How is this for a PC spec for home video editing?

Question

OK - we've decided to get the new PC now, focused around decent performance for video editing at home when we do it.   Any feedback on the below would be greatly appreciated.  I've tried to put in my "principles", but as you note I've highlighted some questions around these. 
Principles
* Decent computer for Home Video Editing - so when we do it want it to be reasonable from a performance point of view (not annoying).  Also want assurance for the video data that a single HDD crash won't mean lost data.
* Hard Drive Configuration - Assume RAID 1 for data
C: 500GB - Operating System (1 x 500GB)
D: 500GB - Swap Area for O/S (1 x 500GB)
E: RAID 1 Redundancy for Data ( 2 x 1TB )
* 64 bit Windows 7 Pro
* Questions re Principles
Is it really worth having a separate drive (D: drive) for Swap?
Is there any real need to have a drive F: (another one) for exports?  This is non-real time so it shouldn't be an issue should it?
Any major improvement re moving say the C: drive to SSD? (or not worth the $$)
SATA II versus SATA III drives? (I've assumed both are ok when picking)
The Spec
CPU - Intel Core i7 960 Processor LGA1366 3.2GHz 8MB Cache CPU 
Motherboard - Gigabyte GA-X58A-UD3R X58+ICH10R QPI 6.4GT/s DDR3 2000 PCI-Ex16 SATAII SATA3 USB3.0 RAID GLAN ATX
RAM - Kingston 12GB(3X4G) KIT 1333MHz(PC3-10600)
Video Card - NVIDIA GTX560 - Gigabyte GTX560 OC 1G GDDR5 PCIE DualLink DVI  [?? matches motherboard / is this overkill ??]
RAID Card - Adaptec AAR1220SA-SGL SATAII RAID0 1 JBOD/2 PORT/Low Profile/PCIEx1/OEM/No Cables [?? is this ok - seems cheap ??]
HDD (non-RAID) - 2 x Western Digital 500G RE4 SATAII 7200rpm HDD 64MB Enterprise [?? only SATAII this is ok no??]
Case - CoolerMaster RC-942-KKN1 HAF X 942 Black No PSU [?? is this overkill - just took someone recommendation here ??]
Power Supply - Corsair HX-850 ATX Power Supply w 140mm Modular Cables [?? power ok?  again just took a recommendation ??]
O/S - 64bit - Microsoft Windows 7 Pro 64bit OEM(Microsoft OEM Terms&condition apply)
Note - I'm looking at the following local site re where to source if this assists: http://www.umart.com.au

Answer 1

Greg (correct me if that's not correct!),
You're spec. looks like a great start for what you are trying to do. I have a few comments, and also two questions!
Comments:
- Spec. generally looks fine
- I particularly like your case and p/s choices!
- For a home PC, you may consider bumping up your OS choice to Ultimate, which adds some nice multimedia capabilities
- Regarding the D drive for swap (and I assume you mean Premiere Pro media cache and media cache database too) will definitely speed up aspects of Premiere Pro, but likely be unnoticeable for other home PC day to day use. Why not build out the system and decide then if you need the extra speed for Premiere Pro - it is so easy to add something like that later.
- I'd vote no regarding a need for a F output drive for this system
- Regarding your OS drive... Speed and responsiveness versus cost - what do you choose? This really is a personal choice. I will say that a 2x1TB RAID 0 OS boot array would probably be a bigger step up in performance than a similar priced SSD option and a 2xSSD (60 to 80GB) array will perform better than a single larger SSD.
- Sata II vs Sata III - I have some of each now, and I would agree with other posters and articles on the Internet that say the often larger cache size on the Sata III models is more important than the Sata III interface. Keep going like you are going, with the assumption that both are OK.
- finally, your CPU; personnaly, with the new lower cost pricing on the i7-970, I'd suggest you downgrade to a i7-950 and same some money or upgrade to the 32nm 6-core i7-970 CPU and jump to a significantly new level of performance and power per watt
Questions:
- what version of Premier Pro will you be running?
- what will be your workflow (i.e. DV, Sony consumer AVCHD, Canon DSLR, etc.)?
Cheers,
Jim