I feel like a more modern approach like whatever RustDesk uses is way better. It has such good performance that I can practically play an FPS video game through it or watch a movie through it.
The big thing I hate about regular Microsoft RDP is you aren't getting to use your remote GPU through it.
I tried using RustDesk, but it gave me absolutely no feedback after I entered connection info for my local ID server if it was actually using that or not. I tried enabling debug logging to get a better idea of what was going on, but that wasn't working for me. When I got to the point of trying to figure it out through Wireshark, I realized that was stupid to even have to do and just gave up on RustDesk.
RDP GPU acceleration should be available (on Windows, at least) with the right quality settings. AFAIK nothing API-wise prevents GPU software from running. That said, RDP is an edge case few software developers bother testing so I'm sure there are lots of programs out there that ignore edge cases when it comes to rendering APIs.
It's not optimised for games, though. Something like Parsec would be much better for interactive stuff like that, or maybe something like Moonlight for Nvidia cards if you're looking to go without closed source software.
RDP also supports streaming regions, including the entire desktop, as hardware-encoded video. It was introduced 9 years ago[1].
As for performance, I've been playing full-screen games over it. Latency sucked when I was literally on the opposite side of the earth but if the bandwidth was there it worked fine.
From work to home RDP is typically indistinguishable from being local for me.
Another user of RustDesk here, would definitely recommend it!
My use case is more like replacing a KVM switch, but in addition to being performant and free (I no longer need RealVNC), it lets you run your own relay if you want and also supports virtual monitors - meaning that my laptop can have its screen and 3 virtual monitors, so that I can fill up all 4 of my desktop PC monitors when I want to remote into the laptop!
Yes I have seen OpenGL applications refuse to start with AMD cards in some circumstances due to a bug in the AMD drivers, but never had a problem on NVIDIA cards
The big thing I hate about regular Microsoft RDP is you aren't getting to use your remote GPU through it.