What memory specs should I be shooting for?

[cchadwick]

I'm putting together a new computer with some donated parts, but I'm pretty clueless when it comes to getting memory that will play well with the rest of my system.

I have an Intel E6600 Core Duo (2.4 GHZ, 4M L2, 1066 MHz FSB), which I intend to overclock to ~ 3.0 GHz (I've never overclocked before, so I'm not going to be too aggressive with it).

My motherboard is a Gigabyte GA-EP45-DS4P (P45, 1600/1333 MHz FSB)

I was given 4 sticks of Crucial Ballistix 1 GB DDR2-800 (2.0V, 4-4-4-12) memory, but was told that one or more might be bad. Rather than futz around trying to figure out which ones work, I figured I'd upgrade to two 2GB sticks.

The two options that I'm currently considering are:
1) G.Skill 2x2GB DDR-800 (1.8-1.9V, 4-4-4-12)
2) G.Skill 2x2GB DDR-1100 (1.8-1.9V, 5-5-5-15)
They're both similarly priced, but I'm uncertain which would give me the better performance - faster speed or better timings (or whether something entirely different would - I'm not wedded to the brand either, so long as it's reputable).

Thanks in advance!

 

[ubernoobie]

Save your money and keep the ballistix, if one is defective, take another off the channel mode. You'll only have 2gb but it will be sufficient for most games but not the newer ones such as dirt2

 

[cchadwick]

If I go that route, can I later add on another pair of 1 GB DIMMs to go for 4 GB? And if so, how closely do they have to match? I've seen very few DDR2's with as high a voltage requirement as the Ballistix, but I don't know if that'd cause a problem or not.