new system setup

hi guys
i have a new system and need help to set it up the best way
my old system was a socket A so big jump here for me

new system is intel i7 cpu
2x 500 gig sata seagate drives
ati 4870 1 gig card
850 watt psu
p55ud3 gigabyte mobo
xp home

I have a 160 gig ide drive i currently use in old computer
would it be best or can it be done to set windows up on the 160 ide and use the 2 sata drives in raid for games ?
if so what type of raid would be best ?
if not what would be the best way for me to go ?
raid and sata is new to me so i need simple easy to follow instruction

any advice appreciated thanks

 

I would not advise to put the OS on the IDE drive the sata drives are most likely going to out perform the IDE one by a good amount IMO the last thing you want is the software that controls all the hardware on your machine on a slow drive when I did something similar to this the performance hit was noticeable to say the least and when I did it I was just using a 250 IDE and a 500 Sata 3.
After I set the OS on the 500 sata 3 and used the 250 IDE as a mass storage the System had a much better snap to it in response time

OS on a slow drive means slower read/write/load time
Your computer will only be as fast as the slowest part

Any way thats the results I got IN REAL WORLD USAGE not just on a synthetic bench mark