Running Affinity Photo over RDP?

[pipet]

I need a new PC for photo editing. Looking for something with 64GB of RAM, but there don't seem to be any small-form-factor PCs around with that amount of memory. So I was thinking about putting a big ugly box with lots of RAM in the basement and access that via a remote desktop session from a smaller PC. Does Affinity Photo (and potentially other editing programs, such as Photomatix, AutopanoPro, NeatImage etc.) work well in such a scenario?

[firstdefence]

Having a lot of RAM in a system isn't the magic solution, it helps but it is just one part of a computer ensemble. Motherboard choice, CPU, GPU and HDD all play a big part and if you get it right you have a good system, so sticking a shed load of RAM in a system is only one consideration. 

 

 

[Fixx]

I would not trust running graphic apps over RDP.

 

If you want mini-ITX they usually have only 2 ram slots. That means you have to buy 2 X 32GB RAM. That is not really much more expensive than 4 X 16GB (more like RAM is always expensive regardless size). There are some (expensive) mini-ITX boards that have 4 slots.

 

It makes no sense to buy readymade desktop PC, their configurations are not really suited for graphics work. Much better to build your own, or have one built for you. There are many trustworthy firms that sell custom built pc's at competitive price (they usually sell components but building a rig for customer is added service).

[firstdefence]

The ultimate question is how much can you afford, because that limits what you can buy and what people can suggest.

[pipet]

Thanks for the replies. I'm aware, that RAM is not the only determining factor when it comes to speed, but currently it's my limiting factor. I edit a fair amount of HDR and panos and recently started doing that with raw/16-bit tif files and my 16GB machine constantly runs out of memory (and Affinity crashes regularly under the load), hence the need for 64GB (which I can afford).
But I have limited room on my desk and also for aesthetic reasons I don't want a big ugly desktop box, hence my quest for a small form factor PC. But from what I've seen so far, there are really no good options: most mITX systems top out at 32GB, and if they don't, the boards are more geared towards server applications (lacking decent graphics output), hence I was thinking about RDP.
@Fixx: why would you not trust running graphics apps over RDP?

[R C-R]

6 hours ago, pipet said:

But I have limited room on my desk and also for aesthetic reasons I don't want a big ugly desktop box, hence my quest for a small form factor PC.

Is there some reason you could not set a large PC under or beside the desk?

[Fixx]

I am no expert n RDP and I have not been able to run it sensibly.. but really I would expect it to have responsiveness and latency problems.

Good compromise between size and power might be Micro ATX build like Fractal Design Define Mini.