Black screen mid race
- Thread starter mteam
- Start date
His problem is caused by a second PC being connected to the hdmi input of the monitor.
It's not the GPU of his first PC "going black" but the monitor due to another PC being connected.
Completely different situation to yours.
But I know this flickering from 4k@60fps connections. Better cable and/or shorter cable or an expensive signal booster is the only solution I know of, sadly.
DP 1.2 isn't great either.. it's from 2009 and DP 1.3 is already 50% faster than 1.2. (wikipedia)
DP 1.3 is listed (wikipedia) with a maximum of 5120x2880 @ 60 fps with the standard 8 bit (do you have 10 bit hdr activated or something?).
Take 50% of this 1.3 maximum and you're definitely below 4k @ 60! To be accurate:
5120x2880 = 16:9 and 14'745'600 pixels
50% -> 7'372'800 pixels -> 16:9 -> maximum of 3620x2036.
I guess you're running 3840x2160? Or are you running 19:10 with 4096x2160?
In any case, you're basically beyond the limit of DP 1.2 and should check if your Monitor and GPU could also use DP 1.3 or even DP 1.4 and then invest into a good cable.
According to the nvidia geforce website the 10xx series standards are 3x DP 1.4. So I'd say get a DP 1.4 cable and your problems should go away
His problem is caused by a second PC being connected to the hdmi input of the monitor.
It's not the GPU of his first PC "going black" but the monitor due to another PC being connected.
Completely different situation to yours.
But I know this flickering from 4k@60fps connections. Better cable and/or shorter cable or an expensive signal booster is the only solution I know of, sadly.
DP 1.2 isn't great either.. it's from 2009 and DP 1.3 is already 50% faster than 1.2. (wikipedia)
DP 1.3 is listed (wikipedia) with a maximum of 5120x2880 @ 60 fps with the standard 8 bit (do you have 10 bit hdr activated or something?).
Take 50% of this 1.3 maximum and you're definitely below 4k @ 60! To be accurate:
5120x2880 = 16:9 and 14'745'600 pixels
50% -> 7'372'800 pixels -> 16:9 -> maximum of 3620x2036.
I guess you're running 3840x2160? Or are you running 19:10 with 4096x2160?
In any case, you're basically beyond the limit of DP 1.2 and should check if your Monitor and GPU could also use DP 1.3 or even DP 1.4 and then invest into a good cable.
According to the nvidia geforce website the 10xx series standards are 3x DP 1.4. So I'd say get a DP 1.4 cable and your problems should go away
Thanks Ramsus! Sorry, didn't mean to hijack OP's post.
I couldn't find any documentation that my monitor supports 1.4, but I know it supports 1.2 for sure. Haven't had any issue running it at 3840x2160 until about a week ago. Ran stress tests (FurMark Benchmark and Stress at 2160) on my GPU, played other games at 4K Ultra, etc. None of them gave me any issues except for AC. No update to CM or Custom Shaders - everything was the same. The issue began as black screen from time to time, and then turned into constant flickering at 4K. I'm hoping it's just a poor cable. I'll try the new one out tonight! I just wanted to keep my post up just in case anyone in the future stumbles across it with a similar issue.
Used brand new, certified cable (1m in length) and still had the same issue.
The strangest thing is that I recorded the footage on screen to see if the issue appears on playback (to isolate a possible monitor issue) and the problem occurs 'live' when I rewatched it. It's so bizarre. Playing a recording of my AC game triggers the problem on my screen again, but it doesn't happen when I play 4K footage or when I play other 4K games. This is so strange
The screen just goes black and the only thing I can do is reboot to fix it. Maybe something weird with Nvidia's drivers? Surely others would have complained if it were so.
EDIT: Looks like I'm not the only one with this issue. Checked out Nvidia's forums and found many with the same concern. The odd thing is that this was never an issue for me in the past. Wondering if an Nvidia driver or Windows update caused it
The strangest thing is that I recorded the footage on screen to see if the issue appears on playback (to isolate a possible monitor issue) and the problem occurs 'live' when I rewatched it. It's so bizarre. Playing a recording of my AC game triggers the problem on my screen again, but it doesn't happen when I play 4K footage or when I play other 4K games. This is so strange
The screen just goes black and the only thing I can do is reboot to fix it. Maybe something weird with Nvidia's drivers? Surely others would have complained if it were so.
EDIT: Looks like I'm not the only one with this issue. Checked out Nvidia's forums and found many with the same concern. The odd thing is that this was never an issue for me in the past. Wondering if an Nvidia driver or Windows update caused it
Last edited:
Very strange indeed...
So was it a 1m dp 1.2 cable or dp 1.3 or 1.4?
Not sure what you mean with "certified".
That it doesn't happen in other games is strange though. What other games are these? Do they have a higher gpu load or a lot lower gpu load?
Depending on power state and Temperatur, unstable digital connections like hdmi and dp can break down.
Although I have to say this doesn't sound like a cable problem anymore but instead a problem with assetto corsa.
But if it is assetto corsa, I sadly don't have a clue anymore
So was it a 1m dp 1.2 cable or dp 1.3 or 1.4?
Not sure what you mean with "certified".
That it doesn't happen in other games is strange though. What other games are these? Do they have a higher gpu load or a lot lower gpu load?
Depending on power state and Temperatur, unstable digital connections like hdmi and dp can break down.
Although I have to say this doesn't sound like a cable problem anymore but instead a problem with assetto corsa.
But if it is assetto corsa, I sadly don't have a clue anymore
Very strange indeed...
So was it a 1m dp 1.2 cable or dp 1.3 or 1.4?
Not sure what you mean with "certified".
That it doesn't happen in other games is strange though. What other games are these? Do they have a higher gpu load or a lot lower gpu load?
Depending on power state and Temperatur, unstable digital connections like hdmi and dp can break down.
Although I have to say this doesn't sound like a cable problem anymore but instead a problem with assetto corsa.
But if it is assetto corsa, I sadly don't have a clue anymore
The cable was a VESA certified DP 1.2
Other games I’ve tried is ACC on max settings, The Witcher 3 on max (even set it beyond 4K using dynamic super resolution) and SWBF2. None of them have this issue. If the problem is truly with AC, then I don’t see why playing a video screen capture of the incident would cause the issue. Just loading up the video of it and playing it via VLC triggers it - super strange. Two factors that I have isolated are;
1. Something is being done when AC is being played that messes things up that doesn’t occur in my other games.
2.Playing in full screen causes the issue. I rewatched the recording in VLC player in a smaller window and the problem didn’t happen. Went into full screen and the issue immediately occurred. I will try to set Nvidia shadow play at a lower res than the native resolution and see if a screen cap still causes it. Right now it records in native res (in AC’s case, 2160p.) I’ll set it to record at 1080p or something and check again.
If the 1080p recording doesn’t cause the issue, and if 4K windowed doesn’t cause it, then 4K @ full screen is a trigger - but what AC is causing my drivers to do that other games don’t, I have no clue.
Kek700
Premium
AC is very much a one core game, DP 1.2 seems very wrong for 4K, it just would not work for me, even with my 3440 x 1440p 120 hz monitor.
You could be tipping the system over the top with all of that, read your comments obviously.
Anything that does that, the first problem is always what you see, ie monitor,
Are you sure you are not recording AC somehow unknown to you in the background.
From steam maybe?
You could be tipping the system over the top with all of that, read your comments obviously.
Anything that does that, the first problem is always what you see, ie monitor,
Are you sure you are not recording AC somehow unknown to you in the background.
From steam maybe?
It's difficult to sound "nice and friendly" while trying to be technically short and on point so don't get my tone wrong
Only things that can cause a variety:
- Temperature
- power states
- too high GPU load
Temperature and GPU load are not the issue since ACC and Witcher run well.
I could imagine that your GPU doesn't hit the normal gaming clocks and then becomes somehow unstable.
It's unlikely and shouldn't happen with 1080ti, 4k and AC but I had this with Automobilista where my GPU would run only at 900 mhz instead of 2000 (GTX 1070). Stuttering, gsync flickering etc!
Forced the GPU into 3D mode by setting the power management to "prefer maximum performance" in the nvidia control panel and everything was fine again.
Are you sure the monitor actually went black and it wasn't just the video showing the black screens from the video?
Do you see the black screens in the video when playing in a smaller window and are they at the same points in the video when you play it in fullscreen?
Which is part of the reason why you can't find any 3440x1440 144Hz gsync monitors.
120 Hz seem to run fine most of the time but the gsync module in the monitors is only DP 1.2.
The new Gsync 2 module is DP 1.4 but is expensive and needs active cooling in the monitor. There are some new monitors but they are laughingly expensive....
A good example for this problem is the new LG 34GK950 F and G.
The F (freesync) has the new Freesync standard and runs 10 bit HDR + 144 Hz and also has a calibrated RGB mode for normal colours.
The g-sync model of it only runs 120 Hz, has no RGB mode and therefore is the clear loser in comparison. But still costs more, lol!
- Shadowplay
- everything else form the geforce experience menus
- Steam overlay
- MSI Afterburner/Riva Tuner overlay
- GPU stats or something
- anything else you have.. Twitch overlay maybe or something?
And if that doesn't help, buy a DP 1.4 cable. No need to buy an expensive one, it has 4x the speed of the DP 1.2 cables or something like that so if it's DP 1.4, it's good enough!
You can certificate DP 1.2 all you want, it's physically not built to have enough bandwidth for 4k@60
Dynamic Super Resolution only puts stress on your GPU but not on the cable. The GPU still only outputs 4k, no matter what it renders internally
This however is really strange... Normally an unstable connection is unstable no matter what you run.
Only things that can cause a variety:
- Temperature
- power states
- too high GPU load
Temperature and GPU load are not the issue since ACC and Witcher run well.
I could imagine that your GPU doesn't hit the normal gaming clocks and then becomes somehow unstable.
It's unlikely and shouldn't happen with 1080ti, 4k and AC but I had this with Automobilista where my GPU would run only at 900 mhz instead of 2000 (GTX 1070). Stuttering, gsync flickering etc!
Forced the GPU into 3D mode by setting the power management to "prefer maximum performance" in the nvidia control panel and everything was fine again.
Sounds like I'm kidding but:
Are you sure the monitor actually went black and it wasn't just the video showing the black screens from the video?
Do you see the black screens in the video when playing in a smaller window and are they at the same points in the video when you play it in fullscreen?
I calculated that before I bought mine and the specification limit is at about 103 Hz.
Which is part of the reason why you can't find any 3440x1440 144Hz gsync monitors.
120 Hz seem to run fine most of the time but the gsync module in the monitors is only DP 1.2.
The new Gsync 2 module is DP 1.4 but is expensive and needs active cooling in the monitor. There are some new monitors but they are laughingly expensive....
A good example for this problem is the new LG 34GK950 F and G.
The F (freesync) has the new Freesync standard and runs 10 bit HDR + 144 Hz and also has a calibrated RGB mode for normal colours.
The g-sync model of it only runs 120 Hz, has no RGB mode and therefore is the clear loser in comparison. But still costs more, lol!
I would disable shadow play and anything else that has some overlay active.
- Shadowplay
- everything else form the geforce experience menus
- Steam overlay
- MSI Afterburner/Riva Tuner overlay
- GPU stats or something
- anything else you have.. Twitch overlay maybe or something?
And if that doesn't help, buy a DP 1.4 cable. No need to buy an expensive one, it has 4x the speed of the DP 1.2 cables or something like that so if it's DP 1.4, it's good enough!
Kek700
Premium
Thank you RasmusP, I needed a 1.5 meter DP cable
It came with 1 m cable, tried a 1.5 m DP 1.2, just seem to cause problems, ( I don’t think it worked at all ) got a 2 m 1.4 DP cable, worked but got stutter and occasionally screen blank.
Tried a 1.5m DP 1.4, all okay.
I would like to say they were all expensive proper manufacturing cables, but the cost was silly, that said paid good money for the 2 m cable.
But in the end it came down to eBay cheap skate products, so who knows the reality of the above.
Tried the 2m cable on my new PC, same problem.
It came with 1 m cable, tried a 1.5 m DP 1.2, just seem to cause problems, ( I don’t think it worked at all ) got a 2 m 1.4 DP cable, worked but got stutter and occasionally screen blank.
Tried a 1.5m DP 1.4, all okay.
I would like to say they were all expensive proper manufacturing cables, but the cost was silly, that said paid good money for the 2 m cable.
But in the end it came down to eBay cheap skate products, so who knows the reality of the above.
Tried the 2m cable on my new PC, same problem.
"New PC" == Also 3440x1440 @ 120 hz?Thank you RasmusP, I needed a 1.5 meter DP cable
It came with 1 m cable, tried a 1.5 m DP 1.2, just seem to cause problems, ( I don’t think it worked at all ) got a 2 m 1.4 DP cable, worked but got stutter and occasionally screen blank.
Tried a 1.5m DP 1.4, all okay.
I would like to say they were all expensive proper manufacturing cables, but the cost was silly, that said paid good money for the 2 m cable.
But in the end it came down to eBay cheap skate products, so who knows the reality of the above.
Tried the 2m cable on my new PC, same problem.
At 120 Hz your monitor is overclocked so it's all a bit less stable in general so the length can really cause problems even at only 2m.
Also as I said your monitor g-sync module only has DP 1.2 so while your new cable isn't the problem regarding bandwidth, the monitor module still has issues if the cable becomes too long.
Digital connections are awesome but also a pain in the a** at the same time.
You won't get noise, distortion, less colours or anything like we used to get with vga, 3x cinch, scart etc.
Instead we get 100% fine or BLACK.
It's annoying when you have the problem like the creator of the thread has. With the old analogue connections he'd probably only get some little image errors for a tenth of a second when his second PC gives its little signal to the non-selected Monitor port.
But with digital connections he gets a black flicker in these moments...
It's difficult to sound "nice and friendly" while trying to be technically short and on point so don't get my tone wrong
You're good! Thank you.
The DP 1.2 I've been using has been running 4k@60 for nearly two years now. That's how I always played AC. The only thing hindering my performance was my CPU depending on how many AI cars I had on the track, otherwise I never encountered any issue. I ran 4k@60 with an average FPS of 57 using Content Manager, CSP and reshade. I also run 4k@60 on pretty much every game I play on PC, with the exception of Witcher - I can, but I prefer lowering the resolution closer to 2K and run higher graphical settings and maintain a minimum of 59fps. I have to slightly lower shadows and foliage to keep a steady 60 at 2160p. but it's more than capable of doing it without any issues.
Precisely - I used it to stress test my GPU to make sure it's not having a VRAM issue. I ran FurMark, but I wanted a practical test, too. Encountered no issues with GPU running at 100% and reaching near its temp ceiling.
Tried that. No change :/
Good question. When the video is replayed in a windowed mode, it has no issues. The screncap doesn't display any problems in the video in windowed mode. Going into full screen causes the issue almost immediately.
I do have shadowplay enabled. Hasn't been an issue before, but you never know with windows updates and driver updates. I'll try and disable that and check again! Otherwise I have nothing else running in the background during my testing.
The fact that it's been working all this time makes me doubt this will change anything, but I will definitely try it!
2 years.. Yeah it doesn't sound like the cable is the issue there!
I guess investing 10€ into a dp 1.4 cable instead of wasting hours messing around is a good idea anyway, like you said.
The video playback thing is even weirder.. It's only that video?
Maybe the video has a strange fps value or something? I use the free programm "media info" to check fps, codec, Bitrate etc.
Check if something is different to other 4k shadow play recordings
I guess investing 10€ into a dp 1.4 cable instead of wasting hours messing around is a good idea anyway, like you said.
The video playback thing is even weirder.. It's only that video?
Maybe the video has a strange fps value or something? I use the free programm "media info" to check fps, codec, Bitrate etc.
Check if something is different to other 4k shadow play recordings
Yeah the video issue is confusing the hell out of me, cause that means it's not an issue with AC exactly, but there's a problem somewhere else and whatever AC is doing is triggering the troublemaker. I'm guessing Nvidia's shadowplay replicates the same circumstances, so the problem occurs again. I have yet to try setting shadowplay to use lower resolution and bitrate and see if the problem persists - and also try it without shadowplay entirely.
Sure you have not filled the SSD up with shadow replays, just a thought.
Very good suggestion, but not the case. Definitely something one can easily miss, though!
Certainly wasn't - figured out the problem. The issue was with Nvidia's 'Instant Replay' feature. I don't think I had that turned on before - maybe it was enabled after the driver update or something. But I turned that off and now the game runs fine at 4K@60fps.
Really odd how the problem would plague my desktop even after a reboot because of this. I'm guessing even after rebooting, Nvidia's driver's must've been in some odd state that it resumed and only recovered when a separate output was detected (like switching ports.)
Thank you @RasmusP and @Kek700 for your help!
