These guys are steering you right.
If you can wait until the Fall to do a Fresh Build that would be best for now.
Just getting an SSD installed will make you think you have brand new machine.
I know I'll catch FLAK for this, but after doing a FRESH OS install with ONLY the SSD hooked up and the other HDD's removed, I'd suggest setting up those two 500GB in a RAID 0/Stripped using Windows Software RAID in the Disk Manager.
It will almost DOUBLE the read/write speeds of the drive which will now be a 1TB Volume and essentially breath some more life/PEP into them for
FREE.
Plus, with the Windows RAID you can take that two drive array to ANY other Windows 7 system and it will be recognized. (Not sure if this is Bit dependent though. Haven't tried taking say a 32 bit OS Array over to a 64 bit OS or vise versa.)
BTW, when you do the CLEAN INSTALL be CERTAIN to set your BIOS for AHCI mode BEFORE you install Windows. That way Windows will automatically load the ACHI driver for the SSD. This enables Windows to make use of the TRIM function on the SSD. Which will help the SSD stay up to SPEED over time. I'd also suggest Provisioning at least 15% but up to 25% of the available disk volume.
In other words, if you get a 256GB drive and when Windows wants to partition it during the install and it shows say 239GB of unallocated space you should set up a NEW partition of 204GB and then install onto that partition. Also try to make sure that the SSD is on SATA port 0 as Windows likes to have the OS on Drive Zero.
The unallocated space you left will AUTOMATICALLY be used during writes and for the TRIM function to keep your drive FAST and also extend the life of the drive.
That way for say $200 (256GB SSD) on the CHEAP you can make your system about 40% faster or more with just the SSD and putting those HDD's into a Software RAID with the OS.
Then just keep saving up for a new Build when all the Latest and Greatest are released in the Fall like DDR 4 ram and like.
Heck, by then the Crucial M500 960GB SSD that's selling for $599 right now should come down in price.
For the SSD I would suggest the
Samsung 840 Pro (Any Size,but the link is to the 256GB which is on sale right now and I think the Cart Price is like $199.) for my Number One pick for SPEED, Reliability, and LONGEVITY.
The Corsair Neutron series would be second. The
GTX in that line has faster Write speeds. But the read speeds are close between the two in the line.
The
Crucial M500 series would be my third pick right now. It'll be sinilar to the Samsung 840 and the Corsiar Neutron as far as Pretty fast reads, but then drops about 30% in writes. (The 840 Pro and the Neutron GTX maintain almost the same read/write speeds which "I" prefer. Especially since it's usually the write speeds that get slower over time on an SSD. But if you set the Over Provisioning I spoke of up AND make that AHCI is enabled in the BIOS and that windows has installed and is using those drivers, that should NEVER be any noticeable problem with any of the three drive series above.)
If you want stability, reliability, and some longevity I would stick with those three above. I would steer you AWAY from ANYTHING OCZ. Still too many bugs with the line. Even the New Vector from the early reviews. Maybe some firmware updates will fix them, but why Pay and then PRAY?!!! LOL
The only other suggestioj I would have is that if you don't already have an External HDD large enough to backup the SSD and 1TB RAID I'd suggest picking up a
"2TB" External USB 3.0 drive so that Windows Backup and/or Acronis can create FULL system images on a regular, now hear this..... DAILY Basis. lol
The 3 & 4TB externals are NOT playing well with Windows 7 Backup and some versions of Acronis.
And don't EVEN think about or Heaven Forbid!!, DO the Reformat to 512k sectors in order to FORCE them to work. Data integrity will become an issue in time and that is NOT what you want in a backup. Not even the "So-Called" Western Digital download "FIX" will work correctly. It just does the
No-No format for you.
TTFN (Ta Ta For Now)