Issue with Displaying Random Numbers Matching Screen Hz Rate

Question

Encountering a display issue where a three-digit number (165, corresponding to my screen's Hz rate) appears on the screen. It is not from the Nvidia overlay, which is indicated as a smaller character. How can this number be removed or identified?

Answer 1

Hello Clayton,

I hope you are doing well!

A large on-screen number matching your monitor’s refresh rate (e.g. 165) is almost certainly caused by a performance overlay or FPS counter running in the background – not a random Windows bug. Several software features or utilities can create such an overlay besides Nvidia overlay.

I) Windows 11 Xbox Game Bar – Performance Widget:

The built-in Game Bar has a Performance overlay that can display FPS, CPU/GPU usage, etc. If pinned, it will show a framerate (or “FPS N/A” when not in a game) along with stats like GPU/CPU % and latency on your screen. This can appear at startup if previously enabled.

Please kindly press Win + G to check the Xbox Game Bar. Look for the Performance panel (showing CPU, GPU, RAM, FPS). If you see an FPS meter there that matches the on-screen number, that’s the source. To remove it, either unpin/close that widget or disable the FPS counter: click the Performance widget’s settings (gear icon) and toggle off the “FPS” option. If the widget was pinned (set to “Always on top”), unpin it by clicking the pin icon so it won’t persist after closing the Game Bar. Once done, close the Game Bar – the overlay should vanish.

II) Monitor’s Built-in Refresh/FPS Display:

Some gaming monitors have an on-screen display feature that shows the current refresh rate.

Kindly use the monitor’s physical buttons to open its OSD (On-Screen Display) menu. Navigate through the settings for any feature like “FPS Counter,” “Refresh Rate Display,” or “GamePlus”. Many ASUS, Acer, and other gaming monitors have this feature. If you find it enabled, turn it Off. For example, on an ASUS monitor you’d go to GamePlus > FPS Counter > Off. Once disabled, the on-screen number (which was actually the monitor’s own overlay) will be gone. (Note: A monitor-generated FPS display would appear on-screen but would not be captured in a Windows screenshot – it’s an hardware overlay. You’d typically only see it via a camera. If you captured it via software screenshot, that implies it was software-based, not the monitor OSD.)

III) Other Overlay Sources:

Less commonly, ensure that the Steam or Origin in-game FPS counter isn’t on (Steam’s counter is small and white by default, so likely not your case). Also, AMD Radeon users have an overlay (triggered by Alt+R for Radeon or Alt+Z) called the Performance Metrics overlay – if you have an AMD GPU, check the Radeon Software to disable the metrics overlay. On Intel Arc GPUs, check the Intel Arc Control for any performance overlay. In general, any software that can display performance stats is a suspect.

I hope these information can help you solve the issue. If it persists, please kindly let me know!

Finn Dang