Choosing hard drives for $100 or less

[loganex]

I'd like to spend around $100 on storage for my new build, which includes:
Cooler Master 690
Intel E8400
Xigmatex HDT-SD964 HSF
GTX 260/216
Gigabyte GA-EP45-UD3R
Corsair 650TX

So here's my options, as far as I can tell, and I'd like to know which would be best for gaming in your opinion.

Opt. 1 -- A single 32 MB cache drive, such as WD Black or Samsung F1, 500GB or larger
Opt. 2 -- Two 16 MB cache drives, maybe 250GB or 320 GB each, OS on one, games on the other.
Opt. 3 -- Two 16 MB cache drives in RAID 0.
Opt. 4 -- A cheap SSD, such as the OCZ 64GB model.

Thanks for the help.

 

[rarebear]

I just got my new HDD today..

I spent the last few days reading reviews by Tom's Hardware and Anandtech.com

And I bought a WD Caviar Black 1TB for $120 from ProVantage plus $10 shipping
Newegg was out of stock has free shipping but $10 in tax so was the same price..

You can get a 750 gig for $89

 

[LokutusofBorg]

I'm a big fan of having your OS on a separate spindle from anything else that gets even remotely IO heavy (like games). It'll help performance in many ways.

 

[IndyJaws]

Just picked up two F1 1TB drives for a WHS build. Did a lot of research and they spec out very well. Plus, only about $95 at the 'Egg (probably can find cheaper, but I've never had any issues with them).

 

[TemjinGold]

OP: I would scratch Option 4 for sure. Cheap SSDs will give you lots of headaches and performance will be subpar.

I personally would go with Option 1 and partition it, one for OS, one for games. The smaller drives you mention are slower and even Raid 0 wouldn't help as much as a state of the art drive (not to mention more headaches.)

You never mentioned how much storage space you need...

 

[nOOky]

I'd do a Caviar Black 640 or 750 giger. The 5 year warranty and 32mb cache and dual processors are pluses. Save up for a storage drive later. Maybe use an old disk in the interim for storage?

 

[ochadd]

I use two 250gb/16mb drives in Raid 0 for game installs and there is a noticable improvement over the 640gb/32mb seagate drive. The seagate is also the OS drive so that could play into it as well.

Raid 0 for game installs is nice. If it craps out you're not out anything. If I could find another identicle drive for $40ish I'd do a three drive array.