Welcome to the Droid forum, Skidoo!
To answer your question: ROMs and
especially kernels are VERY Droid-specific. Because of microscopic variations in the circuitry (or maybe the phones' different personalities), you're best advised to try various ROMs to see which one runs best on YOUR Droid. Some people swear by Liquid or CyanogenMod; I'm still running the now archaic Ultimate Droid because it seems to work best on MY Droid. Head into the ROMs section of
All Things Root and find out what others are saying about the various ROMs available.
Once you find a ROM that you and your Droid both like for speed and stability, then you get to experiment with the kernels. Again: what works great on my phone may throw yours into a bootloop and never work... so load several on the SD card. In case one doesn't work, you can go right into recovery and flash another one.
Start with highest frequency/lowest voltage and then, if that doesn't work, up the voltage and then lower the frequency. You'll eventually find the perfect balance for YOUR phone. It's take a lot of trial and error to find the right ROM, the right kernel, and the right speed for your phone.
I think I've written enough... there is plenty of material in that section about rooting methods. Good luck and ENJOY YOUR DROID!
