Alienware Area-51 First SSD - Need advice

I picked up a Samsung 830 256GB.  I would like to install it as my main c: drive.  After reading many articles, I am actually kind of nervous trying to do this.  There seem to be multiple opinions on the order of the steps etc.  Do I format the drive first and update firmware?  Cloning is not an option for me, I need to do a clean install.  So I have read that popping the SSD in alone in slot 0 and installing windows 7 is the best way to start.  However, I also would like to retain my alienware recovery partition.  Is there any way to do this setting up an SSD as my main drive?

Any help guidance tutorials would be greatly appreciated.  Links are great, I am not opposed to reading.  I am just looking for a step by step instructional for install that I can rely on since this is my first SSD ever and it looks like you can compromise your R/W significantly if you install it incorrectly.

Thanks!!