Need to know if a defective monitor can cause artifacting, or not?

[catboy]

I am using a very old monitor that I am 100% sure has hardware defects in it. Since the defects started to happen:

a) the colors appear way off, as if there is a white filter over the whole screen,

b) if the screen becomes mostly or entirely black (like during bootup, or if I go to a pixel-checking took with a black color), then I see huge cloudy blotches of yellowish light all over the place

c) The screen retains images of everything that was on my display within the last few hours

d) the screen flashes/flickers slightly.

So I know I need to replace my monitor.

I also happened to install a new MSI 1080 Ti card the other day, which is a couple of weeks after these monitor defects started to occur. So I switched off my IGPU graphics and started using the 1080 Ti with the same defective monitor.

Tonight an additional defect occurred: bright green, very flashy pixels started appearing in various parts of the screen. I believe this is what is called artifacting.

So, now I'm left with the dilemma of trying to figure out:

a) is this artifacting caused by my defective monitor

or

b) is this artifacting caused by my new GPU being defective

I have to decide whether or not to exchange my GPU with the merchant. If the GPU is defective, then I'd prefer to go through the merchant rather than do an RMA with MSI, because with the merchant it will save me money on return shipping, and also I'll probably get my replacement GPU faster (I hope).

So can you please tell me if these green pixels artifacting are definitely caused by my GPU? Or might they be caused by my monitor only? Is there any way that I can be 100% sure of which it is?

 

[VirtualLarry]

So can you please tell me if these green pixels artifacting are definitely caused by my GPU? Or might they be caused by my monitor only? Is there any way that I can be 100% sure of which it is?

Could be GPU, could be monitor. Only way to really know for sure, is to swap in a known-good monitor, and/or a known-good GPU, and test. (I would go with the known-good monitor myself.)

It's entirely possible that its the monitor, given that it sounds like it's on its last legs.

 

[catboy]

Thanks for the advice.

After the green pixels appeared I rebooted and tried to set up my BIOS so that I could enable both my IGPU and MSI discrete card at the same time, by turning on the "Multi-Monitor" setting.

That allowed to me to start using my IGPU again even with my discrete GPU still plugged in.

However, enabling that setting still does not allow me to switch between the IGPU and discrete card, by unplugging the monitor from one DVI port and then plugging it into the other. If I do that, then I receive a "no signal" message whenever I plug the monitor into the second source that is different from the first one. I.e. if the monitor shows a me a display while it's plugged into my IGPU, and then I plug it into my MSI GPU, I get a "no signal" message.

And the reverse is also true if I change the multi-monitor setting to use my MSI card, and then reboot with that. In that case, plugging the monitor into my IGPU will result in a "no signal" message.

For the past two hours, I've been using my IGPU again. So far, the green pixel artifacts have not returned. I guess there is nothing I can do to "provoke" their return? If they returned while I'm using my IGPU, then I could be reasonably certain that my new MSI card is okay.

 

[catboy]

Update: somehow after I log into Windows, I am able to switch back and forth between the IGPU and MSI GPU simply by changing which DVI port I plug my monitor's cable into.

Now I notice a new problem when I run a game: when running it with the 1080 Ti, the background on the screen appears "shaky" or "jittery" when I move my characters around. It kind of appears as if the pixels in the shaking area are moving in a rippling wave. This only happens when I move, and never when standing still.

However, if I plug the cable into the IGPU and move the characters around the exact same area, the image doesn't shake or jitter any more at all.

This leads me to think that my MSI GPU might also be defective. I'm gonna call their tech support when they open and see if they say anything useful.

Anyone have thoughts on what might be going on with that shaking/jittering?

Another thing I notice is that objects in games shimmer a lot, and also there is heavy shimmering when I run the Heaven benchmark.

EDIT: After making this post, I ended up turning on an in-game setting called V-Sync Triple Buffering, and that got rid of the shaking/jittering issue. Although I still don't understand why I don't have that shaking/jittering issue with the far less powerful IGPU, even while VSync is off.

 

[Insert_Nickname]

Just some friendly advice, but you really shouldn't be hot plugging DVI cables. It isn't supported in the standard.

Are you sure your PSU can handle the load? If everything works with the IGP, I'd be inclined to look there. The 1080ti is quite power hungry.