Which set of RAM is faster?

I'm considering:
1. Ripjaws Series 4GB (2 x 2GB) DDR3 1600 (9-9-9-24) ($80)
2. OCZ Platinum 4GB (2 x 2GB) DDR3 1333 (7-7-7-20) ($85 with MicroCenter rebate)

Which set is faster? This is for an i7 860 build I'm putting together. If the DDR3 1600 isn't supported, which is how I've read some articles, will the Ripjaws be downgraded to 1333 and I'll have sticks running at the same speed but worse timings than OCZs?

The 1600 is faster, and yes, you will be able to get it to run at 1600.

The latency is a factor of both clockspeed and timings, and the latency of the 1600 there will be 5.625 ns while the latency of the 1333 will be 5.25 ns. That's a much smaller difference than the raw numbers would imply. In addition, the higher bandwidth will help in many cases. The overall difference would be pretty small though, so the cost is the other factor. In that way, the 1600 is better as well. Also, if you ran the 1600 at 1333, you'd be able to tighten the timings somewhat as well - possibly down to 7-7-7-20 just like the OCZ.

In addition, the 1600 is rated at 1.5V, while the OCZ is rated at 1.65V. This means the 1600 will run a bit cooler, and if you were willing to try overvolting it a bit (such as to 1.65V), I bet you could get the timings down to 8-8-8-24 or even 7-8-7-22 or similar.