Putting in new HDD's including SSD

I have a 120 gig OCZ Vertex 2 SSD. I'm going to buy a 500g or so in addition and put them both in. I'm pretty positive that SC2 will run much better on the SSD than it does on the HDD. I'll put windows and SC2 (the main game I use my computer for playing) on the SSD and everything else on the HDD. I thought I recall the m17x r2 having issues with SSD's. Is that the case? Is there some sort of software I need to properly manage it? How do I even go about doing this? I assume I just take the old HDD's out of the computer and boot up with the windows disk / install windows on the SSD? Which slot do I put the SSD in? How do I know which is the primary and secondary? Is there anything I need to do before hand, like disable RAID in BIOS? When I install windows do I install Intel Rapid Storage Technology? What other drivers do I need? Is the OCZ Vertex 2 a good SSD? What kind of HDD is good to buy?

I've been having problems with my hard drives and its either hardware or software. Either way I can increase my SC2 performance by putting it on the SSD so I'd like to go ahead and do that. Do SSD's take more power than HDDs? I need to make sure my power draw is appropriate because I'm running the 6990's @ stock voltages and I don't want there to be a power draw issue.

Any other advice would be great, thanks.

EDIT: I'm sick of these damn blue screens and I need to be able to use my computer. Even if I order a HDD from newegg now the soonest I'll get it is Monday (no saturday delivery). Here is a drive that I found on the best buy site that is in stock near my home. Is this decent? http://www.bestbuy.com/site/Seagate...tops/9326428.p?skuId=9326428&id=1218085426687

 

I've got a 120GB Intel SSD as my main Windows HDD with my programs and a couple of games, as well as a 500GB HDD for all the rest of my games, music, pictures and other stuff. I've never had a problem with the Intel SSD in my R2 and it goes like a bullet.

The slots that the drives are installed in are labelled HDD0 (primary) and HDD1 (secondary) so it will be easy to determine which one to install it in. My SSD is installed in HDD0 but you can always change the boot order in the BIOS so it shouldn't matter too much. I don't think you are going to see much difference in your power draw. Most SSDs take less power to run than HDDs but the main difference is it will be silent and won't give off that signature HDD vibration.

I think you should disable RAID in the BIOS if you're not going to use it. I'm not sure if you have to install Intel RST though... I haven't and no problems thus far.

The latest OCZ drives aren't the most highly regarded drives around but it will still be fine. If you already have it you may as well use it. Just make sure that it is updated to the latest firmware.

I have no idea which HDD would be best sorry, maybe someone else will know. Good luck with it anyway!

 

Do you think SC2 will run smoother on the SSD? Is there anything WRONG with the OCZ? I thought they were supposed to be good? Also, what about the best buy drive I linked? Would it be wiser to order one on newegg or should I just get that one? I know that the ones on newegg have a 32mb cache as opposed to the 16mb cashe that the best buy one has

 

Its not OCZ per se, it's all sandforce drives using 2281 controllers and cheap 25nm nand memory.

The game will load faster, but aside from that, it won't be all that much faster or smoother

 

Really? The game uses the harddrive a lot to load things. Since I've been having BSOD"s the game has small freezes every time I a new building comes out / unit.

Does that best buy harddrive seem okay? Is 16mb cashe bad?

http://www.seagate.com/ww/v/index.j...M1000001a48090aRCRD#tTabContentSpecifications is the drive I have in my machine currently. Between the drive I'm looking to buy and the OCZ Vertex 2, I want to make sure the power draw will be the same. I don't want to increase power draw and mess anything up with the 6990's.