If you recently upgraded to a 240Hz or 360Hz QD-OLED or WOLED monitor and noticed faint brightness flickering in dark grey menus or during loading screens in games like S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2, Silent Hill 2, and Elden Ring while G-Sync/FreeSync is active, here is why it happens and how to fix it in 2 minutes:
Why it happens: OLED subpixels have a fixed gamma curve tuned for max refresh (240Hz). When a loading screen or unoptimized menu causes frame times to swing wildly from 180 FPS down to 42 FPS and back, the sudden change in refresh interval shifts near-black luminance by ~2 nits.
The 3-Step Fix:
1. Use RivaTuner Statistics Server (RTSS) or NVIDIA Driver Max Frame Rate to cap the game to a stable ceiling your GPU holds 95%+ of the time (e.g., 120 FPS or 144 FPS) rather than letting frame times bounce between 90 and 220 FPS.
2. Enable "Optimizations for Windowed Games" in Windows 11 and run Borderless Windowed with G-Sync set to "Fullscreen only" if a specific title has uncapped 15 FPS loading-screen spikes.
3. On ASUS ROG / MSI / LG OLED monitors, set "OLED Anti-Flicker" to Middle (which narrows the VRR LFC floor slightly to prevent wild Hz swings).