SO I am going to pick up an AM3 Phenom II 955 black edition today, When I get everything up and running I will let you all know how it went
C2 should support 1600...? My C2 Athlon 635 does it just fine, even with the timings at 7-8-7. The problem is that my mobo defaults the RAM to 1.5 volts, when it's supposed to run at 1.6 volts. Make sure that's set right.
Get a decent GPU in there and unleash the beast!
It underclocks by default because the highest "official" DDR3 spec is 1333. Technically, no current processors "support" it, even though they can run it just fine.
You should be able to take it to 1600 easily. Just bring it up to proper voltage.