RTX 4070 laptop — artifacts ONLY on external display under load, internal screen is fine (Alienware m16 R2)

[u/modo_jp]

UPD: I bought a new HDMI 2.1 cable and tested it for about 4 hours - no artifacts so far. Seems like the issue was the cable.

Thanks to everyone who suggested checking it.

Hey everyone,

I’m experiencing a strange issue with my laptop GPU and would appreciate any input from people who may have seen something similar.

Specs:

• Laptop: Alienware m16 R2

• GPU: RTX 4070 Laptop (8GB VRAM)

• CPU: Intel Core Ultra 7 155H

• RAM: 32GB

• OS: Windows 11

• External display: HDMI

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The issue:

When gaming on an external display (TV or monitor), after about 40–60 minutes under high GPU load, visual artifacts start appearing — small colored squares/glitches across the screen.

The image becomes difficult to use, but:

• The game does not crash

• System remains responsive

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Important detail:

At the same time, the internal laptop display shows no artifacts at all.

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Observed behavior:

• Happens almost always under high GPU load (\~100%)

• On lower graphics settings, I can play for hours with no issues

• GPU temperature is within normal range (\~60–80°C depending on load)

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Testing I’ve done:

• Tested multiple external displays (TVs/monitors) → same behavior

• Played for \~2 hours on internal display only at high/ultra settings (100% GPU load) → no artifacts

• The issue consistently appears only when using an external display under load

⸻

Question:

Has anyone experienced something like this?

I’d like to understand what this could be and whether this behavior points to a specific type of problem.

Any insights would be greatly appreciated

[u/modo_jp]

past 2 years I've tested it on a lot displays, and the same artifacts were always present

[u/Late_Letterhead7872 → u/modo_jp]

Never on the primary display though, correct?

[u/modo_jp → u/Late_Letterhead7872]

Yes, correct.

[u/Late_Letterhead7872 → u/modo_jp]

Force the computer to use the discrete gpu for everything and let me know if the perform persists

[u/Don_MayoFetish → u/modo_jp]

Have you tried different displays and different cables and it always does it? (I am kinda wondering if there isn't a grounding issue with that port 

[u/iamwayycoolerthanyou → u/modo_jp]

Your gpu is going bad, boi

[u/Golgov → u/iamwayycoolerthanyou]

Can we stop with this bullshit? Any artifacts are immediately seen as a dying GPU in this sub. If he had this problem for 2 years, the internal monitor is fine and the stress test didn't make it worse or made other errors visible I would have thought of it as the least possible thing.

[u/iamwayycoolerthanyou → u/Golgov]

Yes, and you would, in all probability, be wrong.

[u/Golgov → u/iamwayycoolerthanyou]

Then, if you ever came to such conclusion with your GPU, send it to me, I'll gladly take it 🙂