What seems to be a DSC issue on B580 using HDMI

[VibingVoidWVWVVWW]

GPU: Intel Arc B580 Limited Edition

Display: AW3225QF @ 2160p 240Hz with DSC

Driver version: 6737

Issue: As soon as I launch any 3D applications, display signal starts streaking (?) diagonally at about 10° from horizontal at about top 10 to 30% of the display area. This issue does not get captured on screenshots and screen recordings (e.g. OBS) making me think it's a connection issue.

Troubleshooting attempts:

• I have tried 3 different HDMI cables: these same cables do not have the issue running the same monitor at res/ref. rate from my AMD 7000-series GPU.
• Lowering ref. rate to 120Hz: this turns off DSC automatically on my display. The problem does not occur.
• Trying DP ports: at 2160p 240Hz with DSC, the problem does not occur
• Trying different driver versions: 6737, 6734, 6732, 6647. The problem occurs on all four versions
• Not an intentional troubleshooting step, but one thing of interest. When updating from 6734 to 6737, after I rebooted the computer prompted to continue installing driver by Intel® Driver & Support Assistant, I started a 3D application (Mineraft RTX) thinking the driver was already installed. The driver wasn't installed yet and the game started rendering on the iGPU of my 7800X3D but still output on the B580 on the problematic HDMI port running at 2160p 240Hz with DSC (confirmed on my monitor; in case someone asks, B580's driver still showed 6734 and not 6737 nor missing driver in Windows Device Manager). There was no problem with the same streaking as seen when the game is both rendered and output through the B580, although the frame rate was terrible as expected. Once 6737 was fully installed and computer rebooted, the problem came back.
  
  

The issue makes the card nearly unusable.

1. Is this an issue with my specific card?
2. If not, can this be solved with a driver/vBIOS update?

Attached:

• DxDiag
• 2 video recordings of issue (frames are blended together a bit but it gives an idea of how the problem manifests)
• 2 photos of issue and 1 photo showing normal frame (fast shutter speed single-frame photos)
  • Videos and photos are cropped to the display for privacy.

[VibingVoidWVWVVWW]

I have since tried driver version 6790. Same problem.

On another note, I cannot seem to edit the first post?

Edit: also, since this isn't a game-specific question, would the product support forum for graphics related issues be the better place to get an answer? https://community.intel.com/t5/Graphics/bd-p/graphics

[MUC]

Your issue is very well-placed. It's difficult to answer because the problem is so specific.
Am I correct in understanding that you're not having any issues connecting via DisplayPort?

According to an analysis of another AW3225QF, the monitor's EDID advertises the following:

This exactly corresponds to the Coordinated Video Timing - Reduced Blanking (CVT-RB) standard.

4K @ 240 Hz RGB 8-bit = 216% HBR3 / 131% FRL6 > DSC OK
4K @ 240 Hz RGB 10-bit = 270% HBR3 / 164% FRL6 > DSC OK

This connection also appears to be established, but unfortunately with the image error. However, your description is very good and should allow Intel Support to test the problem in the lab.

In the short term, I see the following options:

1. Return the card and have a new one sent to definitively rule out a hardware failure.
2. Run 4K @ 240 Hz via DisplayPort if that works fine.
3. Check regularly for new drivers to see if the problem persists.

In the medium term, we can determine by process of elimination whether changing the EDID parameters makes a difference. However, this is a lengthy trial-and-error process that doesn't guarantee success. But if you want, I can help you with that.

Please first check whether changing the color depth resolves the issue. The color depth can be adjusted here:

Feel free to try all the options offered here. This has an influence on the DSC encoder in the graphics card and the DSC decoder in the monitor.

You can also vary the color format to see if this makes a difference. However, YCbCr 4:2:0 is not recommended for PC gaming.

For further testing, we need the EDID that the monitor sends via the HDMI cable on the Display Data Channel (DDC). To do this, please connect the monitor to the graphics card via HDMI (and only HDMI) and run edid-test.exe:

https://www.monitortests.com/edid-test.zip

This will create a file named "edid-test.txt" in the same folder. Please attach this TXT file here.

[VibingVoidWVWVVWW]

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1. Return the card and have a new one sent to definitively rule out a hardware failure.
2. Run 4K @ 240 Hz via DisplayPort if that works fine.
3. Check regularly for new drivers to see if the problem persists

I'm outside of the retailer return window, so if I wanted to exchange the card or have it looked at, it will have to be through Intel. I would like to avoid that if possible. Yup, 4k @ 240 Hz works fine through DP. The monitor also works just fine through HDMI with DSC on connected to a 7000-series Radeon card.

---

Feel free to try all the options offered here. This has an influence on the DSC encoder in the graphics card and the DSC decoder in the monitor.

You can also vary the color format to see if this makes a difference. However, YCbCr 4:2:0 is not recommended for PC gaming.

---

Just tried all permutations of color depth and color format and as long as the display is connected through HDMI with DSC on (i.e. 4k 240Hz) the issue persists. Through DP, the monitor works as expected regardless of color depth or format chosen even with DSC on. Videos attached for HDMI and DP testing: I didn't go through all the settings on video but it should demonstrate DP working well.

I have saved two edid test files. One for HDMI connection and one for DP connection.

[MUC]

That's interesting. The monitor advertises a different video timing via HDMI:

Probably irrelevant to your problem, but this could play a role:

The desired signal doesn't require 12 Gbps on four lanes. Please try forcing your graphics card to a maximum link speed of 6 Gbps per lane. This should result in an DSC signal at 8 bpp.

• Download Custom Resolution Utility (CRU)
• Run CRU.exe
• Make sure the active EDID is AW3224QF connected to your PC via HDMI. If necessary, select from the drop down menu.
• Proceed as follows:

Please change the maximum FRL rate to 24 Gbps, close all CRU windows with OK and restart the computer.

Note:
All changes made with CRU can be undone if necessary by running "reset-all.exe" from the CRU download package and restarting the system. You can find more information about this tool on the linked page.

[VibingVoidWVWVVWW]

Oh yeah, totally forgot CRU was a thing!

Unfortunately, even setting the stream to 6 x 4 lanes does not help as shown in the attached video.

Something else I did notice is that the issue seems to only manifest when VRR is used: I checked that DSC was still on. Going back and checking the DP connection, it does not exhibit the issue whether VRR is on or off. I'll give HDMI 4k 240Hz with VRR off some more time before I can conclusively say that disabling VRR gets rid of the symptom completely. Also, the streaking seems to happen, at least more often, when VRR is in a certain range: going through frame rate cap options in Oblivion Remastered, I see capping FPS to 30 or 120 causes streaking but not at 60 nor uncapped (where it runs at about 150-200 FPS in the menu). In the attached video, I also go through these options.

Anywho, too bad setting a custom resolution with lower bandwidth did not help. I thought that could be the band-aid fix until a proper fix is delivered. Speaking of which, would love to hear back from Intel employees as well: it's their product after all. Not that MUC hasn't been helpful, mind!

PS: I installed PresentMon to see if I could figure out exactly when the streaking happens, but when the overlay is running on top, even with the game in focus, it seems VRR behaves differently preventing the streaking. Thought it could be the draw rate or polling rate of PM, but even altering those values, I haven't noticed streaking in the last few minutes. Anyway, keeping PM running on top isn't a solution since it seems to break VRR for the main content (i.e. the game). I'll explore this further.

[VibingVoidWVWVVWW]

Intel will surely deliver

[VibingVoidWVWVVWW]

FYI, I am still having this problem on the latest WHQL driver 32.0.101.7028

I've been ignoring the issue since I have another GPU, but I guess I will start a proper support ticket instead.

For anyone stumbling across this thread, I recommend against getting a B580 or other Battlemage products. Maybe the next gen, Celestial, will be better.