Spec'd out my first build in a long time, just need graphics card & monitor

Hardware

So I built my own system a LONG time ago & it finally failed on me. I first attempted to save it, but I gave up on that - I've done it a few times over the years, but at this point I just don't know enough & it's not worth the headache.

My skills are ancient and out of date, & I should have bought a premade from the store, but I really wanted to design my own system again. I'll probably take it into the store for final assembly once I get everything and put the rough bits together, but I just wanted you guys' advice on gaming cards mostly and also whatever else you may decide I need to know.

I was going to keep a few things from my old system but it's now down to the 1 TB ssd & only a few odds and ends like mouse, keyboard, screws etc. My 2 TB hard drive is not worth keeping or mounting on the new system I think, and my power supply is 450 W only and I had to put a new one on order for more power.

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I've just done what I did back in the day & took stuff that was a couple years old but solid based on the reviews, so I could have my own system that would last me and still be relevant for some years. They clued me in to PC partpicker, which I used to design the thing.

So, anyway, here's what it's going to look like:

AMD Ryzen 9 7900 X, cooled by Corsair Hydro Series H115i Platinum 280 mm liquid CPU cooler (w/ 2 Noctua 140 mm fans).

Gigabyte B650 Eagle AX AM5

Teamgroup T-Force Delta RGB DDR5 RAM 32 GB (2 x 16 GB)

Internal SSD 4 TB / 1 TB SSD (external, from my old system)

5 red LED case fans (140 mm) + 3 120 mm ARGB fans + 2 Noctua 140 mm fans

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Everybody says that CPU runs really hot, so I wanted to do a water-cooled radiator with a push-pull system on the intake. As for the rest, I bought a mid-tower case that came with 4 x 120 mm fans, but had space enough for 5 140 mm & 3 120 mm. I was going to use the Noctua fans on the outside but I realized if I took out the pod for the HD (and just used internal / external ssd) I would have enough space to do a push / pull system there).

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My main question is what GPU I should go for. Because of the radiator and the push-pull system there's only max 290 mm or so if my measurements are accurate (there was more space before I decided to go with a radiator and then a couple fans there also; I'd be more comfortable with less length on a GPU, to be honest). I found a couple models through pcpartpicker that would probably work but they're several hundred dollars and I've already spent way more than I had planned. I'm not a huge gamer but I often stream videos; my old system went through 2 GPU's and then I just was using onboard video until the chip decided to heat up too much (had a cooler leak / break that was really slow - originally I was going to replace it but my skills are not sufficient or one or more other things happened - I didn't want to take it to the store because at that point it was not really worth paying them to save it so I wanted to rebuild from the ground up. However, I've been out of the loop for way too long so I had to educate myself on some stuff before that. I really should have just bought a purpose-build instead or even a store model, but it's like a lot of stuff. I've built myself over the years at least 4 systems, and it was enjoyable and they ran well for years at a time. However, I'm not a tech or even a good hobbyist anymore.

I've been using a large-screen flat-screen TV as a monitor, but I probably want to upgrade that as well.

Thanks in advance for any advice.

Posted Jun 15, 2025, 3:16 PM UTC

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