We have set up a demo with 2x nvidia grid 2k/xenserver 7.0 (full update)/xenapp & xendesktop 7.11 but the performance in Revit 2017 is really slow.
Dell R720, 2x 185 gb SSD raid 0, enabled turbo mode, we disabled console to vms.
CPU: Intel(R) Xeon(R) CPU E5-2640 v2 @ 2.00GHz
The vm specs are
16 core (2x8)
32gb ram
GRID Pass-Through K2
Windows Server 2012 R2
We created registry key for OpenCL and CUDA.
Revit File Size : 400 MB - 600MB
If we want rendering with Revit, Revit is overloading to CPU. When we see cpu tab in task manager, cpu is %100. GPU load is %5 - %15
What is the problem?
Unfortunately, your CPU is way too slow and completely unsuitable for Revit 2017.
Revit needs fast CPU, nothing less than 2.6Ghz and preferably 3.0Ghz or faster, the faster the better! In fact, most Autodesk products have the requirement for fast CPU.
Autodesk introduced a new render engine for Revit 2016 (Autodesk Raytracer). This uses CPU for rendering not GPU, which is why the CPU requirements are so important and will directly impact your rendering performance, and this also explains why you are seeing these results which are to be expected.
When you enable "Hardware Acceleration" in Revit, it uses the GPU for a variety of tasks, but not rendering. For GPU rendering in Revit, you’ll need to look at external Plug-ins such as Octane.
This is one of the reasons I personally don’t use XenApp for Revit. With multiple users using that application on the same VM, if 1 user decides to start a render job, they wipe out all the performance for everyone else on the VM, as you can see by the usage of all 16 CPUs. Yes, you have CPU fair share and all that stuff, but then you’re limiting overall application performance for the sake of the architectural design.
The only way I think you can fix that specific issue for Revit 2017, is as mentioned above, use an external Plug-in, or to upgrade your CPU to something much faster, either on what you are using or another system. As you have an R720, the best CPU you can fit is a Xeon E5-2680 v2 because you’re limited by TDP. This is still much less than ideal, but it’s the best you can fit in that chassis with a GPU installed. Remove the GPU, and you can have much faster options ranging from 3.0 to 3.5Ghz. It really depends on what other applications you plan to deliver.
AutoCAD 2017 will work with those specs (just as Revit does). However, like nearly all Autodesk products, a fast CPU will massively improve your experience (for the entire Operating System, not just in this specific application).
Not all visuals you see within these applications use a GPU, a lot use the CPU which is why its speed is so important.
If this is only a demo / lab / evaluation, then what you have is fine. If this is a production system, then I’d recommend you upgrade the CPU to the same speed as you want for Revit.