Build Advice Requesting Help with a PC Build: 128GB RAM, Optical Drive, Legacy HDD Support – Budget $3500

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

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

6. MSI MPG A850G PCIE5 850W​

7. 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. 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!

 

[Misgar]

Video editing (Adobe Premiere Pro, Descript);

Premiere Prp and other video editing apps benefit from the most powerful GPU you can afford. NVidia cards tend to more popular than AMD or Intel, but price may dictate your choice.
https://www.pugetsystems.com/soluti...be-premiere-pro/hardware-recommendations/#gpu

I'd suggest looking for a GPU with at least 8GB VRAM for Premiere Pro if you're working at high resolutions (4K and above). I upgraded in 2024 from an RTX3060 12GB to an RTX4070 12GB on Black Friday.

Sequence Resolution	1080p	4K	6K	8K+
Minimum VRAM capacity	4GB	8GB	12GB	16GB+

96 GB (2×48 GB) or 128 GB of RAM

Video apps don't always benefit hugely from fast XMP settings especially on AMD CPUs, but there's a worthwhile gain on Intel CPUs at 6000MT/s. Important. See note below about 4 DIMM XMP speeds.
https://www.pugetsystems.com/labs/a...023-update/#Video_Editing_and_Motion_Graphics

4 DIMMs will often require slower XMP speeds for stability and some mobo BIOS reduce DDR5 speeds down below 4800MT/s when you fit 4 DIMMs. The result is you might waste money on really fast DDR5 if you fit 4 DIMMs. 2 DIMMs usually clock faster than 4 DIMMs.

It's better to buy all 4 DIMMs as a single matched kit of 4 DIMMs. If you buy two pairs of DIMMs, there's no way of telling if they're from the same batch, even if they have the same part number. Different batches may have subtly different memory timings and with mis-matched kits, you may be less successful with really high XMP settings. The two kits might even have different memory chips.

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?

Fit an LSI SAS (Serial Attached SCSI) HBA (Host Bus Adapter) card, flashed with IT (Initiator Target) firmware - not IR (RAID) firmware.
https://forums.servethehome.com/ind...and-hba-complete-listing-plus-oem-models.599/

LSI cards are equally happy with SATA hard disks, but you can't mix SAS and SATA. The number at the end defines how many drives you can hang off the card, e.g. -4i = 4 drives, -8i = 8 drive, but you can fit more on some cards, -12i, -16i -20i.

I use old SAS2 (6Gbps) 9211-8i controllers, but you could get a faster SAS3 (12Gbps) LSI 9300-8i.
https://www.amazon.com/SXTAIGOOD-9211-8i-6Gbps-HBA-LSI/dp/B0BWY1VH3V

N.B. the '-i' at the end of the part number indicates IT firmware. I suggest avoiding LSI cards ending with '-e' indicated IR firmware. I buy used ex-server pulls, but eBay and Aliexpress abound with cheap LSI clones.

You'll need an SFF-8087 forward breakout cable for each set of four hard disks.

I recommend fitting a second M.2 NVMe drive exclusively used for the Adobe Premiere Pro scratch files. I have a third 1TB M.2 NVMe drive for video work-in-progress files, before copying back to 5 hard disks.

 

[Why_Me]

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

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

6. MSI MPG A850G PCIE5 850W​

7. 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. 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!

Look at a RTX 5070 Ti 16GB.
https://rozetka.com.ua/ua/search/?text=rtx 5070 ti

 

[Nibana]

4 DIMMs will often require slower XMP speeds for stability and some mobo BIOS reduce DDR5 speeds down below 4800MT/s when you fit 4 DIMMs. The result is you might waste money on really fast DDR5 if you fit 4 DIMMs. 2 DIMMs usually clock faster than 4 DIMMs.

It's better to buy all 4 DIMMs as a single matched kit of 4 DIMMs. If you buy two pairs of DIMMs, there's no way of telling if they're from the same batch, even if they have the same part number. Different batches may have subtly different memory timings and with mis-matched kits, you may be less successful with really high XMP settings. The two kits might even have different memory chips.

Thank you so much for such a detailed response! I really appreciate it.
Regarding RAM. Yeah, the timings can be different even if the frequencies aren’t. But what difference does it make? They’ll just boot up at the speed of the weakest stick. And they won’t care — they’ll run as best they can.
So, the only downside is lower frequencies, correct? Luckily, on a good board with decent RAM, I'm not dropping below 4800 — 4800 is the minimum, would you agree?

 

[Misgar]

But what difference does it make? They’ll just boot up at the speed of the weakest stick.

I'm not sure if every BIOS on every mobo in the worls checks the SPD chips on all DIMMs and chooses the slowest timings, or just looks at the DIMMs in A2 and B2. If you have very fast DIMMs in A2/B2 and much slower DIMMs in A1/B1, you might have trouble at the maximum XMP speed of the A2/B2 DIMMs. Just guessing.

I've been happily mixing dissimilar sticks of RAM since DDR2 days and have got away with a mild 3000MT/s overclock on two pairs of Corsair Vengeance RAM in a 3800X build. I don't always check the QVL either, trusting to luck and a certain amount of online research. But if you know you'll need to fill all 4 slots at some point, it's not a bad idea to buy a matched set of 4 DIMMs and not two pairs, if you can find them at a similar price.

I did have trouble with some Kingston Hyper-X DDR3, but when I checked, three of the four DIMMs had different speeds (1333, 1600 and 1866). They all had the same blue heatsinks and I hadn't bothered to check the part numbers. I had another 40 Hyper-X DIMMs (pulls from old PCs) so I made up a "matched" quad. This would point to my BIOS using 1866 or 1600 settings and the 1333 DIMM complaining.

The only reason for mentioning mixed pairs is it's one of the questions asked by forum moderators when people have trouble with high XMP/EXPO/DOCP overclocks. You're probably aware that larger capacity DIMMs (32GB/48GB) occasionally give trouble when all four slots are filled for 128GB+. This is possibly where a quad (or eight) channel Xeon, EPYC or Threadripper might be a better solution, if you ever need 256Gb to 2TB RAM. I have an old Xeon server board with eight DDR4 DIMM slots and they're all filled. My HP servers have 16 DIMM slots.

Luckily, on a good board with decent RAM, I'm not dropping below 4800 — 4800 is the minimum, would you agree?

Yes, you should be OK with your mobo at the JEDEC DDR5 default of 4800MT/s, but there are rare instances on this forum when peoples' BIOS have knocked the speed down to 4200 or 3800MT/s on 4 DIMMs. You can always override auto settings and manually tweak timings, then run MemTest86.

If you want to find out what memory chips are embedded on your DIMMs, try Thaiphoon Burner and check each DIMM.
https://thaiphoon-burner-official.com/

It might be an idea to look at Puget Systems' offerings, even if they do seem expensive, to see if there are any glaring weaknesses in your proposed build. Some video editing software leans more heavily on the GPU than the CPU, or vice versa.

i've noticed differences in GPU/CPU %age use figures for various Topaz Video AI algorithms. In some cases the CPU might be running at 60% and the GPU at 90%. At other times, the CPU and GPU are both level pegging, up near their own respective maximum power limits. Topaz "leverages" the iGPU in the CPU (if it has one) in addition to the main GPU card in the PCIe x16 slot.

 

[helper800]

The best kit of RAM for capacity that is on the QVL list of the MSI z890 Tomahawk is this Corsair 4x48gb CL 38-38-38-84 at 5200 MT/s: CMK192GX5M4B5200C38

Another good kit from corsair that is on your MOBO QVL list is this Corsair 4x32gb CL 38-38-38-84 at 5600 MT/s: CMH128GX5M4B5600C40

 

[Nibana]

I'm not sure if every BIOS on every mobo in the worls checks the SPD chips on all DIMMs and chooses the slowest timings, or just looks at the DIMMs in A2 and B2. If you have very fast DIMMs in A2/B2 and much slower DIMMs in A1/B1, you might have trouble at the maximum XMP speed of the A2/B2 DIMMs. Just guessing.

I've been happily mixing dissimilar sticks of RAM since DDR2 days and have got away with a mild 3000MT/s overclock on two pairs of Corsair Vengeance RAM in a 3800X build. I don't always check the QVL either, trusting to luck and a certain amount of online research. But if you know you'll need to fill all 4 slots at some point, it's not a bad idea to buy a matched set of 4 DIMMs and not two pairs, if you can find them at a similar price.

I did have trouble with some Kingston Hyper-X DDR3, but when I checked, three of the four DIMMs had different speeds (1333, 1600 and 1866). They all had the same blue heatsinks and I hadn't bothered to check the part numbers. I had another 40 Hyper-X DIMMs (pulls from old PCs) so I made up a "matched" quad. This would point to my BIOS using 1866 or 1600 settings and the 1333 DIMM complaining.

The only reason for mentioning mixed pairs is it's one of the questions asked by forum moderators when people have trouble with high XMP/EXPO/DOCP overclocks. You're probably aware that larger capacity DIMMs (32GB/48GB) occasionally give trouble when all four slots are filled for 128GB+. This is possibly where a quad (or eight) channel Xeon, EPYC or Threadripper might be a better solution, if you ever need 256Gb to 2TB RAM. I have an old Xeon server board with eight DDR4 DIMM slots and they're all filled. My HP servers have 16 DIMM slots.


Yes, you should be OK with your mobo at the JEDEC DDR5 default of 4800MT/s, but there are rare instances on this forum when peoples' BIOS have knocked the speed down to 4200 or 3800MT/s on 4 DIMMs. You can always override auto settings and manually tweak timings, then run MemTest86.

If you want to find out what memory chips are embedded on your DIMMs, try Thaiphoon Burner and check each DIMM.
https://thaiphoon-burner-official.com/

It might be an idea to look at Puget Systems' offerings, even if they do seem expensive, to see if there are any glaring weaknesses in your proposed build. Some video editing software leans more heavily on the GPU than the CPU, or vice versa.

i've noticed differences in GPU/CPU %age use figures for various Topaz Video AI algorithms. In some cases the CPU might be running at 60% and the GPU at 90%. At other times, the CPU and GPU are both level pegging, up near their own respective maximum power limits. Topaz "leverages" the iGPU in the CPU (if it has one) in addition to the main GPU card in the PCIe x16 slot.

Thanks for the tips, you really know your stuff. Maybe you can help me out with my current PC situation.

I got 6 HDDs hooked up (2TB and 3TB each) +1TB SSD. All my photos, videos, and .docx files are on those drives. My CPU is an i7 2600K, no GPU right now, and the motherboard is a P8Z68 with 32GB RAM.

Here’s the thing that drives me nuts: whenever I open a folder or file on those HDDs, I gotta wait like 5 to 14 seconds for the drive to wake up and spin up. Then, say I open a .docx file, and when I start typing, Word freezes for a bit because the drive is still waking up and spinning. Seriously annoying.

Is there any way to fix this? Like, can I stop the drives from going to sleep or something? Would a NAS help with this? Also, when I’m using WhatsApp on the PC, it sometimes lags — looks like it’s trying to access those drives too.

 

[Misgar]

Is there any way to fix this? Like, can I stop the drives from going to sleep or something?

One of the first things I do after installing Windows is to disable all of the power saving settings, including hard disk shutdown after 20 minutes. I'm not working in an office where computers are left running at night and over the weekend, when nobody is there.

1). Open 'Power Options' (I'm running Windows 10 Pro, but it should be the same in 11)
2). Locate your current power plan (probably Balanced (recommended)) and click 'Change plan settings'
3). Click 'Change advanced power settings'
4). Set 'Hard disk' 'Turn off hard disk after' to 0 (zero) minutes. Default is 20 min.
5). For good measure, I set 'USB selective suspend setting' to Disabled
6). PCI Express 'Link State Power Management' to Disabled
7). Display 'Turn off display after' to Never

 

[Nibana]

One of the first things I do after installing Windows is to disable all of the power saving settings, including hard disk shutdown after 20 minutes. I'm not working in an office where computers are left running at night and over the weekend, when nobody is there.

1). Open 'Power Options' (I'm running Windows 10 Pro, but it should be the same in 11)
2). Locate your current power plan (probably Balanced (recommended)) and click 'Change plan settings'
3). Click 'Change advanced power settings'
4). Set 'Hard disk' 'Turn off hard disk after' to 0 (zero) minutes. Default is 20 min.
5). For good measure, I set 'USB selective suspend setting' to Disabled
6). PCI Express 'Link State Power Management' to Disabled
7). Display 'Turn off display after' to Never

Massive thanks, man seriously appreciate it.👍👍👍