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Limitations of Citrix XenDesktop 5.x HDX3D Pro on Physical Machines

This article applies to Citrix XenDesktop 5.5 and 5.6 HDX 3D Pro

Summary

This article contains information about the known limitations in running HDX3D Pro on XenDesktop 5.5 physical machines. Display issues, such as the inconsistent monitor blanking, aero not being turned back on, resolution mismatches are particularly noticeable in Windows 7 on a physical PC.

HDX3D Pro on XenDesktop 5.5 was designed for access to data center workstations for high-end 3D professional graphics. Some customers have set up this technology in a physical PC environment and need to be aware of limitations that exist in such an environment.

Limitations

  • Monitor blanking cannot be guaranteed. In particular, PCs with Display Port video connectors are not supported.
  • Connections from a PC must be done with the same number of or fewer monitors than the host PC.
  • Some graphics cards might not work with this feature. The May 2011 Tech Preview release did not work with Intel HD graphics, but this is resolved in the final XenDesktop 5.5 release. Nevertheless, Citrix has not tested every graphics card on the market.
  • Setting the screen resolution can be a bit awkward, for example, it might be necessary to create a custom resolution on the host PC to match the resolution of the remote PC. If the resolution is changed, then the user is required to disconnect/ reconnect unless the Desktop Viewer is not used but Citrix does not recommend disabling it.
  • Users need at least 3 Mbps of network bandwidth. It is assumed that the typical use case is accessible from home over a high-speed Internet connection, such as DSL or cable modem.
  • Aero can be enabled if desired, but consumes an additional CPU core on the host machine. Citrix recommends doing so only if the host is sufficiently powerful.
  • KVM switches are not supported.

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