With the 1600 and its 12-bit ADC, there's a point at which (IMO) there's nothing gained by going further...at about gain ~75 the dynamic range hits 12 bits. Dropping the gain further would increase the dynamic range but this can't be captured with the 12-bit output.
At unity gain(=139) the read noise is slightly lower...I measured mine at 1.6e compared with ~2e at gain=75.
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