Ram Timing Question, Dual Core Machine

[Hop]

I need some RAM timing advice on a system I'm building, possibly to overclock. This is my first Core 2 Duo machine, upgrading from a P4 Prescott 3GHz.

I saw an ad today in my email from NewEgg that they have G.SKILL 4GB(2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 800 (PC2 6400) Dual Channel Kit Desktop Memory on sale for $159 (normally $199), but its timings are 5-5-5-15. The RAM I originally picked is G.SKILL 2GB (2 x 1GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 800 (PC2 6400) Dual Channel Kit Desktop Memory for $139. It would be nice to have 4gb and not use all four slots on the mobo I picked GIGABYTE GA-P35-DS3R but I'm not sure of the performance hit I might take for that luxury. I haven't really had the need for more than 2gb at present, but would like the room if the need to arise. I would rather have a faster machine and stick with 2gb if that is the case.
I read that the processor I picked Intel Core 2 Duo E4500 Allendale 2.2GHz has been overclocked to 3.2GHz using the 2x1gb sticks and is very stable, which is what influenced my selection of mobo, cpu, and ram.

Any advice would be appreciated. I just want to make sure I don't shoot myself in the foot getting 5-5-5-15 memory just to have 4gb.

Note: I know that 32bit OS's like Vista and XP actually reserve the last 512mb, so I'd have only 3.5gb to use. I haven't checked what the Linux Ubuntu Fiesty 7.04 Server memory limitations are yet.

Thank you for your time.

Hop

 

[Accord99]

The difference is pretty small:

http://www.xbitlabs.com/articl...ory-guide_8.html#sect0

 

[Hop]

Originally posted by: Accord99
The difference is pretty small:

http://www.xbitlabs.com/articl...ory-guide_8.html#sect0

Thank you. That was indeed helpful and pretty much answered my question, although the link you gave me raised a few more questions about the CPU I picked. It's been a long time since I felt the need to overclock (last time being an AMD I think), so I need to brush up on the practice. I see reference to the E6300 a lot, although the link you gave me is a bit dated (over a year old). I'll have to research the CPU I picked a little bit, maybe here, at Tom's Hardware, and a few other places. Interesting that the E6300 is very similar to the E4500, except for the FSB speed (1066MHz vs 800MHz), and price ($172 vs $130). Same cache (L1 and L2), same 65nm process, mm instructions. More reading required. =)