RAID O Setup - Need Recommendation(s) on Best Hard Drives 2Buy

Hi Everyone,

I am putting a new build together and have yet to order the components because I have some questions I hope that some or one of the Geek Gods from this forum would provide me with answers or at the very least recommendations as to the course to follow in the matter of hard drives and thus ensure an ideal composite of all the components.

What I am looking to do is setup a RAID 0 configuration on my PC. I plan on purchasing to identical 500GB drives for this purpose. I read that Windows will see the two drives as one 1TB drive. The bonus of the RAID 0 setup is that searches and data retrieval on the drives is accomplished much faster (up to 50% faster at times) because they are split between the two distinct drives and therefore the information is garnered faster than if I had just one 1TB drive. If I am off on how the RAID 0 setup works then please tell me because I understand it as I have written above about it. Also, does a RAID PCIe card typically come with a MB such as the Asus P8Z77-V Pro Intel MB or is this an item that I would need to purchase separately?, or put it another way, would a $200 MB typically come with such items as a RAID card?

I am looking for some drive recommendations for this type setup. I understand that the hard drive(s) is an extremely important component because a low-to-medium end type drive can effectively drag down all of the higher-end components in a system. It sounds right to me but I am still wondering if an average type HDD really can impact the whole system's performance?

Originally I was planning on drives that had 7200 rpm and a respectable amount of buffer memory, perhaps 16MB, and it seems only logical that the drive should be a SATA 3 6GB/s drive since my MB has two SATA 3 ports available. Many drives probably don't have the SATA 3 status so that limits my choices but I still image that there are some brands that are more dependable than others. I am using two Western Digital drives now and I have had a Seagate Barracuda drive too, though I read that the Barracuda drives are not that great and fail often. Truth to this?

The issue that I had NOT expected to consider is size. So many of the 500GB drives are not the standard drive size of 5.25 but instead are either 3.5 or 2.5 sized. With this said, I would like to offer up something that is in the description of my computer case: it reads that there are four 5.25' internal drive bays and six 3.5' drive bays with removable HDD caddies that have mounting locations for both 3.5" and 2.5" SSDs. I understand the above statement to mean that I do NOT have to purchase additional mounting caddies for HDD drives that are of 3.5' or 2.5" size because they are provided with the computer case, is that right? If this is the case I think that it would be a good to go with two 3.5" drives, or should I stick with a standard size 5.25" set of drives? Any difference really?

Finally, I would like my HDDs to be quiet or a quieter type of drive with a noise level definitely below 30db.

So, will any knowledge geek share there thoughts with me regarding my questions and also make some recommendations on a drive that would work well in a RAIO 0 setup? I have generally purchased stuff from TigerDirect or NewEgg, but I have to say that Amazon actually has had better prices on many of the components that I have selected for my build. in some cases it is only a few dollars, in other case it can be as much as $20. With that said, I forget to mention the all important budget factor. I thinking that if I could purchase two drives for no more than say $125.00. There is some flexibility in how much I will pay, more if the drive is in some way better than other choices.

Thank you in advance for your insight, and if you have any question for me, please feel free to ask away.