?
Test the 7850 in another PC.


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## Modinstaller (Jul 27, 2014)

The exact name of the gpu on the website at which I bought it is Sapphire ATI Radeon HD7850 2GB OC PCI-E Lite Refurbished. Could the OC do that ? Or is it faulty ?

My PSU is a Thermaltake TR2-380AH2NFB (380W). I can't remember when I bought it, probably 2 or 3 years ago. Would it be that I don't have quite enough power ? If so, rather than buying another, would uplugging a few drives solve the issue ?

Motherboard is a GA-78LMT-S2P and CPU AMD Phenom II x4 3.40GHz (Black Edition).

I don't have another PC here to try the 7850 on. I can say this never happened before, when I had my 6670 (and I kept it for ~4 years, I should know). Haven't tried changing gpu's back, do I need to do that ? Tedious with drivers and all 
I'll still do it if needs to be done *shrug*

Hope you can get some information from that and thanks for the help !

Edit : tried to add spec to my profile as best as I could


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## koala (Mar 27, 2005)

Your Thermaltake TR2 380W is possibly too weak for your HD7850 card. It only has a single 30A +12V rail, which is around the minimum required for older or low-end PCIE cards. Ideally, you should be using at least a 550W PSU with 40A/+12V. Your new card draws more power than the old one, and your PSU might be starting to show its age after 3 years.

A 10 year old low resolution monitor is going to have a high response time (over 16ms), which can lead to the kind of screen tearing you describe, where the monitor can't keep up with the action on the screen. As you've found, VSync can help reduce the problem, but if the monitor can't keep up then there's going to be horizontal tearing lines.

Test with the old card in your computer (if you reinstall the graphics driver, leave out the Catalyst part and just install the driver), and try a more modern LCD monitor with your new card. If you don't have access to parts, your local PC repair shop will be able to test for you.


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## Tyree (May 10, 2009)

Disconnecting other hardware will not help. The GPU is the primary consumer of power.
As noted, your PSU is lower quality and considerably underpowered for a 7850.
You need to be at 550W with a good quality PSU. 
SeaSonic-XFX-Antec HCG are top quality.


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## Modinstaller (Jul 27, 2014)

I've just tested my display on an LG TV screen (LG42LF2510). I tried running Payday 2 and Planetside 2, 2 games which had huge obvious horizontal lines when playing and with the TV screen they didn't have any.

I reckon the source of the problem is not my PSU. My monitor then ? I'd test with a more powerful PSU but I can't get one.

Thanks all for you help !

Edit : if I haven't been clear enough, there's a clear distinction between what I call screen tearing and horizontal lines. The horizontal lines are bright lines moving or staying imprinted on my screen when I play games. For me, screen tearing is another thing, it's the usual definition : it's just having an image displayed while another one is still being drawn, causing a horizontal tear on the screen that gets most noticeable while moving. I don't have problems with screen tearing.


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## Tyree (May 10, 2009)

Try your monitor on another PC.
Your PSU is underpowered and lower quality so replacing it with a good quality unit with sufficient power would help insure against damage and be a win/win deal.



Tyree said:


> Brand of the 7850?
> Does the problem occur if you use the 6670?


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