30 Bit Display - banding appears when mouse is idle and disappears when mouse is moved

[anthonyc5134612]

I have been successfully running Photoshop in 30 Bit Display mode on my Nvidia RTX 2080 Ti video card since 2020. I use a 10 bit test ramp image to confirm I am actually getting 10 bits per channel - if the image displays with no banding then this confirms the display is genuinely at 30 bits (10 bits per channel). Conversely, if banding is visible, this demonstrates that the display is not at 10 bits per channel. I attach the PSD file for this image here. Until recently this all worked fine.

I recently noticed some unexpected banding in an image and so I checked my display using the 10 bit test ramp image. The image displayed banding when opened, which confirmed the display was not actually operating at 10 bpc. However, as soon as I moved the mouse around on the screen, the banding disappeared. When I stopped moving the mouse, it reappeared.

Note, banding disappears only when the mouse cursor is moved over the document window section of the Photoshop window - that is, banding does not disappear when I move the mouse over any panel or menu or the application window border, etc. This makes me believe the issue is a Photoshop application issue, not an issue with the video driver or the display.

I have updated my video driver and disabled and re-enabled 10 bit settings in the Nvidia control panel and unchecked and re-checked 30 Bit Display in Photoshop Preferences/Performance/Advanced Settings but to no avail - I still get banding in my test image when the mouse is idle but which disappears as soon as the mouse moves around on the Photodshop canvas.

This behaviour is not as expected - when setting 30 Bit Display on, it should apply to all images all the time, not just when you move the mouse over an image. Please advise.

Steps to reproduce this issue - NB needs to be reproduced with a 10 bit-capable display system:

1. Open the attached "10 bit test ramp.psd" file in Photoshop

2. Let the mouse sit idle in the document window

3. Banding will appear

4. Move the mouse cursor in the document window

5. Banding will disappear

6. Stop moving the mouse cursor

7. Banding will appear

System

OS: Windows 11 Pro, 24H2, Windows Feature Experience Pack 1000.26100.66.0

RAM: 64GB

Photoshop: 26.5.0

GPU: NVidia GeForce RTX 2080 Ti

Monitor: Eizo ColorEdge CG318

NVidia Driver: Studio Driver Version 572.83, Release Date: Tue Mar 18, 2025

[davescm]

I don't see an issue with the mouse, but I did notice 10-bit display was enabled in Photoshop, NVidia control panel, and confirmed in Windows settings but I was not actually getting 10 bits displayed. I tested your ramp in Photoshop 2025, 2024 and 2023 all were enabled for 10 bit and none were actually displaying it.

I tried a few recent NVidia Studio drivers (576.02, 566.36, 561.09) each time choosing Advanced Options and clicking 'Clean Install' all of which showed the same issue. In the end I stepped back to an older driver for which I had the installation files on my PC (546.33). 10 bit display was restored immediately in all versions of Photoshop. You might want to try a similar older driver, although the oldest I saw on NVidia's download site was 561.09.

Whether the issue is in the recent drivers, or whether it is the way Photoshop has implemented 10-bit display and has become incompatible with the recent drivers, I don't know. The older driver does work though.

OS Windows 11 Pro 24H2, NVidia RTX3090 (now at 546.33), Dual Eizo CS2731s

Dave

[D Fosse]

I'm travelling with a laptop now, so I can't check this yet, but I will (RTX 3060/CG2730).

Could this be connected to the new "automatic color management" checkbox in Windows? Apparently this component in Windows is still a bit buggy. I seem to remember one poster reporting that this checkbox had to be either on or off to get 30 bit display to work.

To be honest I have no idea what "automatic color management" is supposed to do, except some vague indications about using wide gamut displays in Windows-native applications that don't support color management on application level. Supposedly it should work as it always has when set to "off". But some users, myself included, aren't even getting that checkbox in Windows settings at all.

[anthonyc5134612]

Thanks for the hint Dave - I also have my old driver installation files, including 546.33, which I downloaded in December 2023. I installed that as a Clean Install and, as per your experience, that fully restored 10 bit display in Photoshop. The next most recent driver that I had after that was 555.99, which I downloaded in June 2024. I installed that as well, but it also does not run at 10 bits. It looks like something broke/changed after 546.33.

So I'll stick with 546.33 for the time being, assuming there are no stability issues.

[anthonyc5134612]

@D Fosse  The absence of Windows Auto Color Management on my computers is a mystery I have been unable to solve since it was announced. However, I have just found this link that suggests it may not be available on all platforms due to hardware constraints. My photo editing PC has an AMD Ryzen 9 5950X CPU without integrated graphics while my gaming PC has a 7th gen Core i9-7920X CPU. Like you, I do not see the Auto Color Management option in Control Panel on either of my computers, but given the requirements outlined on that link, it looks like neither machine qualifies for it. You should check your hardware to see whether your platform also fails to qualify.

[D Fosse]

Actually I can't imagine that's the problem with 12.gen i7, RTX3060, Eizo CG/colornavigator and Windows 11. It's a pretty current upper-end desktop machine.

I've just put that mystery on the shelf for now, it hasn't given me any problems so far. Until possibly this, we'll see.

[davescm]

No windows automatic colour management here. So far, it appears that somewhere between NVidia Studio driver 546.33 and 555.99 a change was introduced which breaks the 30 bit (10 bit/channel) display pipeline.

What I need to check for is another app that uses the 30 bit display so that I can test whether this only impacts Photoshop or not. That would confirm whether it is NVidia or Adobe that needs the bug report.

Dave

[anthonyc5134612]

@davescmI can confirm it is the NVidia driver. I downloaded and installed "HDR + WCG Image Viewer" from the Windows store. This app renders high bit depth images using the 30 bit display pipeline on a 10 bpc capable display. I created a TIFF copy of my 10 bit test ramp and confirmed it displays without banding in Photoshop using the 546.33 NVidia driver and with banding using the 555.99 driver. I then opened the image in HDR + WCG Image Viewer. Using the 555.99 driver it displays with banding but using the 546.33 driver it displays without banding. Looks like I'll have to take this up with NVidia.

[D Fosse]

Just got back to my workstation and yes, the banding is there.

It seems @anthonyc5134612  nailed it pretty firmly when even the Windows app exhibits the same behavior.

[davescm]

Thanks both for further testing and confirming. I also tested using Adobe Premiere Pro and the results were the same.

I have raised with NVidia support, you may want to do the same.

Dave

[D Fosse]

And thanks to @anthonyc5134612 for catching this. I work only with photographs, where there is always enough noise to conceal any banding, so I wouldn't have noticed it (unless looking for it).

If you do painting or illustrating with synthetic gradients, it jumps out in a whole other way, and becomes a lot more important. If that's your line of work, this is a real annoyance.

[D Fosse]

OK, here's an interesting twist.

Got into work this morning, where I use an i7-9700 machine that doesn't meet the new Windows 11 "trusted platform module" requirements, so it still runs Windows 10 (22H2).

And here, 30 bit display works!

The GPU here is an RTX 4060 Ti, driver version 566.14. Two Eizo CGs and Colornavigator.

[davescm]

@D Fosse Interesting indeed. I haven't had a response from NVidia yet, I'll update if/when I do.

Dave

[D Fosse]

(Side note: I've just found out that TPM probably is supported on this motherboard, but it was usually disabled by default at the time I bought it. TPM can most likely be enabled in BIOS, and then the machine can be upgraded to Win 11. It would be very interesting to see if 30 bit display survived that upgrade - however, I'm deep in a big and very urgent project the next month or so, and I simply can't risk any disruption...)

[davescm]

Hi

NVidia did contact me as a result of my report.

So far we have:

a. Checked Windows HDR was not enabled
b. Ensured Eizo monitors were set correctly, which they are

c. Used an NVidia cleaner tool they re-installed the drivers
d. Created custom resolutions 

e. Checked monitors for firmware updates - I was unable to find any firmware later than that installed

But no resolution to date. So it is back with NVidia (and back to 546.33) . Did you get any response, if you also raised the issue?

Dave

[D Fosse]

In other words, they are completely in the dark and have no idea...

No, I haven't sent any bug reports to Nvidia, I've been meaning to, but right now work consumes 95% of my brain and I just pop into the forum now and then to untwist my head for a brief moment. I'll get around to it.

[davescm]

I was contacted, by NVidia, today and asked to fill out a linked bug report form which will go to their developers as well as providing some GPU-Z logs. I also linked this thread in the report so, hopefully, we will see a change in a future release.

Dave

[palikrovol]

Hi everyone,

Another interesting thing about the issue, it does not appear using win11 23H2 (with any Nvidia driver or Photoshop version).
It seems it is related at least with win11 24H2.

I can also confirm with driver 546.33 (or older) and win11 24H2 it does appear.

In my case I have to right or left click on canvas (and move mouse) for the banding to dissapear.

eizo CS2731
nvidia 4070

Regards

Ramón

[palikrovol]

I can also confirm with driver 546.33 (or older) and win11 24H2 the issue does NOT appear (typo in previous message)