What Is “OLED Flickering” (And How to Fix It)

If you’ve invested (probably a good portion) of your hard-earned money in an OLED monitor or TV, you may have noticed one of the most annoying features of panel technology, especially during gaming: flickering, especially in the darkest areas of the screen. This type of flickering, which is not unique to OLED panels, is called variable refresh rate (VRR) flickering and is caused by large fluctuations in frame rate, the speed at which images are rendered by your display.

This flickering is more evident in gaming, as games are prone to large and sudden jumps in frame rate. This is one of the many advantages and disadvantages of OLED panels for gaming, and one of the main disadvantages of OLED technology as a whole. VRR is designed to adapt to these sudden fluctuations by forcing a display to adapt its refresh rate to the output of your graphics card, reducing visual issues like artifacts and tearing. However, on some panels, including OLED and VA, changing the refresh interval can also change how the voltage, gamma, and near-black levels are driven, which can result in rapid pulsing or flickering. Larger variations in frame duration can then lead to more noticeable and annoying flickering.

While there is no complete solution available for VRR flicker, there are a number of steps you can take to help alleviate it. Some manufacturers, like Asus, have attempted to address the issue directly with anti-flicker technology built right into the hardware. However, if you don’t have a panel that includes one of these solutions, a software patch may be your best solution.

One such solution is to implement an artificial frame rate cap to help reduce massive and rapid variations. You can achieve this either in-game (many games include a maximum frame rate setting in their graphics or video settings menus) or externally with a utility like Nvidia’s Control Panel. In Control Panel, under Manage 3D Settings, you’ll find an option called Max Frame Rate. Enable it and you’ll activate a slider that lets you set a system-wide maximum frame rate. Experiment with values ​​just below your monitor’s maximum and evaluate the effect on flicker.

The other solution is hardware based. Although it is more expensive, upgrading your hardware can ensure consistently high frame rates and effectively eliminate flicker. If you have an older GPU, start there, although upgrading your CPU, RAM capacity, or moving your games to faster SSD storage can also have a huge effect on frame rate. It’s also a good idea to make sure your OLED display firmware itself is up to date, one of many good tips for caring for an OLED display.