What to do first?

Okay, well my M17x R3 has arrived in the US, just have to wait for my sister to bring it over here for me. But anyways.

I bought the standard M17x R3 3D, so 4 GB RAM, 320 GB Hard Drive and 2630, however I have purchased an Intel 510 SSD 120 GB and Kingston HyperX 8 GB RAM.

Essentially, I want to have the SSD as my main drive with my OS on it, and use the HDD as a secondary drive.

What I'd like to know, is the order in which I should "install" everything.

My idea was to do this, first open the laptop take out the HDD and put in the SSD. Close it up again and do a clean install of Windows 7, when that's done, open up the laptop once more, put the 320 GB HDD in Slot 1 (as opposed to Slot 0 it was in prior) and put in the RAM. Then close it up once more, delete everything on the HDD, and install everything I need to after a clean install of Windows (will follow the guide on this forum for that).

I was simply wondering if this would work, and ensure I go through less hassle possible, also, I know I could simply put the RAM in and the HDD in directly the first time I open it, but I don't want any issues with the laptop trying to boot off the HDD, and having to edit BIOS.

Finally, I bought the 1600 RAM, and I was wondering if using XMP profiles really gives a significant difference or not?

Thank you for all your help.

 

Just open up the laptop and move the 320gb hdd to Bay 1 and put the SSD into Bay 0, and then install your ram and then close up the laptop.

You will need to enter your bios and edit it anyway, as you need to change the HDD settings to AHCI for the SSD and also set the boot order so it boots up from the DVD drive first to install Windows 7.

Then proceed to install all the drivers and your done. You can format the 320gb HDD at anytime, either during the Windows 7 install or after it.

Enjoy your new Alienware.

 

That's what I was planning to do, but what I've heard is that if you just have the SSD in, Windows will detect that during the installation and configure it automatically.

EDIT: If Windows does not automatically detect as I'm hoping it will, what do I have to change exactly? What's the issue with AHCI?

 

You can do it all in one step. No need to open it multiple times.

Less risk, effort and hassle.

 

Before you tear into, be sure to boot up your system and create AlienSpawn (Dell Datasafe) restore media. Then you can restore your system to a factory new state. Should you ever need to exchange your machine, you'll want to put the original HDD in bay 0, restore the factory original OS and reinstall the original 4GB of RAM.

I would also recommend creating an complete image of the original drive with all of its original partitions.

 

Unrelated (Sorry OP) but I LOVE that avatar, Mr Fox!!!