Performance issues with RemoteFX, what's wrong?

Virtual GPU Forums General Discussion
1

Performance issues with RemoteFX, what’s wrong?

Our hardware configuration
Server: HP - ProLiant ML350p gen8 (Tower server)
Processor: Single processor - Intel Xeon E5-2620 Six-Core 2GHz (SLAT enabled)
GPU: NVIDIA GRID K1
RAM: 64 MB – DDR3-1333 – 30% free for host server

Our software configuration
Server BIOS: HP P72 (20/12/2013)
Windows server 2012R2 – Hyper-V – Remote desktop virtualization host
NVIDIA GRID Series drivers v.333.11 or NVIDIA GRID VGPU drivers v. 332.83 (both tested)
System center 2012 virtual machine manager SP1

RemoteFX Configuration server
Embedded Matrox G200 card disabled from RBSU (BIOS)
NVIDIA driver installed correctly, device manager show 4 items “NVIDIA GRID K1”
Hyper-V console show four “NVIDIA GRID K1 GPU”, all enabled.

RemoteFX Configuration client (VM)
Windows 8.1 cleaned installation - fully updated at 20/05/2014
Installed K-Lite Codec Pack 10.5.0 Mega version (does not seem to make any difference)
Remote FX 3D graphics card added to VM client machine.
Virtual processors: 6
Memory: 8GB – static and set to High priority
LAN: dedicated 1Gbps
Device manager show correctly RemoteFX VDDM driver.
tested many configurations in Gpedit.msc
Computer Configuration\Policies\Administrative Templates\Windows Components\Remote Desktop Services\Remote Desktop Session Host\Remote Session Environment
 

How to run tests
The tests where repeated on several client computers from the LAN (1Gbps), WAN (100Mbps) through RDP Gateway, or directly connected to the VPN.
RDP client report Excellent or good quality connection and UDP enabled
Playback of 720p video with Windows Media Player
Internet Explorer Test Drive: http://ie.microsoft.com/testdrive/
http://ie.microsoft.com/testdrive/performance/fishbowl/
http://ie.microsoft.com/testdrive/Performance/Popcorn/

Results
In all test modes occurs a large amount of lost frames
K1 performance is poor and less than Matrox G200 (embedded card).

Performance counter
K1 GPU usage counter show that k1 works
Frames Skipped/second – Insufficient Client Resources = 0
Frames Skipped/second – Insufficient Network Resources = 0
Frames Skipped/second – Insufficient Server Resources = High values 30/40 fps

Any suggestions would be appreciated

Cristiano Fantinati
IT Administrator – IPSIA F.lli Taddia

2

Which version of Win 8.1 are you using? I seem to remember that Only 8.1 Enterprise fully unlock RemoteFX.

Which client are you usin for testing (Win8 / 8.1 or 7)?

I found the following old article that we used

Check 5.6 and 5.8

Also I would stay away from NVIDIA GRID VGPU drivers since these drivers are meant for guest OS install when using XenServer + vGPU.

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Thanks for the reply

We have already read the suggested TechNet
All tests for prerequisites seem ok

VM: Windows 8.1 Enterprise version (Virtual machine version 1)
Client: Windows 8 and 8.1 enterprise version (RDP8)

At this time we have installed the latest driver Series (NOT vGPU)
"GRID Series NVIDIA drivers v.333.11" for Windows Server 2012 R2

4

What client configuration are you using? i.e. how is the RDP client configured for the connection?

Also note that IE Test Drive is built on HTML 5 which requires WebGL, which is based on OpenGL 2.1 which isn’t supported in RemoteFX connections. They’re DirectX only.

5

RDP Client v.8.1
In the performance tab, LAN 10/100 or higher, all items are checked.
In the Display tab, High quality: 32 bit Color

We have installed 3DMark 11 on the VM to test DirectX
The score assigned to VM is: p1208

Link to complete report
http://www.ipsia100.it/k1/3DMark11.mht

Cristiano Fantinati
IT Administrator - IPSIA F.lli Taddia

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Have you read this blog especially the comments from MS engineers Archived MSDN and TechNet Blogs | Microsoft Docs

Also saw something interesting with WPF Configuring Virtualised Autodesk and similar applications including XenApp GPU-sharing and tools for sanity checking DirectX/OpenGL usage | Citrix Blogs