nVidia GT 610 (1GB) sufficient for remote desktop applications or should I upgrade?

[GuruMeditationError]

I've got an nVidia GT 610 (1GB)  in a machine built for use as a Windows Remote Desktop client, for working from home.

Would there be a benefit to upgrading it to something more powerful, and if so, what should I upgrade it to?

Currently have this fitted... http://www.gigabyte.com/Graphics-Card/GV-N610SL-1GI#ov

Should I upgrade?

[CHEESYnachoMAN4]

6 minutes ago, GuruMeditationError said:

I've got an nVidia GT 610 (1GB)  in a machine built for use as a Windows Remote Desktop client, for working from home.

Would there be a benefit to upgrading it to something more powerful, and if so, what should I upgrade it to?

Currently have this fitted... http://www.gigabyte.com/Graphics-Card/GV-N610SL-1GI#ov

Should I upgrade?

What kind of Applications are you running?

[GuruMeditationError]

Just now, CHEESYnachoMAN4 said:

What kind of Applications are you running?

Just windows remote desktop. Mainly for housekeeping spreadsheets, nothing more strenuous than that. 

[CHEESYnachoMAN4]

3 minutes ago, GuruMeditationError said:

Just windows remote desktop. Mainly for housekeeping spreadsheets, nothing more strenuous than that. 

I think you should be fine. If its working fine now you should be all set you dont need a really powerful graphics card for what you are doing

[Guest]

Not worth upgrading at all. It will work, is capable of displaying all of them colours, and the amount of frames will be limited anyways due to remote desktop.

[D148xZ]

What kind of internal graphics do you have

[GuruMeditationError]

2 minutes ago, CHEESYnachoMAN4 said:

I think you should be fine. If its working fine now you should be all set you dont need a really powerful graphics card for what you are doing

 

2 minutes ago, Dutch-stoner said:

Not worth upgrading at all. It will work, is capable of displaying all of them colours, and the amount of frames will be limited anyways due to remote desktop.

 

Thanks....

...I've been searching and it seems RDP (remote desktop protocol) bypasses the graphics card...everything's processed on the server side. It seems the bottleneck is the internet speeds and processor.
 

1 minute ago, D148xZ said:

What kind of internal graphics do you have

Onboard the CPU you mean?

[Guest]

Just now, GuruMeditationError said:

Onboard the CPU you mean?

Yes. This person was asking if your CPU has a build in GPU. If your CPU can provide video output.

[GuruMeditationError]

 

It's a Celeron G1840, it's super slow...it's maxing out just running the internet speed test.

[ProjectBox153]

For Remote Desktop with the RDP protocol, a dedicated GPU is kind of a waste of money. I use RDP on an old Pentium M and there's no issue. As long as you have a video output you can use RDP. The server will do the heavy lifting. 

[GuruMeditationError]

 

3 minutes ago, Jamiec1130 said:

For Remote Desktop with the RDP protocol, a dedicated GPU is kind of a waste of money. I use RDP on an old Pentium M and there's no issue. As long as you have a video output you can use RDP. The server will do the heavy lifting. 

It's just that the processes are super-slow and I'm trying to figure out where the problem is...I've managed to boost the download speed by about three to four times just tweaking things but the CPU is literally maxing out just running the internet speed test...I can't imagine it won't help to upgrade it, especially since, as far as I can tell, it looks like it's just the data connection and speed of transmission that's the problem.

But yeah, I've read that RDP basically bypasses the client systems graphics card and just displays what the server's rendering, so...no real point in updating the graphics card. 

[ProjectBox153]

2 minutes ago, GuruMeditationError said:

 

It's just that the processes are super-slow and I'm trying to figure out where the problem is...I've managed to boost the download speed by about three to four times just tweaking things but the CPU is literally maxing out just running the internet speed test...I can't imagine it won't help to upgrade it, especially since, as far as I can tell, it looks like it's just the data connection and speed of transmission that's the problem.

Are you connecting via Wi-Fi?

[GuruMeditationError]

Just now, Jamiec1130 said:

Are you connecting via Wi-Fi?

Yes, to connect via ethernet cable I'd need to move the router.

Should I do that? Is that the problem?

[ProjectBox153]

4 minutes ago, GuruMeditationError said:

Yes, to connect via ethernet cable I'd need to move the router.

Should I do that? Is that the problem?

That may be a bottleneck, but it really depends on each persons configuration. 

[GuruMeditationError]

1 minute ago, Jamiec1130 said:

That may be a bottleneck, but it really depends on each persons configuration. 

Software configuration do you mean, or hardware configuration?

...because I can't find recommended specs for client side anywhere.

[ProjectBox153]

Just now, GuruMeditationError said:

Software configuration do you mean, or hardware configuration?

...because I can't find recommended specs for client side anywhere.

I'm just talking about the Wi-Fi configuration. An RDP client doesn't need much power. I could use my Pentium 3 for an RDP client. Are you experiencing sluggishness?

[GuruMeditationError]

11 minutes ago, Jamiec1130 said:

I'm just talking about the Wi-Fi configuration. An RDP client doesn't need much power. I could use my Pentium 3 for an RDP client. Are you experiencing sluggishness?

Yes. It's been super-slow...but I've not tested it since since I tweaked the Wi-fi settings. I'm just going to re-fit the card and run a test.

Also, found this re RemoteFX:

"RemoteFX Codec (also referred to as RemoteFX Calista Codec): a codec that is capable of preserving a high-fidelity experience for both video and text. The RemoteFX Codec does not require any special hardware, and uses the CPU for encoding."

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/RemoteFX#Windows_Server_2008_R2_SP1

...so...I guess it's just a case of tracking down a processor that supports it.

[GuruMeditationError]

Unfortunately I can't log back into it until the user gets back (they're overdue)...so for the moment, I'm not able to test it.

[GuruMeditationError]

Okay...just tested it:

 

It's barely touching the RAM & CPU but it's maxing out the bandwidth when scrolling through lists (streaming)...it seems it's purely down to available bandwidth.

 

But yeah...it seems the reason Windows Remote Desktop doesn't seem to have any listed specs anywhere is that it'll run on more or less anything...where it really counts, is the bandwidth.

I guess the reason the processor was topping out during the speed test was because it must have just been generating stuff to send.

[ProjectBox153]

8 minutes ago, GuruMeditationError said:

Okay...just tested it:

 

It's barely touching the RAM & CPU but it's maxing out the bandwidth when scrolling through lists (streaming)...it seems it's purely down to available bandwidth.

 

But yeah...it seems the reason Windows Remote Desktop doesn't seem to have any listed specs anywhere is that it'll run on more or less anything...where it really counts is the bandwidth.

I guess the reason the processor was topping out during the speed test was because it must have just been generating stuff to send.

So is the experience overall mostly smooth (there will always be somewhat of a "stutter")?

[GuruMeditationError]

6 minutes ago, Jamiec1130 said:

So is the experience overall mostly smooth (there will always be somewhat of a "stutter")?

Mostly smooth but some stutter during streaming (scrolling lists in this case)...it's not really ideal, but the user's happy with the speed increase and reluctant to go any further with it and they're not the easiest of people to deal with so...I think it's just going to remain as it is.

I need to pick up a Cat 7 cable and see if I can get a meaningful improvement to the download speed I'm getting over cable with my main rig, but I'm not sure running a cable to the remote desktop client would actually make that much of a difference to the remote client's user experience. So ultimately I'm probably not going to have to move the router, which is is pretty cool.

[ProjectBox153]

5 hours ago, GuruMeditationError said:

Mostly smooth but some stutter during streaming (scrolling lists in this case)...it's not really ideal, but the user's happy with the speed increase and reluctant to go any further with it and they're not the easiest of people to deal with so...I think it's just going to remain as it is.

I need to pick up a Cat 7 cable and see if I can get a meaningful improvement to the download speed I'm getting over cable with my main rig, but I'm not sure running a cable to the remote desktop client would actually make that much of a difference to the remote client's user experience. So ultimately I'm probably not going to have to move the router, which is is pretty cool.

As far as the stuttering, there's not much you can do about it. Its a fact of life when dealing with RDP. I know about that: I run two 24/7 web and locally accessible RDP servers. 

[GuruMeditationError]

13 hours ago, Jamiec1130 said:

As far as the stuttering, there's not much you can do about it. Its a fact of life when dealing with RDP. I know about that: I run two 24/7 web and locally accessible RDP servers. 

Thanks for the info.  

It's not so bad...the person using it isn't really too concerned about that aspect of things, it was just really slow but I've managed to eliminate the bottlenecks and speed stuff up in that respect...also waiting on a further speed boost from the internet provider.

[ProjectBox153]

3 hours ago, GuruMeditationError said:

Thanks for the info.  

It's not so bad...the person using it isn't really too concerned about that aspect of things, it was just really slow but I've managed to eliminate the bottlenecks and speed stuff up in that respect...also waiting on a further speed boost from the internet provider.

So is the client connected through the internet or a local connection?

[GuruMeditationError]

24 minutes ago, Jamiec1130 said:

So is the client connected through the internet or a local connection?

How do you mean?  It's communicating with the router via a wi-fi dongle. The router's a basic ISP router connected via fiber-optic.

Not sure if that answers the question...I've been instructed on how to ping the remote server in the thread I opened previously to ask about basic spec and troubleshooting: