“Since I purchased my new monitor, I have this problem. My previous monitor was working great until its LCD broke. The new monitor works all fine. Except for the screen going blurry only while gaming. Especially games with a black or dark background. At first, I thought it was a screen tear. I have no clue whether it was my video card settings. But some of my friends said it was monitor ghosting. I don’t understand how to fix it.”
Well, this is a major problem that most people face. Can you also relate to the problem described here? If yes, you must read through the entire article. Here, I’m going to clarify your vision about monitor ghosting. There can be possible reasons causing trouble. Additionally, you’ll also find potential fixes for the trouble. So buckle-up your shoes and understand what monitor ghosting is…
On PC monitors, similar image-artifacts and ghosting are the nuisances. Especially, during the quick-moving scenes, they just ruin the image quality. Thereby, your entire experience gets quite troublesome. To understand the problem better, let’s start with the definition.
What Is Monitor Ghosting?
Monitor ghosting is an image artifact. It appears as a trial of “ghosts” or pixels. Especially, in the background of moving objects. During fast-paced sports or fast-shooter gaming, it’s more noticeable. The reason is its cravings for all fast-moving objects. Therefore, scenes involving a lot of fast movements are victims.
Monitor ghosting brings a millisecond image-lag or afterimage-effect on screen. Thus the image gets blurry as it distorts the colors. So you fail to decipher what’s happening around the screen. The minor lagging impact is detrimental. And the whole problematic issue is monitor ghosting.
The display is unable to cope up. Especially, with the quick movements of the games. Thus the ghosting phenomenon appears. As an aftereffect, it blurs or smears the images. But do you know what causes monitor ghosting? Two major extensions are there behind the fact. As we move ahead, I’ll reveal those to you.
Response Time
Response time is nothing but the duration of updating images. The time relies on the GPU or CPU of the monitor. Higher response time increases the duration for displaying new images. As a result, you get to see broken blurry images. Therefore, you must be willing for low response time. So you don’t get through the trouble very often.
Refresh Rate
It’s the number of times your monitor refreshes new images. Logically, the refresh rate should be more for better gameplay. A more refresh rate means it can match quick movements. As a result, the fast-moving games can be run. As the rate gets lower, it invites monitor ghosting
Let’s Fix Monitor Ghosting
Till now, you’ve understood what monitor ghosting looks like. So as I promised, I’ll be providing a list of potential fixes for monitor ghosting.
Method 1: Monitor Display Software Settings
Your gaming experience can go worse due to vulnerable software. It certainly can interfere with the game movements. The display software may not be strong enough to power-up. Monitor settings can be different as per versatile monitor manufacturers. So you must check the settings and configure if necessary.
Additionally, you should configure the Nvidia control panel. In case any adjustment is necessary, go ahead. If these two configurations can fix the problem, good enough. If not, update the system drivers. You can also opt for a system update. It brings back your system performance by eradicating the problem.
Method 2: Check The Monitor Cables
Monitor cables directly connecting to your system can cause ghosting. In case the cable connection is loose, the monitor becomes vulnerable. As a result, it gradually increases the response time. Therefore, you must tighten the cable connection first.
In order to restrict interference with one another, separate them. Keeping all of them separate does solve several signal problems. In case the cables are torn or damaged, problems arise. Therefore, consider replacing them and resolve monitor ghosting. Ensure to connect cables that are compatible with the device. It can be a good move to eradicate ghosting.
Method 3: Replace with A New Monitor
Monitor ghosting can be the call for replacing the monitor. It may be the right cause to purchase a new monitor. If ghosting becomes prevalent or worse, changing the monitor should help. Before you purchase a new monitor, look into these factors.
- Low input lag
- High refresh rate
- Fast response time
After you ensure these qualities in the new monitor, replace the old one. Hopefully, the new monitor won’t bring back monitor ghosting.
Method 4: Update Your Graphics Card Driver
Monitor ghosting is basically the distortions of images. So the problem might be with your graphics card driver. In that case, updating the card drivers can help. However, you must ensure the new driver you install is compatible with your system. Otherwise, the problem can even go worse. Switch off your system after installing the new driver. After a few minutes, restart and check if the problem resolves.
Method 5: LCD Monitor Ghosting
Very often, the LCD screen sticks to a specific image. This is widely popular as LCD monitor ghosting. In this case, the image remains consistent on the LCD. Even if the surroundings have identified changes, it smears images. Thus you witness a blurry pixel and a broken image.
To resolve the problem, try all the fixes from above. If the problem of ghosting goes away, it’s fine. In case it doesn’t, here is another solution to that. There is an OSD menu in your LCD settings. Configuring that can potentially fix the problem. Follow the steps I mentioned below:
- Navigate to the picture settings.
- Scroll down, find and click “AMA Settings”.
- Shift the “High” medium to “Medium”. If possible, consider limiting it wholly.
AMA is basically the abbreviation of “Advanced Monitor Acceleration”. It has a direct correlation with the monitor response time. Also, it’s most popular as an overdrive. For shifting different crystal molecules to versatile directions, LCD redesigns. Thus they create and transmit versatile lighting on the image.
The molecules should be less than the refresh rate. In case of exceptions, the object gets blurry. Thus the monitor ghosting effect peeps in and destroys vision. This is the reason you should reduce the AMA effect. As low AMA means lower liquid crystal molecules. So it can easily cope up with the monitor refresh rate.
Some More Configurations
“Dynamic Contrast”, “ Noise Reduction”, “Motion Smoothing”, and “ Perfect Clear”. These are some in the queue of settings. Especially, in more dense or darker backgrounds, these cause ghosting. These configurations do help in image enhancement. They add-up with the raw-video signal and create recognizable image-artifacts. As they can noticeably raise the response time.
These settings mostly exist in TVs. However, you can look for these settings in your control panel. If you find them, just swipe. This can certainly pull down the effects of monitor ghosting.
Additionally, “Noise Reduction” specifically exists in the Nvidia control panel hub. In order to avoid any sort of image-artifacts, turn it off. This helps you keep the distortions away from your monitor.
Conclusion
Finally, you’re all set to go. Now you know what to configure within the response menu. The solution is right within your monitor settings. The trick is to synchronize the refresh rate with the response time. It not only fixes monitor ghosting but also ensures better-performance.
A FreeSync monitor can also be a good remedy. Remember, consider it only when you have a G-Sync monitor or AMD Graphics card. Considering these two with an Nvidia graphics card can possibly remove ghosting. To synchronize response-time with refresh-rate, they can work together actively.
