Windows RDP Help

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United States
Marin County
Hi All,

Hopefully we have some knowledgeable folks around here, because I've racked my brain trying to get this to work and it just isn't.

During this pandemic, I've been working from home, but using pretty GPU-heavy software over a remote desktop connection. Unfortunately, this has not been working very well.

I have a coworker with a very similar internet connection (100mpbs down, 5-10mpbs up) who is able to use the software (in this case, Revit and the plugin Enscape specifically) much more successfully than I. My coworker's office machine (that is, the one being remoted into) has 64gb of ram and 36gb of graphics memory on a Quadro M2000 GPU. My machine has 32gb of ram and 20gb of graphics memory on a similar Quadro M2000 GPU. While running the software, my host machine (that is, my home computer) shows zero GPU load. The remote machine does not appear to be encoding video while running the software, but the "3d" monitor on the GPU resource monitor lights up like a christmas tree. I guess my question is...is it feasible to improve how this app performs?

My home machine has 32gb of ram and 2gb of dedicated graphics memory on an AMD HD 7800. I'm also running windows 7 on my home machine, whereas the office machine is windows 10.
 
I wouldn't even want to watch YouTube videos over RDP...

Your home machine would not show any GPU load, as it's not running the program. RDP simply sends you the host machine's video as best it can. As far as I know, RDP makes no accommodation for hardware graphics acceleration.

Someone may correct me shortly, but that's my understanding.
 
Wfooshee is correct, your work machine is handling all of the work load, so you won't see your home machines resource being used.
As for RDP... that is not the way. Have you talked to your coworker about the solution they are using?
The second question is, are you using VPN services to connect to your work machine? If so, some CAD programs like Autodesk come with a remote access functionality built in.
This reddit post may also be of some help.
The only way to do this that won't totally suck is if you use VMWare Horizon View with a good card like a NVidia Quadro/GTX/GRID/TESLA card that is supported by Horizon. You then would use PCoIP or whatever they call it in View.

I made a subreddit for stuff like this and other media streaming /r/VirtualHTPC but I haven't really been on it in a while, but there are some good links over there along the lines of the stuff you're trying to do. You can also do it with Xen but I don't know very much about it since I'm a VMWare guy.

If you don't want to go with the Horizon option, you could just passthrough your video cards (as long as they are supported) as well as your peripherals and stuff to a VM that you would like to game on. I have no idea why I didn't lead with that option first because it's definitely the most viable one and is MUCH easier than using Horizon. You could also use a HDMI over CAT6 and USB over CAT6 adapter if you wanna use your VM in another room. I really reccommend doing this over Horizon, it's been a long time since I've thought about any of this and I guess I had Horizon on the top of my head. The guy over at TheHomeServerBlog did this really well. Check out his build and howtos for more information.

I've been wanting to do something like this for a while, but I have nowhere near the amount of money I would need.

Here's some other links for reference and examples

Multi-headed VMWare Gaming Setup - Puget Custom Computers --> https://www.pugetsystems.com/labs/articles/Multi-headed-VMWare-Gaming-Setup-564/

Dedicated Virtual GPU Pass-Through Technology from GRID | NVIDIA --> http://www.nvidia.com/object/dedicated-gpus.html

VMware Horizon View PCoIP with vDGA (NVIDIA GeForce GT 640@GRID K1) -->

How to turn an NVIDIA GTX 690 into a Quadro or TESLA card --> http://www.eevblog.com/forum/chat/hacking-nvidia-cards-into-their-professional-counterparts/

Gaming and High End Graphic Workstations with Horizon --> https://communities.vmware.com/thread/530945?start=0&tstart=0

Some cool examples of video pass through with XenServer --> /r/VirtualHTPC/comments/1n86qm/some_cool_examples_of_video_pass_through_with
 
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