Need help with raid 0 and SSD caching

[wintonson]

Hello! So my Mobo supports raid 0 and has four gray data ports for it. As well as SSD caching.

Does the SSD for caching need to be connected within those four gray ports?

Do I need to partition the SSD right away at OS install to later use it for caching or should I wait till Windows 7 is fully installed as well as Intel smart response to partition the SSD?

Does the brand of the SSD matter?

Is it okay to go with the max of 64gb for caching as a SSD or should I use a 80gb SSD? I know you should not max out a SSD for its health so in this question in wondering if the same thing applies here.

This is my first time running raid as well as using SSD for caching. I did plenty of reading on multiple forums and these are the last questions I need help with. Thank you for your time.

 

[Multipack]

Hello! So my Mobo supports raid 0 and has four gray data ports for it. As well as SSD caching.

Does the SSD for caching need to be connected within those four gray ports?

Yes

Do I need to partition the SSD right away at OS install to later use it for caching or should I wait till Windows 7 is fully installed as well as Intel smart response to partition the SSD?

Either as you can add the cache drive from within the OS but Windows 7 and UEFI have compatibility issues and legacy RAID is more complicated

Does the brand of the SSD matter?

Yes especially if the two SSD's are not cache disks, as you will get the speed of the slowest disk. The cache drive isn't important but ideally should be faster than the non-cache disk

Is it okay to go with the max of 64gb for caching as a SSD or should I use a 80gb SSD? I know you should not max out a SSD for its health so in this question in wondering if the same thing applies here.

Use the whole disk. Add it in iRST

 

[USAFRet]

Why are you bothering with using the SSD as a cache? A 64GB drive is not that much cheaper than a 250GB drive.
You could have the OS and your applications all existing on that 250GB SSD.