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Question

Buying A New PC - Much Appreciated

by May 7, 2012 3:58AM PDT

Hi there, as guessed from the title I am asking for your advice and experiance to reccomend a great,overall solid desktop PC. My budget is £1600 however, I am willing to increase this if necessary. This includes the desktop alone and not the keyboard,mouse and monitor. Your help is much appreciated!

What's the Problem?

I am a college student taking a course for Graphic Desgin and media studies, and my 7 year old Dell Dimension 9200 is in need of a upgrade. I am mostly interested in Graphic Design but, I am also a enthusiastic gamer. Some of the games I play are, Bf3, Cod 4, World of Warcraft just to name a few. I would like to play these games on high settings with a good FPS. However the problem is I am not aloud a Gaming PC, as I still live with my parent's. Me and my parents have comprimised that the PC won't be just for Gaming. I would like the Pc to have a i7 proccessor, a Nvidia or other high quality brands graphics card. A good, solid Brand to buy from and good cooling and relibility. It would also be prefferable to have some upgradeability in the future. Here are a couple of Desktop PC's I have came across on the web. If possible, I would like the PC to have a SSD. The most expensive - Apple iMac http://store.apple.com/us/configure/MC814LL/A?. The Dell 8500,http://configure.euro.dell.com/dellstore/config.aspx?oc=d00x8515&c=uk&l=en&s=dhs&cs=ukdhs1&model_id=xps-8500. Finally, the HP http://www.pcworld.co.uk/gbuk/pavilion-hpe-h8-1270ea-desktop-pc-12381961-pdt.html.

Your help is much appreciated,
Many Thank's-Joe

Discussion is locked

3 Posts
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Answer
Most college students are not as wise about this.
by Forum moderator May 7, 2012 4:11AM PDT

You might consider a nice video card and maybe PSU for the old machine but most college folk get a laptop.

But gaming pushes you back a bit.

Try this. Go to the college graphics area and see what they use as a clue.
Bob

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PC recomendations
by iplaywow May 7, 2012 5:15PM PDT

Hey, thank's for your fast reply! Most of the student's at the graphic design section and media studies use the apple Macbook Air or mainly the macbook pro. Here's the link for the Macbook Air-http://store.apple.com/uk/configure/MC966B/A? and here's the link to the macbook pro-http://store.apple.com/uk/configure/MD322B/A?. I understand that laptops are better for graphic design for there mobility however I would like a desktop PC. That's why i was considering the iMac because the college let's you use the Macbook air at college but i could complete work assignments at home if i got the iMac. The only problem I've got with the iMac is, you can't upgrade the graphics crad ad this is a real issue for me. That's why i was considering the Dell XPS 8500 and the HP Pavilion hpe H8.

Many Thanks
Joe

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Which means you'll do fine.
by r. proffitt Forum moderator May 8, 2012 1:02AM PDT

The CPU/GPU of the desktop is far better than the MacBook Air but then you have color control issues. Some forget about that.
Bob

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