8 replies to this topic

[CommittedC0der]

Hey, everybody! I been thinking about getting a new desktop. As of right now I have a 3 year old laptop, dual core, with windows vista, and its about as slow as dirt! Im looking for something powerful enough to easily allow me to, program, edit video/special effects, run 3D game engines and dual boot win7/Linux. Ive been looking at these three computers here:
HP Pavilion p6630f Specs (Core i3 550 3.2 GHz) - Desktops - CNET Reviews
HP Pavilion p6530f Specs (Core i3 540 3.06 GHz) - Desktops - CNET Reviews
http://www.bestbuy.c...5&skuId=9973838

So my questions: Are any of these computers better then the other? Should I look at something more towards core i5? And any other general advice would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks ~ Committed. :)

[Alexander]

Man do I feel old..

They each have 6-8 gigabytes of (DDR3) RAM which should greatly improve encoding time. The i5 is essentially a quad core i3 (which has 2 cores), if that matters in your choice.

I would look to see if your games or video editing rely on the processor more than the video card, otherwise the i3 should be ample speed! The top one seems to have 2 GBs more RAM (8GBs) and a slightly slightly better model processor, I would personally get it, but only if it were $20ish dollars more than the others. [noparse]:)[/noparse]

Hope this helps.

[CommittedC0der]

Thanks for the input! So your saying the top one is the best. But what does this mean?

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I would personally get it, but only if it were $20ish dollars more than the others. :)

I also looked and seem a good graphics card it what the game engine and stuff is needing. I'll also probably be doing alot of image edit which is a graphics card thing also right?

Thanks for the help ~ Committed. :)

[Roger]

Have you looked at any Dells? My last 3 computers (2 laptops and 1 desktop) were Dells and they are all still working fabulously.

[Alexander]

CommittedC0der said:

But what does this mean?

I am not too much of a stickler for overpowered computers, I meant I would not get the top one if it were more than $20 over the other ones, but that is just me. :)

Ah yes, those two appear to have only integrated graphics (good ones at that), so you may want to get the cheaper of the top two and spend that difference in money on a Nvidia GTX card, any GTX will do exemplary for game engines and video editing. :)

[CommittedC0der]

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Have you looked at any Dells?

Since you mentioned it, I went and looked at some, and they where slightly cheaper then the HP's but they all had bad reviews. :huh:

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I am not too much of a stickler for overpowered computers, I meant I would not get the top one if it were more than $20 over the other ones, but that is just me. :)

Ah yes, those two appear to have only integrated graphics (good ones at that), so you may want to get the cheaper of the top two and spend that difference in money on a Nvidia GTX card, any GTX will do exemplary for game engines and video editing. :)

Thanks for the advice, +rep. :)

~ Committed.

[xXAlphaXx]

Out of the three that you have selected I would have selected the one off of best buy. It seems like a pretty good deal for what hardware they include, you could start with one of these three computers, but I would recommend against HP, their failure rate seems to be dangerously high now a days. Personally, I would recommend an ASUS computer you get about the same bang for buck with an ASUS and they usually have a dedicated graphics card (Mine had a GTX260)

When it comes to the game development and image editing, Alexander has made a good call on the nvidia GTX card. While it will handle some pretty heavy graphics work, depending on which model you get it may have a drawback of only being DX10 compatible. You would have to find a card in the GTX400 series or above to get that DX11 support and then the start to become a little pricey. (~150$+)

I can't say much for ATI as I do not advocate for them but I do know they did offer DX11 support on earlier cards, so if DX11 is important to you, you may want to look into ATI if you are on a tight budget.

Just my two cents. :)

Edited by xXAlphaXx, 04 February 2011 - 11:02 AM.

[CommittedC0der]

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Out of the three that you have selected I would have selected the one off of best buy. It seems like a pretty good deal for what hardware they include, you could start with one of these three computers, but I would recommend against HP, their failure rate seems to be dangerously high now a days. Personally, I would recommend an ASUS computer you get about the same bang for buck with an ASUS and they usually have a dedicated graphics card (Mine had a GTX260)

When it comes to the game development and image editing, Alexander has made a good call on the nvidia GTX card. While it will handle some pretty heavy graphics work, depending on which model you get it may have a drawback of only being DX10 compatible. You would have to find a card in the GTX400 series or above to get that DX11 support and then the start to become a little pricey. (~150$+)

I can't say much for ATI as I do not advocate for them but I do know they did offer DX11 support on earlier cards, so if DX11 is important to you, you may want to look into ATI if you are on a tight budget.

Just my two cents. :)

Thanks for the advice, I'll look into ASUS and DX11 support. :)

[pcunite]

CommittedC0der said:

Thanks for the advice, I'll look into ASUS and DX11 support. :)

What did you decided to go with? I'm partial to anything by Asus. I build my own systems normally.