DDR 3 Tri Channel Kits

I've been surveying the DDR3 market, and I'm finding that the cost to own memory goes up pretty fast after DDR3-1600, with the jump to 1866 costing almost 70$.

OCZ Platinum, 7-7-7-24, DDR3-1600 119.99
OCZ Reaper, 9-9-9-28, DDR3-1866 190.99

A review I read on memory in general had shown that timings and frequencies are almost equivalent in terms of performance gain. I'd assume that the timings of the DDR3-1600 would more than make up for the frequency bump of the OCZ reaper, and personally, I'd rather have the more standard RAM heatsink for better CPU heatsink compatibility.

But I've also read that DDR3-2000 kits with good timings can outpace DDR3-1600. So this leaves me wondering, since I can't really find a good round up, I wonder what you all think. Is the lower tmings and slightly lower frequency better?

I suppose I'm going to go read on the i7 overclocking methodology so I can figure out how this will more accurately impact overclocking friendliness.

It depends, my 1600Mhz ram runs fine at lowered timings and raised frequency than stock with just a bit more voltage, and runs up to 1800Mhz 8-8-8-20 1T which probably has more bandwitdh than the Reaper 1866. IMO 1600Mhz is plenty for any overclock with the i7, and some overclock past that pretty well. The 2000mhz memory runs at 1.65V generally, and the 1600Mhz at 1.5V so it makes me wonder if you can reach 2000mhz with the 1600mhz memory and get the same performance for less...

my ocz plat need about 1.74 to get to 2000 but is great memory