SSD raid controller HELP PLZ

In general, I would get a larger SSD instead of combining them using motherboard raid-0.

The reason is that larger SSD's will have more internal nand chips that they can access simultaneously. Sort of an internal raid-0.

You are always better off performance wise by using a discrete raid card. But, it is one heck of a big price to pay.

Only if you have apps which do lots of sequential reads of large files would I consider raid-0 a big winner.

Yes, a x8 card will work fine in a x16 slot.

For performance, I would first populate my motherboard with as much ram as it can hold. In this case 24gb. Windows-7 professional is required to access more than 16gb.

With lots of ram, windows-7 will keep your most actively used stuff in ram and not ever have to load it. That will be much faster than even the fastedt SSD.

Also, be prepared for buyer's remorse if you spend a bunch on a SSD today. Gen 3 devices are due to launch in the fall. They will be bigger, faster, and cheaper than today's units.

win 7 x64 to access all that RAM, I think. not x86

Use the onboard RAID (Intel) controller. Download the new Intel 9.6 driver.

Each SATA ports has the 3.0GBps bandwidth, so if you RAID them, you'll be using multiple ports.

My RAID 0 setup can get up to 400+MBps, more than a single port.