OCZ Vertex 30gb SSD or 2-3 WD Caviar Blacks RAID 0

I'm debating the following:

1x30gb SSD - Newegg.com - OCZ Vertex Series OCZSSD2-1VTX30G 2.5" 30GB SATA II MLC Internal Solid state disk (SSD) - Solid State Disks

If I can convince my mom to give me my $200 from the stimulus then I'll have around $400 for this:

1x30gb SSD - Newegg.com - OCZ Vertex Series OCZSSD2-1VTX30G 2.5" 30GB SATA II MLC Internal Solid state disk (SSD) - Solid State Disks - $296.98 - RAID 0

For OS and a few CORE programs only (temp files, paging, system restore, etc, and some CORE programs like antivirus, browser, etc)

OR

2x500gb WD Caviar Blacks - Newegg.com - Western Digital Caviar Black WD5001AALS 500GB 7200 RPM 32MB Cache SATA 3.0Gb/s 3.5" Internal Hard Drive - Internal Hard Drives - $139.98 and my current 750gb Seagate for backups.

For the OS and everything really.

OR

3x500gb WD Caviar Blacks - Newegg.com - Western Digital Caviar Black WD5001AALS 500GB 7200 RPM 32MB Cache SATA 3.0Gb/s 3.5" Internal Hard Drive - Internal Hard Drives - $209.97 and my current 750gb Seagate for backups.

For the OS and everything really.

Which would yeild better performance?

If you can RAID 2x SSD's, you'll be flying for use as your main OS drive. FYI, disable your pagefile entirely. You have more than enough ram to run your system 'hot', as I like to say. Sure, the extra storage would be nice but you will see an *incredible* difference with even a single SSD.

So, 2x30gb of the Vertex SSDs and my 750gb drive will be fine you think? I'm thinking of still staying on Vista Ultimate x64 since even with W7 RC it just hates my hardware even on stock everything

To many things to mention but the major thing was with or w/o my good stable OC on Vista, Win7 RC shuts off and I've gotta clear the CMOS every morning

I would really encourage you to try 7137 x64. Following the RC, they added boatloads of support for hardware. Also, W7 will benefit from the SSD's over Vista.

Even if I just get one SSD for now, I can always just keep buying them and expanding the RAID right? My music collection is 36gb, so it won't even fit on one SSD lols.

Yes, you can add additional SSDs later to expand. FYI, I don't recommend using SSDs for basic storage, they're too expensive. But as an OS drive, it can't be beat. Use 1x 32GB SSD for now as your OS drive. Disable the pagefile.sys and hiberfil.sys and you will be flying.

If you try a Vertex, you won't regret it, be sure of that.

But have a hard drive for data storage.

Note: There are clones of the Vertex:
Newegg.com - super talent ultradrive me
Newegg.com - gskill falcon