Extreme screen flickering across entire PC

[Epsilonn]

My brother has had a prebuilt (Acer Nitro N50-620) with a 3060 for 4-5 months.
Recently, there has been constant flickering happening throughout the entire PC. It started one day while he was playing a game. It has apparently happened to his PC before, but fixed itself after a restart.

Everything is affected; lockscreen, desktop, applications, literally everything. When the flickering is happening, the PC is more or less unusable, particularly with more applications open because the flickering seems to get worse and worse.
I will attach a streamable clip of what it looks like:

https://streamable.com/6nfvsr

We’ve isolated the issue to the 3060 because the flckering only stops when the 3060 is disabled in Device Manager > Display Adapters > RTX 3060.

Solutions we have tried so far include:
[ul]
[li]Changing to a different refresh rate/resolution (switched from 165hz/4k to 60hz/1080p, there was no change in the flickering)[/li][li]Restoring default settings in Nvidia Control Panel[/li][li]Switching cables (both DP and HDMI)[/li][li]Using different DP and HDMI ports[/li][li]Updating display adapter & monitor drivers[/li][li]Reinstalling display adapter & monitor drivers[/li][li]Switching to a different monitor (issue was exactly the same on the new monitor)[/li][li]Using a DDU in Safe Mode and installing an older version of Nvidia Drivers[/li][li]Factory resetting the PC[/li][/ul]

I attempted to update the BIOS as I read that’s generally a good starting point with issues like this, but I couldn’t find the correct download for the Nitro N50-620 motherboard.

We have not found any other issues like this, so I would greatly appreciate any help. Thanks

[phillpower2]

My brother has had a prebuilt (Acer Nitro N50-620) with a 3060 for 4-5 months.

Good troubleshooting done already but being that the PC is only 4 or 5 months old this is something that you must take up with the merchant that sold the computer because if you start following any troubleshooting steps that we provide you risk voiding the warranty, there is normally a seal on the case that breaks when you take the side off to get inside and if that gets broke without the sellers permission the warranty is null and void.

Fwiw, the computer is more widely available with a much weaker graphics card than the RTX 3060 but I bet that the PSU has not been upgraded accordingly to something like an RM 550W PSU to support the RTX 3060.

Just out of curiosity, does it happen if you leave the computer sitting in the BIOS.

[Epsilonn]

Thanks for the reply.

Fwiw, the computer is more widely available with a much weaker graphics card than the RTX 3060 but I bet that the PSU has not been upgraded accordingly to something like an RM 550W PSU to support the RTX 3060.

I see. We will look into upgrading the PSU and seeing if that changes anything. As it happens, the PSU does seem to make some weird noises.

Just out of curiosity, does it happen if you leave the computer sitting in the BIOS.

No, it does not happen in the BIOS, nor in the Windows menu you get while holding shift & restarting to access Safe Mode.

[phillpower2]

being that the PC is only 4 or 5 months old this is something that you must take up with the merchant that sold the computer because if you start following any troubleshooting steps that we provide you risk voiding the warranty, there is normally a seal on the case that breaks when you take the side off to get inside and if that gets broke without the sellers permission the warranty is null and void.

Have you had the case open already ?

What happens if you boot the computer into Safe Mode.

The fact that it does not happen in the BIOS or at the Windows Safe Mode menu but it does on another screen does point towards the GPU but something that you need to be aware of;

We’ve isolated the issue to the 3060 because the flckering only stops when the 3060 is disabled in Device Manager > Display Adapters > RTX 3060.

You are disabling the drivers not the GPU itself with the proof being that you are still getting video, the i7-11700F CPU in the computer does not have integrated graphics so you would not get a screen at all if you disabled the add on GPU itself.

[Epsilonn]

Have you had the case open already ?

Yes, frankly we don’t have much intention of going down the warranty path. Perhaps a stupid choice but that’s how we roll.
We opened up the case before my brother even used the PC to add an additional SSD for him.

What happens if you boot the computer into Safe Mode.

The issue stops while in Safe Mode.

You are disabling the drivers not the GPU itself with the proof being that you are still getting video, the i7-11700F CPU in the computer does not have integrated graphics so you would not get a screen at all if you disabled the add on GPU itself.

I see. The CPU in ours is an i5-11400F, although there are no integrated graphics in that either.

[phillpower2]

No problem regarding the warranty then.

What is the brand and model name or number of both the RTX 3060 GPU and PSU.

It may well be the drivers being that things are ok in Safe Mode, if not already aware, drivers can affect a PSU as well, Safe Mode and generic Windows drivers do not max out the GPU so less load is placed on the PSU.

[Epsilonn]

What is the brand and model name or number of both the RTX 3060 GPU and PSU.

This is the PSU. It is max 500W, which is less than the 550W you recommended in your earlier post. Could this be the source of the problem?

I have attached a screenshot of the labels on the GPU:
[ATTACH type=“full” width=“576px”]10711[/ATTACH]

[phillpower2]

The present PSU to be blunt is complete junk, top end GPU and a pits of a PSU I`m afraid.

The GPU looks to be a stock Nvidea card and they state 550W here as do Gigabyte for their version here what companies like acer and others do is purchase GPUs etc en masse and then customise the BIOS to reduce the power demand and heat, this is bad for two reasons, the performance of the GPU is not as good as unmodified GPUs and even worse still you have to get the drivers from the likes of acer who have a nasty habit of ditching support for the PCs as soon as an upgraded version has been released, I managed to track down the Spanish version of your PC from where you should get the GPU drivers, do not use the latest Nvidea drivers or the GPU may get too much juice and fry.

acer drivers here

[COLOR=rgb(44, 130, 201)]Edit to add: Version: 27.21.14.5751 looks to be the latest so give that a try from acer rather than Nvidea.[/COLOR]

[Epsilonn]

The present PSU to be blunt is complete junk, top end GPU and a pits of a PSU I`m afraid.

The GPU looks to be a stock Nvidea card and they state 550W here as do Gigabyte for their version here what companies like acer and others do is purchase GPUs etc en masse and then customise the BIOS to reduce the power demand and heat, this is bad for two reasons, the performance of the GPU is not as good as unmodified GPUs and even worse still you have to get the drivers from the likes of acer who have a nasty habit of ditching support for the PCs as soon as an upgraded version has been released, I managed to track down the Spanish version of your PC from where you should get the GPU drivers, do not use Nvidea drivers or the GPU will get too much juice and fry.

Ahh. That makes a lot of sense.
I do have a 650W Power Supply that is available to use (a TX650M). Would be it viable to switch out the current PSU to this (or a different one)? Or would the driver problem likely still persist?

[phillpower2]

Swap the PSU but leave the drivers alone until you have given the TX 650M a try out, if all good, create a new system restore point then give the drivers at the acer link a try.

[Epsilonn]

Swap the PSU but leave the drivers alone until you have given the TX 650M a try out, if all good, create a new system restore point then give the drivers at the acer link a try.

Alright. I will have to leave this thread for a while to order the correct cable & sort everything out. I’ll update on the results when everything’s done.

Thank you so much for your time & support - you’ve been great.

[phillpower2]

You are welcome but can I ask if you have any idea how long it may take, if more than a few days it would be best to close the thread until you are ready, you will keep on getting asked for an update from staff otherwise.

[Epsilonn]

You are welcome but can I ask if you have any idea how long it may take, if more than a few days it would be best to close the thread until you are ready, you will keep on getting asked for an update from staff otherwise.

It will likely be more than 4 days at least

[phillpower2]

No problem then, we will leave your thread marked as pending until the end of the week.

[veeg]

Any update?