$3500 Workstation Build NEED HELP – 128GB RAM, OCR, Legacy HDD, Optical Drive

[Nibana]

Hi!
About a year ago, I tried to build a PC but it didn’t work out. Now I’m ready for round two.

I’d appreciate help putting together a desktop PC with:

• an optical drive,
• 96 GB (2×48 GB) or 128 GB of RAM,
• and support for old hard drives (SATA).
  My budget is up to $3500.

This PC will be used for:

• Video editing (Adobe Premiere Pro (seldom), Descript);
• OCR and book scanning (CZUR ET16 + FineReader) for creating massive searchable PDFs from old newspapers — up to 100,000 pages in one file. That’s why I need 96 GB or 128 GB of RAM — memory fills up quickly.

What matters most:

• SSD speed + RAM cache during rendering;
• No lag when scrolling through 20 GB+ PDFs;
• OCR with simultaneous TIFF writing and source reading.

I plan to order from:

• https://hotline.ua
• https://hard.rozetka.com.ua

Here’s what I’ve selected or am considering:
1. CPU:
Intel Core Ultra 7 265K 3.9GHz / 30MB (BX80768265K) s1851 BOX
🔗 https://hard.rozetka.com.ua/ua/intel-bx80768265k/p454463807/
💰 17,592 UAH (~$422)

2. GPU:

No idea yet. Budget is around $1000 — suggestions are welcome!

3. Motherboard:

MSI MAG Z890 Tomahawk Wi-Fi (s1851, Intel Z890, PCI-Ex16)
🔗 https://hard.rozetka.com.ua/ua/msi-mag-z890-tomahawk-wifi/p456194809/
💰 15,299 UAH (~$367)
Has 4 SATA ports, but one will be taken up by the Blu-ray drive.
Is there a SATA splitter or controller card to expand this?

4. SSD (System):

Kingston KC3000 4TB M.2 NVMe PCIe Gen 4.0 x4 3D TLC NAND (SKC3000D/4096G)
🔗 https://hard.rozetka.com.ua/kingston-skc3000s-4096g/p323284093/
💰 16,379 UAH (~$409)

5. Case:

✅ Already purchased: Fractal Design Define 7 XL Black (FD-C-DEF7X-01) — perfect for mounting many old SATA HDDs and one optical drive.

6. Power Supply:​

MSI MPG A850G PCIE5 850W

7. RAM:

Looking for 2×48 GB (96 GB) or 4×32 GB (128 GB) — I’m unsure what’s more reasonable. Please suggest a reliable model.

8. Liquid Cooling:

Arctic Liquid Freezer II 360 (ACFRE00068B)
🔗 https://hard.rozetka.com.ua/ua/arctic-acfre00068b/p239553705/
💰 4,449 UAH (~$111)
But maybe I should choose version III, since it was released around the launch of socket LGA1851? Not 100% sure though.


If you can recommend parts (especially GPU and RAM) that fit well with the setup and budget, I’d really appreciate it.


Thanks in advance!

 

[Colif]

Hardest part might be finding a case that has a spot for an optical drive. Most of the new ones won't, latest move is to actually reduce 2.5/3.5inch drive bays as well since many motherboards only have 4 sata ports now,
external drive probably easiest option.

OCR and book scanning (CZUR ET16 + FineReader) for creating massive searchable PDFs from old newspapers — up to 100,000 pages in one file. That’s why I need 96 GB or 128 GB of RAM — memory fills up quickly.

You probably need more storage as well then as 4tb might not be enough.
if speed is all that matters, why not look at PCIe5 nvme? Your motherboard can run them.

Probably want an Nvidia GPU of some kind. 5080 is suggested here: https://www.pugetsystems.com/soluti.../adobe-premiere-pro/hardware-recommendations/
I doubt the OCR software cares what GPU you have. So above depends how seldom the use is
Finereader is easy - https://pdf.abbyy.com/specifications/

ideally for the ram you look on the motherboards QVL list and pick from there.

https://www.msi.com/Motherboard/MAG-Z890-TOMAHAWK-WIFI/support#mem

as if you using 4 sticks it helps that they been tested with board.
Some memory makers also test theirs with motherboards too.
For instance, G skill have only got at most (2x48) 96gb sets - See link
Corsair don't appear to have tested their ram with board. Or mine for that matter.. hmm

its not ideal to use two sets of ram together. Intel CPU are better at managing it sometimes but it just as easily start creating errors. Why it happens is sticks in sets only tested with each other, not other sticks... more you add together, more chance of errors. It might be fine but its a gamble.

I expect @Why_Me will make a suggested build.

Version 3 of the AIO does perform better than 2. I had a Version 2 on my last PC.

 

[Nibana]

deally for the ram you look on the motherboards QVL list and pick from there.
https://www.msi.com/Motherboard/MAG-Z890-TOMAHAWK-WIFI/support#mem as if you using 4 sticks it helps that they been tested with board.
Some memory makers also test theirs with motherboards too.
For instance, G skill have only got at most 96gb sets - See link
Corsair don't appear to have tested their ram with board. Or mine for that matter.. hmm

Thank you so much for the list provided. I've only found one Corsair 192 GB (4x48GB) DDR5 5200 MHz Vengeance (CMK192GX5M4B5200C38) that has been tested. Timings are not mentioned in the list, but I've found them online CL38-38-38-84. To be honest, the frequency seems a bit low for DDR5 — just 4800/5200 MHz. Also, the "Spectek B" who even uses this? Even though, G skill have only got 96GB sets it doesn't mean that they wouldn't work if I get 2 of those sets, right? It just means that those chaps there haven't had it tested (48+48)96GB + (48+48)96GB, I am correct?

 

[Colif]

6000 is seen as a gaming speed, whereas if you after lots of space, that is less of an essential factor. You probably wouldn't notice the difference.
48GB of 6000 MT/s RAM is often used in professional applications, video editing, or high-end gaming setups. This specialized niche might mean that these modules are not stocked as widely as other RAM kits.

The other timings mean more for you and it doesn't have bad timings - CL 38-38-38-84
My new ram I got last week is CL28-36-36-96
cl just shows how fast the ram is to respond to CPU the first time, after that its generally the others that show how fast it is at accessing different areas of the sticks, so lower it all is, the better. Especially with multiple sticks.
The meanings of the 4 values - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Memory_timings#:~:text=Row Address to Column Address,Row Precharge Time

You will in general get slightly higher performance with DDR5-6000, but that depends in part on timings. 5200 with tight timings will perform similarly to 6000 with loose timings. And in any case, bad 5200 compared against good 6000 is maybe a performance difference of 2-4%, so not significant.

https://au.pcpartpicker.com/forums/topic/464540-5200mhz-or-6000mhz

Even though, G skill have only got 96GB sets it doesn't mean that they wouldn't work if I get 2 of those sets, right? It just means that those chaps there haven't had it tested (48+48)96GB + (48+48)96GB, I am correct?

my answer to that was in previous reply

its not ideal to use two sets of ram together. Intel CPU are better at managing it sometimes but it just as easily start creating errors. Why it happens is sticks in sets only tested with each other, not other sticks... more you add together, more chance of errors. It might be fine but its a gamble.

It might work, but it can also cause BSOD and other errors you might not get with one set. Timings can be slightly different, enough to cause problems.
I would get one set if you can.

Also, the "Spectek B" who even uses this?

Can't say I heard of them before. Most of my PC had Corsair ram in them until now.