iMac 2020, 5700XT - graphical glitch?

[torifile]

Update from my contacts:

- My friend from work with the 5700xt is 100% glitch free the last few days + a few other users I was in contact with on other forums with Imacs. Very happy! But still experiencing the corner issue.

- 2x Mac Pro users with the W5700XT is still experiencing the glitch but at a much lower rate. Before the glitching started straight away but now it takes a few hours before the glitching returns which a quick restart temporarily "cures". No corner issue though.

- Myself on my MacBook Pro (16", 5500m) has experienced a drastic reduction in the occurrence of the glitching. It can be a few hours of usage before the glitch reappears. Restarting seems to temporarily fix it, just like the W5700XT users. Corner issue is also fixed for me.

Weird that the Mac Pro and MacBook Pro experience the same "reduction" in glitch occurrence + fixed corners compared to Imacs x).

Be sure to submit bug reports using the feedback assistant on MacOS regarding the issues with screenshots of the corner issue / photos of the glitching if it occurs!

I told you it is a different issue. Will you listen now?

 

[torifile]

I am glad this issue is fixed. All those who refused to believe it was software or that apple would fix it should be chastened now. But they won’t be.

So much drama for such a minor thing.

 

[kkh]

As for the square corners issue, maybe I’m naive but I’ve just based this on the continued debacle/embarrassment that is Catalina. I went in with low expectations so seeing this kind of issue really hasn’t surprised me and I’m not even fully convinced it’s specific to this graphics card or machine. I mean, it could be, but it could be a more pervasive Catalina bug impacting lots of machines.

In any event, if that sort of thing continues into Big Sur, I’m sure plenty of us will file bugs.

As mentioned earlier in this thread, the square flickering corners persist in the Big Sur betas.

 

[kkh]

I am glad this issue is fixed. All those who refused to believe it was software or that apple would fix it should be chastened now. But they won’t be.

So much drama for such a minor thing.

Refused to "believe"? This isn't a faith-based thing, is it? What I "believe" we were/are all concerned about was/is whether this was/is a hardware flaw or a software flaw. And the sharp flickering corners remain (in Catalina and Big Sur betas)... so, we still do not have a complete answer. It looks to be software, yes. But, it also was not fixed as a part of the update that fixed the white lines. So, it is unrelated and therefore potentially unknown. Also: you can do software fixes for hardware problems. Happens all the time. Why does any of this matter? Because we are stuck with the hardware for the n number of years we keep this machine. And it would be nice to know if we paid for a 100% functional piece of hardware or something that is 99% there but continues to have a variety of issues for that n number of years.

 

[Clifford Andrew]

Refused to "believe"? This isn't a faith-based thing, is it? What I "believe" we were/are all concerned about was/is whether this was/is a hardware flaw or a software flaw. And the sharp flickering corners remain (in Catalina and Big Sur betas)... so, we still do not have a complete answer. It looks to be software, yes. But, it also was not fixed as a part of the update that fixed the white lines. So, it is unrelated and therefore potentially unknown. Also: you can do software fixes for hardware problems. Happens all the time. Why does any of this matter? Because we are stuck with the hardware for the n number of years we keep this machine. And it would be nice to know if we paid for a 100% functional piece of hardware or something that is 99% there but continues to have a variety of issues for that n number of years.

Your points are well taken. Another important thing to keep in mind is that while graphical glitches can mean different things to different people (major vs minor) any glitch that involves flashes or flickering (corners, lines, other shapes) is potentially more serious for some users (particularly older users or those with certain neurological conditions — can lead to headaches, seizures) as compared to being a solely aesthetic issue.

 

[dspdoc]

Refused to "believe"? This isn't a faith-based thing, is it? What I "believe" we were/are all concerned about was/is whether this was/is a hardware flaw or a software flaw. And the sharp flickering corners remain (in Catalina and Big Sur betas)... so, we still do not have a complete answer. It looks to be software, yes. But, it also was not fixed as a part of the update that fixed the white lines. So, it is unrelated and therefore potentially unknown. Also: you can do software fixes for hardware problems. Happens all the time. Why does any of this matter? Because we are stuck with the hardware for the n number of years we keep this machine. And it would be nice to know if we paid for a 100% functional piece of hardware or something that is 99% there but continues to have a variety of issues for that n number of years.

Excellent points. Apple could have “fixed” the white line glitch simply by changing the default resolution by one pixel. We may never know if this is HW/SW or a combination of both.

 

[AZREOSpecialist]

Refused to "believe"? This isn't a faith-based thing, is it? What I "believe" we were/are all concerned about was/is whether this was/is a hardware flaw or a software flaw. And the sharp flickering corners remain (in Catalina and Big Sur betas)... so, we still do not have a complete answer. It looks to be software, yes. But, it also was not fixed as a part of the update that fixed the white lines. So, it is unrelated and therefore potentially unknown. Also: you can do software fixes for hardware problems. Happens all the time. Why does any of this matter? Because we are stuck with the hardware for the n number of years we keep this machine. And it would be nice to know if we paid for a 100% functional piece of hardware or something that is 99% there but continues to have a variety of issues for that n number of years.

Fine. Ask Apple for $30.

 

[Schnauzer World]

Wow, saved by the bell. I had everything packed up and ready to take to Fedex in a couple hours then I thought I would check this forum one more time. Good to hear it's fixed.

I initially didn't see the glitch, then I saw it several times while watching Twitch and again on Youtube.

 

[kkh]

Fine. Ask Apple for $30.

Thirty bucks? For what?

The only thing I am asking is Apple to fix the remaining issue (or issues) so that we have a machine that functions as advertised.

I do not recall ever owning a computer (of any kind) that could not handle rendering the windows of its own native operating system correctly. It is laughable.

 

[filmgirl]

As mentioned earlier in this thread, the square flickering corners persist in the Big Sur betas.

Fair! I haven’t paid attention to betas because after Catalina, I don’t touch them except in a testing environment.

I will say that these have always appeared to me to be two distinct issues. The white lines glitch was concerning because the way it presented itself did make it look like it was hardware OR software, whereas the corner radius glitch seems like something totally different.

I haven’t ever seen this specific corner glitch in macOS before but I do know that historically, the way the rounded corners are displayed is usually separate from how they are drawn. I.e., the window/chrome is drawn as square and then there is an alpha channel that adds transparency/corner radius stuff. If you’ve ever tried to do pixel-perfect screenshots in older versions of Mac OS X, you’ve seen this (I used to have a Photoshop action that would add the correct corner radius and transparency to specific windows. I used to also have an action that could remove the drop shadow from a screenshot).

I don’t know enough about how Core Graphics/Quartz stuff works, but the fact that this doesn’t happen in every app seems to be proof that this is primarily a software issue. Whether it is around the driver or if certain applications need to be adjusted to correctly paint/perform the proper alpha composition stuff, I don’t know and I won’t speculate.

Regardless, everyone who is bothered should file feedback with Apple so it can see bug reports coming in. I agree it is not even remotely ideal, but it’s not the same white lines issue and I’m not surprised fixing one didn’t fix the other.

 

[AZREOSpecialist]

Thirty bucks? For what?

For the 1% of your iMac that you say doesn't work. If you paid about $3,000, then that's about 1%. That's what we're talking about here, right, using your own words:

if we paid for a 100% functional piece of hardware or something that is 99% there but continues to have a variety of issues for that n number of years.

The only thing I am asking is Apple to fix the remaining issue (or issues) so that we have a machine that functions as advertised.

I do not recall ever owning a computer (of any kind) that could not handle rendering the windows of its own native operating system correctly. It is laughable.

With no disrespect to you or anyone else, but I've been giving my new iMac a workout in Photoshop, Capture One Pro, Illustrator and Indesign. The only time I have seen the "corner issue", over which you and a handful of others seem to be concerned, was when I looked for it specifically using the instructions provided earlier in the thread. It's that specific and that invisible.

If I can't see something and I've used the machine for weeks, 8 hours per day minimum, then I'm not going to worry about it. I Sent Apple a bug report and I'm done with it.

 

[swamyg1]

I tried to update to 10.15.7... Got a message that it could not be installed. My machine then would not boot up. Had to do a Time Machine restore. Very scared to try to update again!! I have an i9 with 5700xt. Aaaaargh!!

 

[kkh]

For the 1% of your iMac that you say doesn't work. If you paid about $3,000, then that's about 1%.

I paid ~$4900 including taxes. And what you propose would be an awfully naive way of doing the math. But, anyway. Your math, your way of assessing the situation, for yourself.

If I can't see something and I've used the machine for weeks, 8 hours per day minimum, then I'm not going to worry about it. I Sent Apple a bug report and I'm done with it.

I hear you. The flickery sharp corners do not bother you. At all. You can not see them. Out of sight, out of mind. Got it. Roger. Understood. Done with it.

And all I am saying is that they do bother me. I can see them. Obvious as all hell. Not out of sight, not out of mind. To repeat myself: I do not recall ever owning a computer (of any kind) that could not handle rendering the windows of its own native operating system correctly. It is laughable.

 

[DimaVR]

I paid ~$4900 including taxes. And what you propose would be an awfully naive way of doing the math. But, anyway. Your math, your way of assessing the situation, for yourself.

I hear you. The flickery sharp corners do not bother you. At all. You can not see them. Out of sight, out of mind. Got it. Roger. Understood. Done with it.

And all I am saying is that they do bother me. I can see them. Obvious as all hell. Not out of sight, not out of mind. To repeat myself: I do not recall ever owning a computer (of any kind) that could not handle rendering the windows of its own native operating system correctly. It is laughable.

I agree especially the prices we pay

 

[imagiag20]

just got my 8 core i7/5700 8GB (non XT) - can confirm the corner glitch appears on 5700 card as well, actually have it even in finder (when the window is inactive), and on both top corners at same time

also 2020 fan is WAY louder at idle (1200 rpm) than 2015 model it's replacing, but I expected that and will have to learn to live with it if I want the 2x CPU&GPU performance increase...

 

[kkh]

just got my 8 core i7/5700 8GB (non XT) - can confirm the corner glitch appears on 5700 card as well, actually have it even in finder (when the window is inactive), and on both top corners at same time

Wow. Maybe I missed it before but I thought the issues were limited to the XT only. Thanks for reporting.

 

[imagiag20]

Wow. Maybe I missed it before but I thought the issues were limited to the XT only. Thanks for reporting.

as for reporting it to Apple - can anyone please share link or describe how to best report the corner issue to Apple? Thanks.

 

[costica1234]

Wow. Maybe I missed it before but I thought the issues were limited to the XT only. Thanks for reporting.

I've also reported it a while back on this thread (page #69) and I have the same machine as @imagiag20, i.e. i7 and 5700 (non XT). You may want to check out my post #1706 in which I showed the corner glitch without moving the window at all (was using the zoom function on macOS): https://forums.macrumors.com/thread...h.2251034/page-69?post=28947016#post-28947016.

 

[costica1234]

as for reporting it to Apple - can anyone please share link or describe how to best report the corner issue to Apple? Thanks.

See here: https://www.apple.com/feedback/imac.html.

 

[Conradiminja]

/////

 

[imagiag20]

You can also use the "Apple Feedback Assistant" that's preinstalled on your computer to directly send a screenshot together with automatically generated hardware diagnostic logs and provide comments .

It's the same as the link provided above, but convenience + the additional hardware diagnostic logs is very valuable according to a person on the support I spoke a few weeks ago.

thanks, I've reported it using the website, and will use the internal tool as well, want to try get in touch with support also, because on my particular machine, the corners blink pretty much all the time (one or both of them)

 

[ninecows]

just got my 8 core i7/5700 8GB (non XT) - can confirm the corner glitch appears on 5700 card as well, actually have it even in finder (when the window is inactive), and on both top corners at same time

also 2020 fan is WAY louder at idle (1200 rpm) than 2015 model it's replacing, but I expected that and will have to learn to live with it if I want the 2x CPU&GPU performance increase...

Weird. I cannot hear or measure the noise of the fan when my iMac is idle.

I measure around 30 dB(A) 50 cm from the screen both when it’s on (idle) and off. That’s simply the background noise in my room. Full load, encoding in handbrake adds 10-12 dB.

Just measured with the NoiseExposure on my iPhone. It probably can’t go lower than 30 dB. I guess I would need more advanced stuff to measure below that.
All things being equal the fan should add something to the noise level even at idle, but I just can’t hear or measure it.

Maybe we have a fraction of the 2020 Macs that has issues with the fan?

 

[imagiag20]

Weird. I cannot hear or measure the noise of the fan when my iMac is idle.

I measure around 30 dB(A) 50 cm from the screen both when it’s on (idle) and off. That’s simply the background noise in my room. Full load, encoding in handbrake adds 10-12 dB.

Just measured with the NoiseExposure on my iPhone. It probably can’t go lower than 30 dB. I guess I would need more advanced stuff to measure below that.
All things being equal the fan should add something to the noise level even at idle, but I just can’t hear or measure it.

Maybe we have a fraction of the 2020 Macs that has issues with the fan?

just tried to do the same measurement using the same app, with similar result (30-31dB(A)) at 50cm from the display - I can hear that in my work room pretty clear (especially when I turn the new machine off, compared to turning off the 2015 model), but I can live with that..

the glitchy corners on the other hand are starting to get pretty annoying I just noticed they appear after a while even if I don't move the window at all - how could Apple pass this through is beyond my understanding.

 

[imagiag20]

so an update on the glitchy corners problem - just had a call with Apple Support, escalated to 2nd level -

- they are aware of the problem, although didn't get many reports on 5700 non XT version (I assume not many sold compared to 5500 & 5700XT's)
- they mentioned it's antialiasing procedure bug
- they are working on driver update - should be part of system update when ready

just before the call I noticed it's also happening on bottom corners for me, but way less often.

 

[tommiart]

Its fixed. Woof!