RemoteFX vGPU Testing

[Inertia]

Hi,

 

I wasn't sure which section to put this in because it involves hardware, Windows OS, and networking. Please feel free to move it if I got it wrong .

 

I want to play with RemoteFX using Hyper-V (or can anyone suggest alternative technology to try)?

 

I have a surface pro 3, and my aim, just for the geeky fun of it more than anything, is to get my Surface pro 3 to play mid to high end 3d games using the GPU in my workstation.

 

The Surface pro 3 runs Windows 8.1 Professional , the workstation machine with an AMD Radeon 7980 runs Windows 10 Technical Preview. (this was also running 8.1 until recently)

 

I created a virtual machine in Hyper-V on the Windows 10 Box but cannot see where I add a vGPU.  Is this not possible? do I need to be running Server 2012 r2 as the host on the workstation machine to make this possible ?

 

Any input / advice / guidance / experience appreciated .

 

Thanks

 

[PGHammer]

  On 31/12/2014 at 17:54, Inertia said:

Hi,

 

I wasn't sure which section to put this in because it involves hardware, Windows OS, and networking. Please feel free to move it if I got it wrong .

 

I want to play with RemoteFX using Hyper-V (or can anyone suggest alternative technology to try)?

 

I have a surface pro 3, and my aim, just for the geeky fun of it more than anything, is to get my Surface pro 3 to play mid to high end 3d games using the GPU in my workstation.

 

The Surface pro 3 runs Windows 8.1 Professional , the workstation machine with an AMD Radeon 7980 runs Windows 10 Technical Preview. (this was also running 8.1 until recently)

 

I created a virtual machine in Hyper-V on the Windows 10 Box but cannot see where I add a vGPU.  Is this not possible? do I need to be running Server 2012 r2 as the host on the workstation machine to make this possible ?

 

Any input / advice / guidance / experience appreciated .

 

Thanks

You add (and configure) RemoteFX in Hyper-V Manager.  Due to the EPT/SLAT requirement for Hyper-V in Windows 8.x (and Windows 10's Technical Previews), this will show as an option.  Windows Server 2012 (and 2012R2) can leverage RemoteFX if EPT/SLAT support is present - however, it is NOT required in Hyper-V on Windows Server (yet); however, that exception dies with Windows Server Next.  (I actually get why this change is happening with Windows Server Next, as EPT is becoming ubiquitous with the current generation of Intel CPUs, as the PentiumG (starting with G3258) supports EPT.

[Guest]

  On 31/12/2014 at 18:04, PGHammer said:

You add (and configure) RemoteFX in Hyper-V Manager.

 

Can you do that on Windows 8.1? I can't see any option like that anywhere in the GUI.

 

Oh never mind. Just saw this: "You can only add a vGPU to a VM if the VM is hosted on Windows Server 2012.  RemoteFX vGPU is not available if you're using Client Hyper-V in Windows 8."

[spaceelf]

  On 31/12/2014 at 18:13, elenarie said:

Can you do that on Windows 8.1? I can't see any option like that anywhere in the GUI.

 

Oh never mind. Just saw this: "You can only add a vGPU to a VM if the VM is hosted on Windows Server 2012.  RemoteFX vGPU is not available if you're using Client Hyper-V in Windows 8."

I believe it's also supported in Enterprise.

[Inertia]

  On 31/12/2014 at 18:21, TheExperiment said:

I believe it's also supported in Enterprise.

Awesome, this could be the answer I was looking for.  Thanks

 

 

http://www.microsoft.com/en-us/evalcenter/evaluate-windows-technical-preview-for-enterprise?i=1

 

I wonder .... Downloading now, we will see!

[Aergan]

Tried it around June 2014, it wasn't great for what you're trying to achieve. You can get movies to stream through DXVA brilliantly but games are a completely horrible experience when I tried.

 

Best solution I had was from a Nvidia Quadro K2200 / Intel E3-Xenon based 2012 R2 workstation + supported Nvidia drivers for RemoteFX to a Windows 8.1 Enterprise client. Games/3D applications would run in a window rather than full screen at around 30fps but the input latency to the application is horrendous.

 

At home, I tried my server: Nvidia GTX 650 / AMD Phenom x4 2012 R2 + tricked Remote FX support to Windows 8.1 Enterprise client. Games would launch in full screen or a window, then crash after a period of time or drop the RDP connection. I think the main issues are sound related though. Input latency is still horrendous though, taking roughly 1-2 seconds to respond. Interestingly though, if you interact with the desktop there is no latency - only with the 3D application.

 

Please let me know your experiences though.

[Praetor]

  On 02/01/2015 at 10:16, Aergan said:

Tried it around June 2014, it wasn't great for what you're trying to achieve. You can get movies to stream through DXVA brilliantly but games are a completely horrible experience when I tried.

 

Best solution I had was from a Nvidia Quadro K2200 / Intel E3-Xenon based 2012 R2 workstation + supported Nvidia drivers for RemoteFX to a Windows 8.1 Enterprise client. Games/3D applications would run in a window rather than full screen at around 30fps but the input latency to the application is horrendous.

 

At home, I tried my server: Nvidia GTX 650 / AMD Phenom x4 2012 R2 + tricked Remote FX support to Windows 8.1 Enterprise client. Games would launch in full screen or a window, then crash after a period of time or drop the RDP connection. I think the main issues are sound related though. Input latency is still horrendous though, taking roughly 1-2 seconds to respond. Interestingly though, if you interact with the desktop there is no latency - only with the 3D application.

 

Please let me know your experiences though.

 

Have you ever installed KB2770440? That fixes some performance problems in RemoteFX with AMD CPUs.

[Aergan]

  On 02/01/2015 at 17:26, Praetor said:

Have you ever installed KB2770440? That fixes some performance problems in RemoteFX with AMD CPUs.

 

Seems to apply to 2012, not 2012 R2. Thanks for the suggestion though.

[AnotherITguy]

Personally, I have not had the time to play with WINDOWS 10 Tech preview but I can tell you with certainty that the version of HYPER-V in WINDOWS 8.1 PRO/ENTERPRISE does not support RemoteFX vGPU.

[spaceelf]

  On 02/01/2015 at 18:12, AnotherITguy said:

Personally, I have not had the time to play with WINDOWS 10 Tech preview but I can tell you with certainty that the version of HYPER-V in WINDOWS 8.1 PRO/ENTERPRISE does not support RemoteFX vGPU.

http://blogs.msdn.com/b/rds/archive/2012/11/26/remotefx-features-for-windows-8-and-windows-server-2012.aspx disagrees with you anyway.

[Martog]

  On 02/01/2015 at 19:56, TheExperiment said:

http://blogs.msdn.com/b/rds/archive/2012/11/26/remotefx-features-for-windows-8-and-windows-server-2012.aspx disagrees with you anyway.

 

That article explains which clients that are connecting FROM support RemoteFX and which virtualized clients you are connecting TO support RemoteFX.  The bare metal still needs to run Hyper-V on a Windows Server product, not the client OS.  The client Hyper-V does not support this feature. Any guide you look up will reference Server 2012 or 2012 R2 more than likely.

[spaceelf]

  On 02/01/2015 at 20:23, Martog said:

Any guide you look up will reference Server 2012 or 2012 R2 more than likely.

Unless I'm missing something, that right there very clearly says all of them support it, but the virtual machine must be 8.1 Enterprise or 7 Enterprise updated.

 

I personally have little faith in the documentation of a feature barely anyone can use in the first place.  Either way I can't verify it.

[spaceelf]

  On 31/12/2014 at 17:54, Inertia said:

I want to play with RemoteFX using Hyper-V (or can anyone suggest alternative technology to try)?

Personally I'd recommend VMware Player or its virtual GPU capabilities.  Free for personal use.  Haven't used it for too much myself but it did what I wanted (and more than I expected.)

[Inertia]

  On 02/01/2015 at 20:23, Martog said:

That article explains which clients that are connecting FROM support RemoteFX and which virtualized clients you are connecting TO support RemoteFX.  The bare metal still needs to run Hyper-V on a Windows Server product, not the client OS.  The client Hyper-V does not support this feature. Any guide you look up will reference Server 2012 or 2012 R2 more than likely.

I can validate this, I tried Enterprise and cannot add a vGPU still,  I have a server running hyper-v already, I will just have to put a half decent GPU in the server to play with.

  On 03/01/2015 at 06:35, TheExperiment said:

Personally I'd recommend VMware Player or its virtual GPU capabilities.  Free for personal use.  Haven't used it for too much myself but it did what I wanted (and more than I expected.)

Interesting, I will investigate, thanks.

[AnotherITguy]

While you do have a valid argument as to VMWARE's superiority, I will say this, HYPERV is...well... free.

[spaceelf]

  On 30/01/2015 at 04:59, AnotherITguy said:

While you do have a valid argument as to VMWARE's superiority, I will say this, HYPERV is...well... free.

So is VMware Player, for non commercial use.

[AnotherITguy]

Yea, that's where I was going with it, Commercial usage. I'll eventually get to doing the VMware certs, it does not hurt having both hyperv and VMware certs

[binaryzero]

lol this was never going to work as intended. 

[JoeyDee]

I know this is an old thread, but I came across it by accident. If the sole purpose is to game from your Surface using your workstation graphics... Steam's In-Home Streaming will do the trick much better than any other solution out there so long as you're using gigabit or decent 5Ghz wireless.

 

I've even used it over the internet while VPN'd for games that dont require twitch response like RTS games.

 

I used to play World of Tankson my Surface Pro 1 over 5Ghz N without any horrible lag.

[The_Observer]

Steam Inhome steaming or Nvidia version. Using VMs to play games isnt the greatest way to do it. Current setup is my Server 2012r2 with Steam installed. Inhome steaming to rMBP. While 80% of my games play there are some issues with it. I also have setup so there is a user account autologin into windows on boot and starts steam. This lets me RDP into admin account to make any changes. I also have this plugged into 50 4K tv for steam big picture.

[The_Observer]

  On 12/05/2015 at 20:26, Riva said:

Unfortunately Hyper-V only provides RemoteFX as part of Terminal Services which means you need Server 2012 R2 instead.

I have been submitting feedback for Windows 10 so that RemoteFX is part of Hyper-V with Windows 10 Pro and the GPU requirements are more relaxed (I think they already are for RemoteFX).

VMWare Workstation is probably the best option for 3D acceleration so far at the workstation level. RemoteFX performs better though if you have a Server 2012 R2 with Terminal Services License.

 

Would be interesting if they put RemoteFX into Windows 10 Pro Hyper-V but why would they. RemoteFX is more of a Terminal Services thing from my understanding. The cheaper option could be ESXi for free.

[JoeyDee]

I use RemoteFX on a box running the Windows Server Technical Preview 2... using the onboard Intel graphics on my haswell i7.

 

It works surprisingly well. The big change of course is that you can specify in the gui how much video ram you want to allow that VM to use.

 

Also, RemoteFX on the new preview supports Directx12, as well as OpenGL 4+, both huge upgrades. Any of the Unigine Valley tests run perfectly fine on it.

[PGHammer]

  On 17/05/2015 at 04:48, JoeyDee said:

I use RemoteFX on a box running the Windows Server Technical Preview 2... using the onboard Intel graphics on my haswell i7.

 

It works surprisingly well. The big change of course is that you can specify in the gui how much video ram you want to allow that VM to use.

 

Also, RemoteFX on the new preview supports Directx12, as well as OpenGL 4+, both huge upgrades. Any of the Unigine Valley tests run perfectly fine on it.

Expand  

And the same will apply to any LGA115x CPU - not just to Haswell (or even to i7s), as Intel HD440 Graphics are part and parcel of the Core-i and progeny.  Also supported are discrete nVidia GPUs (back to Fermi - my GTX550Ti is supported) and discrete AMD GPUs back to HD55xx (in addition to my G3258 - a nerfed Haswell Core i3).