I wish my RAIDs would strip for me :(

They stripe pretty well though :)

You can get entry level RAID cards these days for nothing. Only the ultra high end ones are 1K+ The cheap ones are software RAID though (as are nearly all built in ones), so expect a CPU hit but honestly.... a quad core will not even break a sweat. Under 1% cpu load even with max HD throughput. I would be surprised to find a gaming motherboard without software RAID built in these days.

SSD would be nice but keep in mind they are faster to read but slower to write.

The only thing a faster hard drive will do is allow you to load faster when you zone in or out. Other than that, the advantage of a faster hard drive (or RAID array) is minimal and probably only something you would notice when A LOT of people are on screen (or moving in and out of the screen). If it is worth it to you then go for it. It would CERTAINLY make a huge difference when you take a ship, enter an instance, enter major towns, etc.