What is monitor ghosting? How do I fix the ghosting on my monitor?
Monitor Ghosting is a common issue that you might see on any monitor. Monitor ghosting is a type of distortion on your display where an image artifact or ghost image appears as a trail of pixels behind an object in motion. Unlike similar effects such as image retention or monitor burn-in, monitor ghosting does not cause permanent effects to your monitor. And whether you have an LED or LCD, ghosting can affect you. Put simply, it looks like a blurry ghost that follows something moving on your screen.
Here’s a video that shows how monitor ghosting looks:
How Do I Test for Monitor Ghosting?
There’s an easy way to test for monitor ghosting: simply run the Blur Busters UFO Motion Test. Go to Blur Busters UFO Motion Test and run the monitor ghosting test within your browser.
The tool will also explain any problems related to the frames per second, refresh rate, pixels per frame, and pixels per second for your display.
If you have no issues, you’ll see the green “Ready” signal. However, if you have any monitor ghosting issues, you’ll see an orange signal with suggestions on what to fix.
How to fix monitor ghosting
1: Check your monitor cable
First, you want to make sure that your monitor cable is firmly plugged in. Try unplugging then replugging in the cable and test if the issue persists. You may also a damaged monitor cable could result in monitor ghosting, in which case you should change your monitor cable and test if the problem persists.
2: Check other devices connected to your PC
It could be an issue of proximity, meaning that you just need to keep your monitor far from those devices. Connected devices, and sometimes even wireless ones can also cause interference, especially if they’re close to your monitor. Other devices connected to your PC, such as your keyboard or speaker could interfere with your monitor’s function. If one of your devices seems to cause the ghosting issue, try not to use it with your monitor at the same time.
3: Adjust your monitor’s display settings
As we mentioned above, refresh rate and response time are the main factors that are responsible for the ghosting issue. You can adjust your monitor’s settings to achieve a higher refresh rate and a lower response time which helps prevent your screen from ghosting.
Having adequate refresh interval rate:
If your monitor supports variable refresh rates, you can set it to a higher value to tackle the monitor ghosting problem. As a general rule of thumb, the higher the refresh rate, the better. The display will be able to update itself with a new image much more quickly. This gives smoother motion, and as a result reduces the chance of ghosting. 120Hz should work well, but if you intend to use the monitor for intensive tasks like editing or gaming, opt for 144Hz or higher.
The opposite rule applies for response time: the lower the number, the better. If you’re hoping to beat monitor ghosting once and for all – and want optimal gaming experience, go for a monitor with a response time under 5ms.
4: Update your graphics driver
Although screen ghosting is mostly a monitor issue rather than a GPU issue, you might still try upgrading your graphics driver. Updating your graphics card drivers will also boost performance, and doing so at regular intervals can help you avoid other monitor issues.
5: Check your video port
If the video port of your monitor is faulty, it could probably cause you screen to ghost. We recommend taking your monitor to a local repair store since it’s very difficult to identify the problematic component and replace it.