VDI can you run Fullscreen HD video, Photoshop, 3d CAD design software ?

[bicky]

Hi we are thinking of going to Vmware VDI route for the computer suite of about 100 machines.

I went to see the demo of the VDI on one of the school and there was a lag when I was trying to:

- play the fullscreen HD video from youtube & BBC iPlayer

- use the photoshop to edit the photos

 

I dont know whether the above are possible with VDI; we would also like to run 3D CAD software aswell like Solidworks / Autocad.

 

Has anybody got experience of VDI using above three things.

 

Any help would be much appreciated, thank you.

[fairm010]

I don't know much about VDI but I can tell you you are going to need one hell of a backend infrastructure to run that. With a few GPU's in there for RemoteFX too.

[johnat1121]

Yes it is possible using remoteFX from Microsoft we use it here however you need very powerful servers with GPUs and a good network all of which cost allot of money at this point fat clients are allot cheaper some important points/tips:

The OS, you cant run photoshop on server OSs you will need to use VDI if you want to deploy the CS6 pack and Solidworks also has a bit of a fit on server OSs

RemoteFX requires thin clients which support it these cost allot of money e.g 10Zigs with windows embedded

Windows Multipoint Server makes a nice easy to use VDI deployment but you need windows 7 enterprise and Multipoint CALs.

VDI eats IOPS especially when you have 30 people on video editing programs (I use PCIe SSDs)

Our 16Core 64gb ram servers with Quadro 6000s can only handle about 30 users each on solidworks before excrement hits the oscillating device

In conclusion yes they're good and they save a massive amount of electricity and make management allot easier, however its more of a long term investment that a quick way to save money conventional fat clients are IMO the cheapest way to deploy a desktop.

[Duke]

I'd agree with the previous posts. Yes it's possible up to a point, but for the infrastructure needed I don't think you'd see much in the way of cost savings, and it's unlikely that you'd get better performance than desktop PCs.

 

Take a look at APEX and GRID cards, but they're not cheap.