# Color Banding and Pixel Distortion(?) Throughout Windows



## GenericUsernameHere (Feb 29, 2016)

Hey, all. First time posting, so I hope this is the right sub to ask in.

I've been having a weird problem with Windows where many colors are not treated correctly. Here are some screenshots:
_MOD Edit: Removed due to inappropriate ads on the hosting site._

Before you ask, I've:
-Determined the problem is not the graphics card or monitors.
-Uninstalled and reinstalled display drivers (although I might have done so incorrectly)

Any help or suggestions is appreciated!


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## DaveA (Nov 16, 1999)

How did you "Determined the problem is not the graphics card or monitors"?


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## GenericUsernameHere (Feb 29, 2016)

Screenshots show the issue on other devices which means the issue is not monitor-specific; I've also tested the same background and games on multiple monitors of different companies.

As for the graphics card, I removed it and booted using the iGPU. Same issue.


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## GenericUsernameHere (Feb 29, 2016)

DaveA said:


> How did you "Determined the problem is not the graphics card or monitors"?


Answered


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## DaveA (Nov 16, 1999)

Have you tried other monitors and/or cards?


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## Triple6 (Dec 26, 2002)

Just an FYI, you can post images here without using a third party site that shows questionable or not family appropriate ads/images. Either use the Paperclip to add the attachments/images, drag and drop the images into the body of the post, or use the right click and paste option. 

The pictures of the screen are poor quality so I'm not sure what is due to that or what is actually there. I've gone ahead and removed the link as some of the ads are not family friendly and they don't show the issue very well either.

Sometimes banding or poor blending happens if you have the brightness/gamma settings turned up too high in either the graphics card or the monitor or even a bad monitor cable.


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## GenericUsernameHere (Feb 29, 2016)

GenericUsernameHere said:


> I've also tested the same background and games on multiple monitors of different companies.


Yes, I tested it with multiple monitors, and, as I said before, I removed the graphics card and ran the computer on the integrated gpu. The issue was still there ([Edit] which disproves Triple6' theory that the issue is the monitor(s), the graphics card, or bad cable(s)).



Triple6 said:


> Just an FYI, you can post images here without using a third party site that shows questionable or not family appropriate ads/images.


Crap, My bad! I just looked online for a site that didn't require an account to host an image. Thanks for the tip; I'll re-upload the pictures here.























By the way, I DO have a legitimate copy of Windows 10, the OS is being stupid and Microsoft won't give me another key or reactivate it. It was "blocked" when I upgraded to Build 1500...
Anyways


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## GenericUsernameHere (Feb 29, 2016)

Help!


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## Triple6 (Dec 26, 2002)

Your images still are very poor quality so I'm not sure what I'm suppose to be seeing. Are the backgrounds taken with the same device that you are using to take pictures of your monitor? These backgrounds that you are using, are they high quality ones with a very high resolution? What resoltui are they? Do the stock Windows backgrouds look bad too? Do website and YouTube videos look bad too?Videos? Are the source images low quality? What screen resolution are you using and with what monitors? What color depth do you have it set too? What does Device Manager show for the Display Adapter? Name and driver version?


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## GenericUsernameHere (Feb 29, 2016)

Wait, how can you not see it, especially in the 3rd image? Clearly, something's wrong.
It shows up in everything.
My graphics card is a gtx 780 with the 362.00 driver. Brand-new card as the RMA just arrived.
Color depth is 32 bit.
1080 and 900p monitors.


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## GenericUsernameHere (Feb 29, 2016)

I just installed Windows fresh. Do you know of any issues with hardware that can cause this? e.g cpu/motherboard


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## Triple6 (Dec 26, 2002)

Possibly a motherboard if you've ruled out the other things; monitor, cable, video card, video settings like gamma or brightness levels being too high.

As to why I can't see the issue, your pictures are from a very poor quality camera so its hard to tell what is the result of the poor quality image and what isn't. If you look at the monitor bezel in the last photo and the background wall it looks really grainy and pixelated too and pictures of things on monitors rarely come out good anyways.


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