Newbie Advice for hard drive configuration

[slack3r21]

Hello all, first post here, awesome forums! I have decided to attempt to build my first hackintosh, and I have a few questions before I begin. (I have done some searches in the forums and in google but have came up short on answers)

First, lemme say on the front end, the only reason I am building the machine is for performance. Im not really a PC gamer, I dont do any sort of video editing, Im just a geek who wants a high end machine, along with the experience of building it.

My question comes to the last portion of the build that I am stuck on. On one hand, I want to install a SSD as a boot drive to increase the speed of opening programs and general OS performance. A friend has recommended that I consider using dual velociraptors in a raid0 config for better performance. So my question is two fold:

Does anyone have any experience in using SSD vs. Velociraptors in Raid0? Are they comparable in not only performance but also in reliability?

Second, I have not seen anything on the site of installing snow leopard on a raid0 config, as from my understanding installing bypasses the bios on a hackintosh by using iboot, so Im confused as to if attempting to use raid0 would even be recognized during the initial install. I plan on using onboard controllers for the install should I decide to go with raid0.

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Here is the current list of components I have came up with, based on research done on the wiki from this site (part numbers are from newegg)

case- Cooler Master Haf X - Item: N82E16811119225

Motherboard - Gigabyte GA p55A - Item: N82E16813128409

CPU - Intel Core i7 950 - item:  N82E16819115211

RAM - G.Skill Ripjaws Series 16GB - Item: N82E16820231309

HDD - Western Digital Caviar Black WD1002FAEX - Item: N82E16822136533

power supply - Corsair 850w CMPSU - Item: N82E16817139009

Graphics - EVGA Geforce GT 240 1GB - Item: N82E16814130537

Optical - Pioneer Black 12x BD-R - Item:  N82E16827129061

 

[pedigoa]

I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but I don't think you can install SL on raid 0 drives. I tried it using my motherboard's onboard RAID, but it turned out to be impossible. You may be able to do it using a supported RAID card like the ones from Highpoint, but for some reason I don't think that works either. With some tricky maneuvers, you can make an installation on a single disk, create a software raid on two other disks from within Snow Leopard, and clone your single disk installation onto your software RAID. But then you have to install chameleon manually and I think you need to tweak some chameleon settings as well so that the disk(s) will boot.

Honestly, I don't think it's worth it. You can get an OCZ Vertex 2 60GB for like $100 right now to use as an OS disk, and a 1TB HDD like a Samsung Spinpoint F3 for $50-$70 (depending on current deals) to put all your media on. To me, that seems like a lot easier and better plan.