Does the Windows RDP Client Use Multiple Cores?

S

SamirD

Supreme [H]ardness
Joined
Mar 22, 2015
Messages
7,324
I've done searches for this today and keep just running into either server optimization stuff or thinos vs windows embedded pages.

Does anyone know if the RDP client can really take advantage of a duel-core or quad-core system that's dedicated for being a client (like a thin client)? Specifically I was wondering if I'd notice the difference between a Wyse z90s7 and z90d7 since the single thread cpu benchmark is almost identical.

Thank you a bunch in advance!
 
RDP is not a heavy load, it's just handling communications and screen data.
The actual load is on the host system for whatever apps the client is running.

I'm guessing there's not even much need for RDP to be multi-threaded.
It's kind of like a glorified dumb terminal (yes, it's a bit more complicated than that).

The dual core machines should be fine, I don't think you'll see any difference
on a quad core for RDP.

I don't have any documentation to support this opinion, just my experience.

.
 
Thank you for the feedback! One thing I just realized is that we use more than one session--like almost 12 open actually. Do you think WES7 would manage these by putting the sessions on multiple cores if there are multiple cores?

The reason I ask is because we purchased a Lenovo M32 that has a dual thread processor and the sessions seem much snappier on the Lenovo. I know the Lenovo's processor is about twice as fast as the Wyse z90s7, but do you think the multiple threads is factoring in as well?
 
It should be no issue even having 12 open, I do it all the time on my laptop. RDP is basically just sending your kb/mouse input and rendering the image from the host. It uses very little CPU or network, and only a bit of ram. A browser tab uses far more resources than RDP.

If the RDP session is slower, I'd check network first. That is the usual cause of slowness in RDP.
 
I'm usually using RDP over an ipsec vpn tunnel so the bandwidth between the sites is usually only 2Mbps, which is still sufficiently fast for rdp sessions. But I do notice a difference on the different generations of thin clients I have here at my disposal, and the m32 run a lot, lot snappier than the z90s7. And since the z90q7/d90q7 is sufficiently cheap, I was considering it for an upgrade if there would be some benefit from the multi-cores. (There definitely would be from a faster cpu, but the single thread performance is similar to the m32, so unless rdp would benefit, I think the improvement would be only marginal.)
 
I'm not going to look up the specs on all of those model numbers to compare them.

In general though, go with what works for your needs. Don't buy a bunch of the slower
boxes for your project if they are dead slow in your testing compared to faster boxes.

If I were doing a large project, I would even ask vendors for testing & eval samples
of different machines before dropping any $$$. Or even just buy one of each and
return the ones I don't want.

Go with what works.

.
 
So as a note, each RDP session open on your client is running as a separate process and not the same process. Because they are separate processes, Windows itself will assign each process to a specific core as needed. There is no multi-threading needed, but you are using all available cores because each RDP session is a standalone process.
 
DermicSavage said:
So as a note, each RDP session open on your client is running as a separate process and not the same process. Because they are separate processes, Windows itself will assign each process to a specific core as needed. There is no multi-threading needed, but you are using all available cores because each RDP session is a standalone process.
Click to expand...
This is interesting information. I usually rdp into another system with has several rdp sessions running concurrently (8-12 of them). I bet that system could benefit from a quad core then.
 
Spartacus said:
I'm not going to look up the specs on all of those model numbers to compare them.

In general though, go with what works for your needs. Don't buy a bunch of the slower
boxes for your project if they are dead slow in your testing compared to faster boxes.

If I were doing a large project, I would even ask vendors for testing & eval samples
of different machines before dropping any $$$. Or even just buy one of each and
return the ones I don't want.

Go with what works.

.
Click to expand...
lol, there's a lot of digging to find the info I did on them so I don't blame you.

I'm firmly in the camp of 'if it's not broken don't try to fix it', but also 'if you have to replace it, upgrade it if the cost is the same'. I have to maybe add a single thin client, and maybe an upgrade would be nice since it's the same price.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top