New Build (Couple Questions)

[HaxMan]

Hey Guys,

After revising my build a couple times, I think I've made a final decision and would love confirmation from our experts. And thank you to everyone for your contribution to this godsend of a website.

MOBO: Gigabyte Z77X-UD5H ATX
CPU: Intel Core i7 3770K 3.5GHZ Ivy Bridge
CPU Cooler: Coolermaster Hyper 212 Plus
Firewire PCI: Syba SD-LP-TIFWB Low Profile Firewire Controller
GPU: EVGA GeForce GTX 580 Superclocked Fermi
SSD: Crucial M4 SSD Micron 64gb (Windows 7 OS)
SSD: Crucial M4 SSD Micron 128gb (Lion OS and Logic Pro)
HDD: Western Digital 2TB Caviar Green SATA 3 (Media drive for both OS's)
RAM: Corsair Vengeance Low Profile 16GB 2X8GB
PSU: Corsair Enthusiast Series 750W
Case: Fractal Design Define R3

If anyone can see any discrepancies or areas where I can save money please let me know.

My aim: To dual boot Windows 7 and Lion, running Lion as my main OS, installed onto the 128gb SSD, and Windows onto the 64gb SSD.
I'll be running Logic Pro on Lion, and gaming on Windows.

Now for the extremely noob questions:

1) Is it possible to partition the 2 TB HDD so that one half is for Windows and the other for Lion? OR Can I skip the partition and just have the drive accessible from both OS's cleanly?
2) When installing the OS's, is it better to install Lion first and THEN Windows? Or does it not matter?
3) The reason I'm picking the GTX 580 over the 670 is because the 6xx cards will only be supported natively in Mountain Lion and apparently my firewire audio interface (Presonus FP10) won't be supported by Mountain Lion for roughly 6 months So I'll be running Lion for a while. That said, my question is, is there a large difference in performance between the GTX 580 and the 570? Cause I could save over 100 dollars and go with the 570 if there is not.

Thanks a lot for any advice given

 

[sonicseamus]

1) Is it possible to partition the 2 TB HDD so that one half is for Windows and the other for Lion? OR Can I skip the partition and just have the drive accessible from both OS's cleanly?

If you use exFAT for a partition scheme, both Windows and OSX can read and write to the drive. That would let you have just one partition.

2) When installing the OS's, is it better to install Lion first and THEN Windows? Or does it not matter?

When using separate boot drives, it doesn't matter. Just make sure you've set the OSX SSD to first boot priority in the BIOS and then you can use Chimera (the bootloader installed by MultiBeast) to select your OS.

3) The reason I'm picking the GTX 580 over the 670 is because the 6xx cards will only be supported natively in Mountain Lion and apparently my firewire audio interface (Presonus FP10) won't be supported by Mountain Lion for roughly 6 months So I'll be running Lion for a while. That said, my question is, is there a large difference in performance between the GTX 580 and the 570? Cause I could save over 100 dollars and go with the 570 if there is not.

Good choice on 5xx cards. We don't even know for a fact that they will be supported in ML! As to the 570 vs 580 question, it's really up to you. Here is a thread that can help you decide.

 

[HaxMan]

Great thanks for your reply!

If anyone has a similar set up I'd love to hear how it went for you. I think everything should be fairly straight forward with the tutorials, although I am still confused about a few things.

Another question I have is: You know when you delete something off of a thumb drive but you don't actually get the space back until you format the whole drive? Is that the same for SSD's? Or no? Why does that happen with a thumb drive?