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archangeljess · ‎09-09-2015

Good day!

I am new to this forum and I am building my very first personal PC. To this date, these are the parts I already bought :
NZXT Phantom 410 chassis
Cougar 500ST power supply
ASUS B85 Pro Gamer motherboard
Western Digital Blue 1TB hard drive

I am now about to purchase my processor. I am considering Intel Pentium G3258 20th anniversary edition.
Within the next two months I am also planning on buying an 8 or 16GB GSkill Ripjaws 1600MHz DDR3 and an ASUS STRIX GTX 960 2GB video card.

What I need to know is is this build good enough? This is a budget build as I don't have that much money and prices are a quite high
here in Cebu City, Philippines.

Also, being a newbie, I would also like to ask if purchasing a closed loop LCS would be better than a custom loop.
I am planning to replace my processor with an I5 haswell refresh early next year so I am considering LCS.
I am puzzled with the choices that I have and I do not have any experience in building LCS. If I go with a closed loop for my CPU, would I be able to use it should i decide to custom loop and also cool my gpu?

Thank you and God bless.

Jess

Arne_Saknussemm · ‎09-10-2015

Hi archangeljess 🙂

Good enough is hard to answer without knowing what you want to do with the PC...but in general terms yes...will be a good budget build. You wont be able to max out settings on all games but with a few adjustments like high instead of ultra settings you will be OK.

A closed loop cooler in general can not be integrated later into a custom loop so decide carefully. Custom loop will always be better but will be a lot more expensive. A closed loop cooler on CPU and air cooled GPU will work great and is better for the wallet...

ARNE’S GUIDE TO PC BUILDING HAPPINESS

ARNE'S GUIDE TO OVERCLOCKING HAPPINESS

archangeljess · ‎09-10-2015

Thank you Arne for the reply.

I am into gaming but I don't intend to max out all the settings. I will be running my games on a 1080p monitor so the most that I need is on high settings and not on ultra.
As for the games I will be playing, these are top on my list:
Euro Truck Simulator 2
Cities: Skylines
Battlefield 4 (offline single player)
Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare (multiplayer)
DOTA 2
Counter-Strike: Global Offensive
Spec Ops: The Line
Injustice: Gods Among Us

With regards to a custom loop, would I be better off if I customer loop my CPU first then expand from there? Will the cost be that huge against a closed loop?
What can you recommend for a closed loop?

Thanks a lot.

Jess

archangeljess · ‎09-10-2015

Here is a price list from a local reseller of LCS parts. Can somebody point me to the right items that I should need? My idea is to have a custom loop for my CPU first then later on include the GPU and the ram.
If this is a bad idea, well maybe layout all of them so i can have an good idea on what items to buy and how much would it cost me. I have an NZXT Phantom 410 chassis which is kind of cramped so I would appreciate if someone can layout for me what goes where inside.

Here is the link to the price list: https://drive.google.com/folderview?id=0B4GM24LnnqwtSUN2VDNxRWt6NjA&usp=sharing

Thank you

Jess

Arne_Saknussemm · ‎09-11-2015

Starting off I would try something like this https://shop.ekwb.com/ek-kit-l240-1

You will have to measure up inside your case carefully however to make sure things can fit...maybe remove drive cages etc.

ARNE’S GUIDE TO PC BUILDING HAPPINESS

ARNE'S GUIDE TO OVERCLOCKING HAPPINESS

archangeljess · ‎09-11-2015

Thanks Arne

The product you recommend is above my budget for now but I guess that will be the best way to go for me. According to this site, http://www.altex.com/SpotlightEK-Kit-L120L240.aspx it will fit nicely in my chassis so I will have no problems mounting them.

I'll be posting something when I procure the product and how my build goes.

Thanks guys.

Jess

Build Recommendations and LCS