GIGABYTE GA-790XTA-UD4 with 1600 mhz memory?

[wwusa83]

I thank you all for your patience in advance. I'm sure this topic has been covered thoroughly already but despite my best efforts I have not been able to find an answer that I understand. My question is as follows:

I am working on a budget/gaming/somewhat future proof build.

I have decided to purchase:
GIGABYTE GA-790XTA-UD4

I know the board will support ddr3 memory @ 1600 mhz, but I have also read that adjustments need to be made to make it run at this speed because for some reason the board defaults to a lower speed? What is the process for achieving 1600 mhz?

These are the memory modules I am considering:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820145249

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820231277

My second question is how much memory can I pack onto this motherboard and still maintain 1600mhz speed? I know there are limitations set by the on-board memory controller. Is 4Gb the max? I am not interested in overclocking my hardware, only getting it to run at factory specs.

Thank you in advance for your help. It has been a long time since I have built a system and I am obviously out of touch.

 

[mosox]

You need to overclock your CPU in order to get 1600 and it's not worth it, no big difference. Get 1333 RAM with good timings.