MSI Z170A GAMING M3 (MS-7978)

Performance Results


Gaming 19% Surfboard	Desktop 43% Speed boat	Workstation 15% Surfboard


PC Status	Overall this PC is performing below expectations (26th percentile). This means that out of 100 PCs with exactly the same components, 74 performed better. The overall PC percentile is the average of each of its individual components. Use the charts in the benchmark sections of this report to identify problem areas.
Processor	With a relatively low single core score, this CPU can handle email, light web browsing and basic audio/video playback, but it will struggle to handle CPU intensive tasks. Finally, with a gaming score of 29.7%, this CPU's suitability for 3D gaming is very poor.
Graphics	50.6% is a reasonable 3D score (RTX 2060S = 100%). This GPU can handle the majority of recent games but it will struggle with resolutions greater than 1080p at ultra detail levels. (Note: general computing tasks don't require 3D graphics)
Boot Drive	69.9% is a good SSD score. This drive enables fast boots, responsive applications and ensures minimum system IO wait times.
Memory	16GB is enough RAM to run any version of Windows and it's more than sufficient for nearly all games. 16GB also allows for very large file and system caches, software development and batch photo editing/processing.
OS Version	Although Windows 10 is not the most recent version of Windows, it remains a great option.

Sub-optimal background CPU (16%). High background CPU reduces benchmark accuracy. How to reduce background CPU.

System	MSI MS-7978
Motherboard	MSI Z170A GAMING M3 (MS-7978) (all builds)
Memory	12.2 GB free of 16 GB @ 2.1 GHz
Display	1920 x 1080 - 32 Bit colors
OS	Windows 10
BIOS Date	20151022
Uptime	0 Days
Run Date	Dec 24 '16 at 22:38
Run Duration	155 Seconds
Run User	HRV-User
Background CPU	16%

Watch Gameplay: 1070 + 9600K How to compare your gameplay

PC Performing below expectations (26^th percentile)

Actual performance vs. expectations. The graphs show user score (x) vs user score frequency (y).

Processor	Bench	Normal	Heavy	Server
Intel Core i7-6700K-$180 588,978 User benchmarks, average bench 81% U3E1, 1 CPU, 4 cores, 8 threads Base clock 4 GHz, turbo 0.8 GHz (avg) Performing way below expectations (1^st percentile)	29.7% Poor	Memory 44 1-Core 24.7 2-Core 46.8 26% 38.5 Pts	4-Core 84.6 8-Core 137 14% 111 Pts	64-Core 137 8% 137 Pts
Poor: 70% ↑ This bench: 29.7% Great: 90%

Graphics Card	Bench	3D DX9	3D DX10	3D DX11
Nvidia GTX 1070-$132 1,459,281 User benchmarks, average bench 80% Asus(1043 8598) CLim: 1911 MHz, MLim: 2002 MHz, Ram: 8GB, Driver: 368.81 Relative performance (0^th percentile) - GPU OC Guide	50.6% Above average	Lighting 45.2 Reflection 57.3 Parallax 89.5 37% 64 fps	MRender 94.7 Gravity 91 Splatting 96.8 77% 94.2 fps
Poor: 71% ↑ This bench: 50.6% Great: 88%

Drives	Bench	Sequential	Random 4k	Deep queue 4k
Samsung 850 Evo 250GB-$100 951,591 User benchmarks, average bench 103% 144GB free (System drive) Firmware: EMT02B6Q Max speed: SATA 3.0 600 MB/s Performing way below expectations (5^th percentile) (ID) Attribute Now Worst Value (05) Reallocated sector count 100 100 0 (09) Power-on hours count 99 99 1783 (0C) Power cycle count 99 99 236 (B1) Unknown 99 99 7 (B3) Unknown 100 100 0 (B5) Unknown 100 100 0 (B6) Unknown 100 100 0 (B7) Unknown 100 100 0 (BB) vendor-specific 100 100 0 (BE) vendor-specific 67 58 33 (C3) Hardware ECC recovered 200 200 0 (C7) UDMA CRC error rate 100 100 0 (EB) Unknown 99 99 10 (F1) Unknown 99 99 4228636639	69.9% Good	Read 493 Write 400 Mixed 407 96% 433 MB/s	4K Read 26.9 4K Write 35.7 4K Mixed 15.1 79% 25.9 MB/s	DQ Read 28.7 DQ Write 86 DQ Mixed 14.1 23% 42.9 MB/s
Poor: 72% ↑ This bench: 69.9% Great: 124%
WD Blue 1TB (2012)-$32 3,105,054 User benchmarks, average bench 83% 931GB free Firmware: 01.01A01 Max speed: SATA 3.0 600 MB/s Performing way above expectations (92^nd percentile) (ID) Attribute Now Worst Value (01) Raw read error rate 200 200 0 (03) Spinup time 171 170 2425 (04) Start/Stop count 100 100 235 (05) Reallocated sector count 200 200 0 (07) Seek error rate 200 200 0 (09) Power-on hours count 98 98 1781 (0A) Spinup retry count 100 100 0 (0B) Calibration retry count 100 100 0 (0C) Power cycle count 100 100 235 (C0) Power-off retract count 200 200 14 (C1) Load/Unload cycle count 200 200 278 (C2) HDA temperature 113 106 30 (C4) Reallocation count 200 200 0 (C5) Current pending sector count 200 200 0 (C6) Offline scan uncorrectable count 200 200 0 (C7) UDMA CRC error rate 200 200 0 (C8) Write error rate 200 200 0	106% Outstanding	Read 190 Write 180 Mixed 159 132% 177 MB/s	4K Read 1.29 4K Write 2.76 4K Mixed 0.36 145% 1.47 MB/s
Poor: 52% ↑ This bench: 106% Great: 109%

Memory Kit	Bench	Multi core	Single core	Latency
Kingston HyperX DDR4 2400 C12 2x8GB 7,412 User benchmarks, average bench 76% 2 of 4 slots used 16GB DIMM DDR4 clocked @ 2133 MHz Performing way below expectations (5^th percentile)	45.9% Average	MC Read 17.4 MC Write 16.3 MC Mixed 20.2 51% 18 GB/s	SC Read 6 SC Write 9.6 SC Mixed 8.3 23% 7.97 GB/s	Latency 184 22% 184 ns
Poor: 46% ↑ This bench: 45.9% Great: 90%

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System Memory Latency Ladder

L1/L2/L3 CPU cache and main memory (DIMM) access latencies in nano seconds

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Typical Z170A GAMING M3 (MS-7978) Builds (Compare 2,320 builds) See popular component choices, score breakdowns and rankings

Gaming 51%

Yacht

Desktop 87%

Aircraft carrier

Workstation 44%

Speed boat

Motherboard: MSI Z170A GAMING M3 (MS-7978) - $150

CPU
Core i7-6700KIntel $180Bench 81%, 588,978 samples	822x
Core i5-6600KIntel $130Bench 72%, 342,244 samples	633x
Core i7-6700Intel $180Bench 72%, 282,363 samples	227x

GPU
GTX 1060-6GBNvidia $117Bench 56%, 1,368,019 samples	316x
GTX 1070Nvidia $132Bench 80%, 1,459,281 samples	308x
GTX 970Nvidia $200Bench 49%, 834,238 samples	223x

SSD
850 Evo 250GBSamsung $100Bench 103%, 951,591 samples	117x
850 Evo 500GBSamsung $94Bench 112%, 695,664 samples	74x
970 Evo Plus NVMe PCIe M.2 1TBSamsung $95Bench 310%, 455,997 samples	55x

RAM
Vengeance LPX DDR4 3000 C15 2x8GBCorsair $48Bench 82%, 606,405 samples	98x
Ripjaws V DDR4 2400 C15 2x8GBG.SKILL $31Bench 71%, 98,777 samples	83x
Fury DDR4 2133 C14 2x8GBHyperX $125Bench 73%, 59,072 samples	71x

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Value: 85% - Excellent

Total price: $594

CPU	GPU	SSD
Intel Core i5-13600K $254	Nvidia RTX 4060 $290	Crucial MX500 250GB $39
Intel Core i5-12400F $133	Nvidia RTX 4060-Ti $385	Samsung 850 Evo 120GB $80
Intel Core i5-12600K $175	Nvidia RTX 4070 $550	Samsung 860 Evo 250GB $52

HDD	RAM	USB
Seagate Barracuda 1TB (2016) $39	Corsair Vengeance LPX DDR4 3200 C16 2x8GB $39	SanDisk Extreme 64GB $72
WD Blue 1TB (2012) $32	Corsair Vengeance LPX DDR4 3000 C15 2x8GB $48	SanDisk Extreme 32GB $28
Seagate Barracuda 2TB (2016) $62	G.SKILL Trident Z DDR4 3200 C14 4x16GB $351	SanDisk Ultra Fit 32GB $16