Callumorr,
Up to a certain level, a computer may serve for both architecture and games, but are higher levels of work and play, certain aspects of the performance diverge- graphic cards that are excellent for 3D CAD like Quadro and Firepro are not good for games as they are based on accurate finishing of every frame with high anti-aliasing, and viewport, 10-bit color, and game cards emphasize frame rates. Architectural programs like games are mostly single-threaded, so clock speed is important in both rather than core count, but there is an exception- 3ds Max is a rendering program and rendering is CPU-based that may be distributed among as many cores as possible, while games typically- this will change- do not use every core fully. If you were to do large file, high resolution renderings, you would benefit from a multiple CPU with lots of RAM both system and video. In summary, an optimized architectural, rendering, graphic design computer is a dual Xeon 4 or 6 core CPU, a Quadro or Firepro graphics card with 2GB or more and probably a RAID configuration that both stripes for performance and mirrored to protect the system and data files.
Again, this is optimal and not necessary an i7-3770K computer will do well- very well -probably- but up to a point and that point is impossible to know until you experience it. I use a Dell Precision T5400 that arrived with a single Xeon X5460 quad core @3.16GHz, 4GB RAM, a Qaudro FX 580 (512MB), and an 80GB HD. Now, about three years later, after a failed experiment with a GTX 285 (1GB) - problems in Solidworks viewports, bizarre behavior when rendering shadows, crashes in large file Sketchup, display quirks in rendering- displayed differently than printed, the T5400 is now > dual Xeon X5460 quad core @3.16GHz, 16GB RAM, a Quadro FX 4800 (1.5GB), and two 500GB HD's. Again, you may well be able to go a long way- through school with a kind of generic machine to use for both work and play applications.
As for the laptop, if you will doing any architectural applications on it, I would strongly recommend having a 17" screen. It might be bulkier to move around, but the added screen area will save considerable time in panning and zooming. It's amazing how much less I pan and zoom on a 27" monitor than a 22"- it's a liberation and welcome time-saver! You might consider buying a good, used Dell Precision 6600 or 6700 with an i7, -they're 17.3" screens, some have Dell Ultrasharp, and these often have the mobile workstation cards- Quadros- in them. Better color correction too.
I don't know enough about how you would use the two computers, but you might also think of having one computer be CAD / graphics work oriented- the desktop, and the other used for Internet, taking notes, writing papers- and games. If the gaming was the laptop, you could plug it in- or docking station to your home monitor and use the full size monitor, keyboard, mouse or gaming control. The gaming performance will be limited by a single graphic card rather than SLI, so make it count- the fastest, most RAM most cores GeForce or Radeon HD, you can!
A final word _ you will greatly increase chances of employment- in the US at least- by knowing Revit, which is both a good program and used everywhere, and as architects are having difficulty getting work, if you learn Solidworks / Catia and engineering drafting, there is a high demand for that. It's difficult to learn those programs when you're not a student as the programs are so bloody expensive- Solidworks is at least $7,000, Catia, $15,000, but as a student, they're affordable in educational edition.
Good luck!
Cheers,
BambiBoom
[Architectural Association School of Architecture, London, 1980]