Graphics Hardware Considerations for a Thin Client (Windows Embedded CE 6.0)

1/5/2010

Thin client system performance is highly dependent on graphics hardware performance. Graphics hardware and networking hardware are the most important hardware components for achieving optimal performance in the display capabilities of a thin client. Display performance for a Windows Embedded CE powered thin client is directly dependent on the speed at which the target device hardware can process and render the image and graphics changes.

Graphics Hardware Requirements

The following table shows graphics hardware requirements for thin client devices.

Requirement	Description
The graphics hardware must support 8 bits per pixel (bpp).	Windows Embedded CE supports pixel depths from 1 bpp to 32 bpp. A thin client supports 8 bpp, 16 bpp, 24 bpp, and 32 bpp.
The graphics hardware must support resolution at a minimum of 640 x 480 pixels at 8 bpp.	The thin client software supports desktop resolutions that run at 640 x 480, 800 x 600, 1024 x 768, 1280 x 1024, and 1600 x 1200 pixels. The thin client software also supports custom display resolutions.
The monitor hardware must provide contrast control.	The display device must include contrast control hardware. Note: An LCD display may only have backlight control.
Color display must have brightness control.	The display device must include brightness control.

System performance is highly dependent on graphics performance. For best video performance, you should use an accelerated video graphics adapter and hardware-accelerated graphics. For more information, see Working with Graphics Devices.

Data Transfer Rate

The system-to-video data transfer rate of the graphics hardware has the greatest effect on display and rendering performance. Graphics hardware with a system-to-video data transfer rate of 60 MBps or greater should result in reasonable performance for most applications that have graphical animation. To improve performance, you can install graphics hardware with higher system-to-video data transfer rates.

Display Resolution

At a minimum, the thin client shell must support a display resolution of 640 x 480, also known as SVGA resolution.

The resolution of the supported Windows Embedded CE hardware and graphics hardware limits the maximum display resolution of the thin client. Support for higher display resolutions and increased color depth will increase the amount of data that has to be processed. The increased amount of data will affect the time and system resources necessary to render display updates.

See Also

Concepts

Performance Considerations for the Hardware Components of a Thin Client