Customer Ratings & Reviews

Raw specs: 13th Gen Intel(R) Core(TM) i7-13700, 2100 Mhz, -->***16 Core(s), 24 Logical Processor(s)***<-- Installed RAM 16.0 GB (15.7 GB usable) System type 64-bit operating system, x64-based processor NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3050 OEM + Intel(R) UHD Graphics 500 gb SSD + 2 TB HDD My initial thoughts on the XPS line of Dell is: Is the XPS more geared toward multimedia creation / content creators. And I really think it is. Does that mean the XPS line can't be used for gaming? Nope, I'm proof of that! Though if you want flashy lights, a stylish chasis and are willing to pay out of the nose for Dell's G series or Alienware, then go for it! That being said, the XPS is definitely geared more towards content creators / multimedia editing as by the 16 cores of the i7 processor it has. I don't think I've had a processor with that many cores. I only know this because I use Adobe Lightroom myself and the processing power from the CPU and GPU has made photo editing much quicker. I had issues setting the computer up so my review was delayed, but once things settled down, I am so glad to be back on a computer tower and not a gaming laptop with my photo editing. The NVIDIA RTX 3050 is plenty enough for video and photo editing, and it can run Cyberpunk very well, though it sounds like a Boeing 747 taking off. . . I believe there is a closed-loop cooling option which may help cut down on fan noise, but requires opening it up and installing it. If you're not tech savvy, just get a pair of headphones with noise canceling. The tower it self is light weight, non descript, grey. Has plenty of ports for USB things and (insert shocked gasp) an SD card slot in the front – again photo editors and others might be more excited about this than gamers. Dell is a solid brand, having used their business line of products through work, I've never had an issue. If you're looking for a solid build without the flashy bling, and want to work and sometimes play? This is a great tower.

Like my title says, this computer runs newer games on high/ultra settings with great performance. So far I only have tried out Call of Duty:MW 2019, MW2 and PubG. all on highest settings and I am getting 100+FPS for the most part. MW2 some maps I was running around 90 FPS with drops at most down to 70FPS. This is performing better then my desktop I was using that has a GTX 1080. The map above were I got 90 fps, with my GTX 1080, I got 100FPS (but settings were turned down a bit more and not maxed out) but also with my GTX the lows would go under 60FPS and cause me to get lag. With this Desktop I did not get that lag and games were enjoyable the whole time. I do have a reason though for 4 stars. A couple actually. One, I feel that at the 1500$ price, it is a bit on the expensive side for what you are getting. My other main reason is I feel it lacks storage space. it only has a 512Gig SSD in it and then a 2TB 7200rpm hhd. I would have liked to have seen at least a 1TB SSD either as the primary with the 2TB or as a secondary drive with the 512SSD. For me, I prefer a SSD for games. I feel they run smoother for me and they load up faster. And how much space games take up these days, the 512Gigs fills up fast with just a couple games. On a smaller note, the mouse and keyboard are not even wireless. It is the basic wired mouse and keyboard that they give out. It also only has 2 slots for ram. But overall, this is playing games great like I stated. Stays cool, even after hours of gaming nonstop.

Before I go any further, I just want to say that based upon the silent running this is an amazing PC. It is so quiet, I don't even realize it is on. Okay, with that out of the way, the setup and unpacking was quick, not a lot of excess packing material just the basics to keep the computer safe. From cutting the tape on the box to power on it was maybe 3 minutes. Setup was smooth with importing of synced data from the cloud achieved in less then 10 minutes. Power on is very fast as one would expect from a solid state and the Windows setup was much less painful than it used to be. Processing speed and system resources for streaming are top notch and when conencted to a G-Sync monitor and setup properly (a few more minutes) the system looked awesome gaming as well - no stutters at high fps and very smooth vivid graphics in general. The size of the desktop, even though it calls it out in the specs was smaller than expected and easily slotted into my desk. The keyboard and mouse are nice starter quality and day to day use pieces, but I swapped them for my gaming gear and drivers and compatibility was not an issue. All in all, the quiet running, quick start, simple setup, quick driver and update of software... this is a great desktop for general use and works like a champ for online and downloaded games. I tried this out on three separate monitors as well as three monitors at the same time and the system processor, memory, and graphics card held up while streaming in three browsers at top settings. The only thing that would have been nice would be an onboard dvd/bluray drive, but it took my external quickly and found the drivers pronto. there are expansion slots, but I'll not worry about that until I need to... if ever. Very impressed and I would recommend this.

The Dell XPS 8960 is quite the solid computer. For general productivity usage it will suffice perfectly for just about anyone. For gaming, it is still quite a solid rig. The Dell XPS 8960 does not have the best cooling, and the RTX 3050 may limit you if you're using it for more demanding games, or running games in 1440p. It was very easy to set up, and I had no trouble doing so. I was worried about it coming with Windows 11, because I had heard Windows 11 was not optimized very well yet. But Windows 11 has worked great for me, and was an easy switch from Windows 10. If you're looking to play many games, or use a lot of storage, it might be better to get more than a 512gb ssd, it does have another M.2 slot if you wanted to buy one yourself. The 16gb of DDR5 ram is going to be enough for the large majority of users. Once again, if you are looking to play games that are extremely demanding, it might be best to look for something else. The Dell XPS 8960 is no snail though. Overall the Dell XPS 8960 is a good mid-range computer that will work great for productivity, and quite solid for gaming.

The Dell XPS 8960 offering from BestBuy is a pretty nice machine. From its exceptional Intel i7 13700 processor, to its 16GB of DDR5 RAM, to its respectable NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3050 GPU, there's not a whole lot one could complain about. I've used it for a while now and it is a quite competent, bordering on formidable option for its price range. There are, however, some real head-scratchers here that really make me wonder just what the heck Dell was thinking. The most glaring issue, to me at least, is the CPU cooler. It's as basic as they come and does not do an adequate job. If you plan on doing anything more that some web browsing, office productivity tasks, and/or light photo editing you'll end up with your CPU thermally throttled. I could excuse this from the likes of an Inspiron, but from an XPS (eXtreme Performance System) it seems downright inexcusable to leave performance on the table. The crazy thing is, Dell KNOWS THIS. If you order an XPS 8960 from their own website you have two additional options for CPU cooling. A much beefier air cooling option and an AIO for water cooling, both of which do a much better job of managing thermals. Even worse, you cannot buy either of these as separate items should you want to upgrade. You also have to be careful if you want to install an aftermarket cooler because Dell's proprietary mounting system means you only have a few options. It's not that the lack of a robust cooling solution makes this machine unusable. Far from it. But for a machine that's touted as something you can use for work AND play, for me it falls a little short. Hence the 3 stars.

So far it's a great computer! It's very fast and easy to setup! It can do everything I want and has room for future upgrades!

Solid. The one word to describe this pc is solid. Is it cutting edge top of the line pc…no it’s not but that doesn’t mean it doesn’t have value, and that it won’t work for most people. The one let down on the pc is the graphics card it will pretty much run everything but your pretty much limited to 1080p and might not always hit 60 depending what settings you use for your game. Which is a bit of shame because everything else on the pc is really solid. Now with that being said my son has been using this to make his movies with adobe premier and so far it’s been great no issues and runs pretty smoothly and quick. If your a light gamer that needs a pc for productivity but still want to play games this is a great pc. The case is solid has a lot of I/o ports that work great, it was nice having all this ports right in front . It has good ventilation a little bummed parts seem to more of the generic kind that any particular brand but overall the pc run great. So while not the most top end pc in the market m. It is still a great value for this that want to play games but don’t need it for anything above 1080p

This was the perfect replacement computer for my accountant spouse. While her seven year old I7 computer was still working, this was a significant upgrade.

Great computer! Easy to set up and is a described. I would but it again! Helpful staff at our Raleigh Best Buy! Thanks!

Great tower with windows 11. Easy setup with plenty of usb ports. So many options for personalized settings.