Windows 365 Enterprise GPU

Overview

GPU Cloud PCs in Windows 365

Windows 365 offers GPU-enabled Cloud PCs that are suitable for graphics intense workloads that need to be performance optimized. These offerings can help with graphic design, image and video rendering, 3D modeling, and data processing and visualization applications that require a GPU to perform.

Three GPU offerings are available for Window 365 Enterprise (including FedRamp) and Windows 365 Frontline Cloud PCs in dedicated mode:

GPU offering	Windows 365 Enterprise GPU Standard	Windows 365 Enterprise GPU Super	Windows 365 Enterprise GPU Max
Minimum specs	4 vCPU, 16-GB RAM, 8-GB vRAM, 512 GB (with 176-GB temporary storage)	8 vCPU, 56-GB RAM, 12-GB vRAM, 1 TB (with 352-GB temporary storage)	16 vCPU, 110-GB RAM, 16-GB vRAM, 1 TB (with 352-GB temporary storage)
Powered by	NVIDIA and AMD	NVIDIA	NVIDIA
Intended for	Applications that benefit from basic graphic acceleration on one 3840x2160 display or up to two 1920x1080p displays.	Applications with greater specification requirements and high-end graphics workloads on up to four 3840x2160 displays.	Graphics intensive workloads that demand high performance and have strict latency requirements.

Since regional capacity is dynamic, Microsoft uses available capacity when and where it's needed. Sometimes, this might result in GPU Cloud PCs exceeding their license specified minimum specifications. To see your Cloud PC’s GPU specifications, visit the performance tab of Task Manager.

GPU Cloud PC hosting and d: drive storage details

Microsoft hosts Windows 365 GPU-enabled Cloud PCs using the latest version of Microsoft Hyper-V.

Each of these Cloud PCs comes with an SSD storage drive (c:) for data and applications plus a large ephemeral disk (d:).

The ephemeral disk (d: drive) is deleted and recreated every time the Cloud PC reboots. Never use it to store your data. Instead, you can use it as a cache drive to store temporary files. This strategy is helpful to improve the performance of applications that need scratch disks to process large data sets.

Registry keys and drivers on GPU Cloud PCs

Registry keys are automatically set during the provisioning process.

Supported drivers are automatically installed as part of the provisioning process. You don't need to manually install drivers. However, drivers aren't automatically updated, so you must manually update drivers as needed.

Supported regions

The GPU offerings are available in all Windows 365 supported regions except for the following regions:

• Central US
• Norway East
• West Europe (Windows 365 Enterprise GPU Standard is available in this region)
• Mexico Central
• Japan West
• Spain Central
• Israel Central

Recommendations when using GPU Cloud PCs

For optimal performance of GPU-enabled Cloud PCs, consider these recommendations:

• Make sure that your network is configured to turn on UDP by default. For more information about UDP, see RDP Shortpath.
• Make sure that you're running your GPU Cloud PC in full screen mode. Minimized windows require extra processing and coordination with the local device that can impede the session performance.
• Use the Windows app for optimal connection experience.
• Use Windows 11 Cloud PCs.
• GPU-enabled Cloud PCs come pre-provisioned with the correct driver needed for the best experience. For information about installing drivers, see Install NVIDIA GPU drivers on N-series VMs running Windows and Install AMD GPU drivers on N-series VMs running Windows (for the Standard SKU only in limited regions). The use of any external drivers, including drivers from NVIDIA and AMD websites, isn't supported.
• Don’t use the Multimedia Redirection extension for the browser or for Teams. By default, this extension is uninstalled for GPU-enabled Cloud PCs during provisioning.
• GPU offerings aren't designed for game development. These offerings are optimized for graphics applications typically used in Enterprise scenarios. For more information with game development scenarios, see Create a Game Development Virtual Machine with other Game Engines.
• If you want to guarantee that all your users have the exact same GPU configuration, instead of using Cloud PCs, you can use Azure Virtual Desktop (AVD). AVD can help customers who prefer hardware specific configurations over workload focused configurations. For a complete list of Azure’s GPU offerings, see Sizes for virtual machines in Azure - GPU accelerated.
• By default, GPU-enabled Cloud PCs are provisioned to use GPU-accelerated remote frame encoding. For more information about different hardware-accelerated graphics encoding profiles and how to manage them on your GPU-enabled Cloud PCs, see Enable GPU Acceleration.

Windows 365 Enterprise GPU	Max	Super	Standard
Supported GPU-accelerated remote frame encoders	HEVC/H.265 AVC/H.264	HEVC/H.265 AVC/H.264	AVC/H.264