I have been getting monitor tearing time to time, even with windows. It wasn't occurring often, and I could fix it by turning the monitor off and on, so I have been sleeping on it.
A few days ago, it began tearing like crazy, and it happens after turning the monitor on for a few minutes. It came to the point where the computer is nearly unusable, so I want to solve the issue once and for all.
How do I go with resolving a monitor tearing issue? Or, is it the faulty monitor? The issue also happens on Windows, after all..
A few steps to try: Plug the monitor into a different port on the same graphics card
Plug the monitor into a laptop or game console or something
Plug a different screen (even a TV if needed) into the PC you have that monitor connected to now.
This will tell you whether it's the port, the rendering hardware, or the monitor. Then you can go from there
Try a different cable too.
Not mentioned, but if there are mobo monitor connections, try those, too.
But yes, this is almost definitely a hardware problem since it's also happening in Windows. The only other plausible option would be the hardware's firmware, but that seems unlikely...
It could theoretically be an incredible fluke to have a software issue in both Windows and Linux... Maybe the same weird edge-case hardware interaction that's the same between two versions of a closed-source NVidia driver? I can't see that as plausible, though.
If OP is in a developed country, used monitors are cheap. My vertically-oriented side monitor I got for $20, and I only even paid that much because I needed one that could go vertical orientation without a monitor arm.
First of all, thanks a lot! I should try different ones. To try the different ports, I need to open up the case, right? That sounds like work, but maybe that's unavoidable. Guess I should check if the tearing occurs with laptops first.
Strangely, the tearing seems to happen more frequently in Linux. I am not sure how... Also, turning the monitor off and on briefly fixes the tearing. Does it say anything about it? Plus, it only happens in one monitor, another monitor is completely fine - although another monitor flicker when the monitor tears.
By try different port I mean if your graphics card has two different HDMI connections available, move the cable to the second one.