Is it possible to render heavy graphic on remote machine with X server?

Question

From X Server Definition, it says:

"The server application, which processes the data as requested and returns the results to the client, typically can run on either a remote machine or the local machine with no obvious difference to the user".

So is it possible to, for example, play graphic-heavy-games with a GPU installed to a remote PC with X server?

Answer 1

The X core protocol is network transparent, and the "no obvious effect" is a bit of an exaggeration: You do notice network lag if you are not in a LAN (been there, done that). Also note that the X core protocol is several decades old, GPUs didn't exist at the time, rendering was done on the X server in software, and the graphics primitives (polygons, fill commands) etc. were sent over the wire.

GPU support (OpenGL etc.) came later, and usually renders locally.

So no, you can't use X to play heavy-graphics games remotely. But as the other answer already mentioned, there are other technologies that try to do that. For X and Linux, there's e.g. virtualgl, but I have a feeling you'd prefer Windows, anyway.

Answer 2

Don't know about X specifically but a french firm is currently developing exactly this kind of idea to play demanding games on low-end material: https://shadow.tech/

EDIT: Actually the term for this is cloud gaming, and this article about the state of it is pretty interesting.