Refresh Rate = Vertical Banding/ Dirty Screen Effect?

[therealjustin]

My new Alienware AW3425DW QD-OLED has some gnarly vertical banding and dirty screen effect on darker grays such as 5%, and one spot in particular near the center of the display on the very top that is the most pronounced. I was just curious if a cable swap would change anything, so I switched from the included HDMI 2.1 cable to DP 1.4 and to my surprise it worked!


The banding and DSE were substantially lessened, but it worked because it dropped my refresh rate to 165Hz from 240Hz. If I change it back to 240Hz the DSE returns regardless of which cable I use or if DSC is selected.

What exactly is going on here? How can refresh rate have an effect on vertical banding? My brain cannot figure this one out.

 

[Nobu]

Imo would have to be either the encoder or gpu, else maybe dirty power causing the "dirty screen" (assuming you mean fuzz or something like that?).

As for banding, is it not tearing from vsync being disabled? If not, I have no idea.

 

[pendragon1]

got pics?

 

[therealjustin]

got pics?

I made a GIF showing the difference. The panel is so much cleaner at 165Hz compared to 240Hz.