Dan,
1- SSD for the OS, get it set up to perfection, all updates installed and then ghost it.
1 - SSD for the programs, download and install all updates that are known to work, then ghost it.
1-4 Hard drives either kept individually or put them into a RAID configuration (either RAID 0, 5 or 10) Personally I prefer SCSI drives, my experience with them has shown them to be more reliable; however, I still have an external backup because as has been discussed ad nauseam, all hard drives will eventually fail. :-)
I think it's obvious, but install as much ram as your machine can handle and you can afford.
Pardon the brevity, typos and any grammatical errors.
so, you keep your OS and applications on two separate drives?...does that help the applications with speed? I do wonder if the OS benefits too...I mean I've never tried anything like this before, that uses two of four bays in a mac pro, no?...like dan, I'm thinking to upgrade my computer soon and have started researching...have always had OS and applications on the same drive...
right now I'm working off a macbook pro connected via sata to a burly enclosure with five separate drives...I am contemplating a Mac Pro this time, get a new laptop for travel, etc...my current laptop, april 2008 model, has a standard 200gb drive, no ssd...it does what i need but it isn't the fastest kid on the block...
What do you mean by 'ghost it'? please...
brevity is usually good, no worries about typos and grammer...