MSI Z170A GAMING M3 (MS-7978)

Performance Results


Gaming 36% Jet ski	Desktop 89% Aircraft carrier	Workstation 31% Sail boat


PC Status	Overall this PC is performing as expected (58th percentile). This means that out of 100 PCs with exactly the same components, 42 performed better. The overall PC percentile is the average of each of its individual components.
Processor	With a brilliant single core score, this CPU is the business: It demolishes everyday tasks such as web browsing, office apps and audio/video playback. Additionally this processor can handle light workstation, and even some light server workloads. Finally, with a gaming score of 84.1%, this CPU's suitability for 3D gaming is very good.
Graphics	36.5% is a below average 3D score (RTX 2060S = 100%). This GPU can handle older games but it will struggle to render recent games at resolutions greater than 1080p. (Note: general computing tasks don't require 3D graphics)
Boot Drive	51.2% is a reasonable SSD score. This drive enables fast boots and responsive applications.
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.

High background CPU (25%). High background CPU reduces benchmark accuracy. How to reduce background CPU.

Run History

7 years ago, 6 years ago.

System	MSI MS-7978
Motherboard	MSI Z170A GAMING M3 (MS-7978) (all builds)
Memory	9.5 GB free of 16 GB @ 2.1 GHz
Display	2560 x 1440 - 32 Bit kleuren
OS	Windows 10
BIOS Date	20161221
Uptime	1.4 Days
Run Date	Apr 17 '17 at 01:51
Run Duration	161 Seconds
Run User	NLD-User
Background CPU	25%

PC Performing as expected (58^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 4 GHz (avg) Performing above expectations (72^nd percentile)	84.1% Excellent	Memory 90.3 1-Core 126 2-Core 243 86% 153 Pts	4-Core 421 8-Core 596 64% 508 Pts	64-Core 662 41% 662 Pts
Poor: 70% ↑ This bench: 84.1% Great: 90%

Graphics Card	Bench	3D DX9	3D DX10	3D DX11
Nvidia GTX 960-$198 440,282 User benchmarks, average bench 33% MSI(1462 3202) CLim: 1455 MHz, MLim: 1752 MHz, Ram: 2GB, Driver: 381.65 Performing way above expectations (100^th percentile)	36.5% Below average	Lighting 47.6 Reflection 45.6 Parallax 40.8 39% 44.7 fps	MRender 39.6 Gravity 42.1 Splatting 36.9 32% 39.5 fps
Poor: 30% ↑ This bench: 36.5% Great: 36%

Drives	Bench	Sequential	Random 4k	Deep queue 4k
Crucial MX200 500GB-$90 17,487 User benchmarks, average bench 83% 63GB free Firmware: MU02 Max speed: SATA 3.0 600 MB/s Performing above expectations (66^th percentile) (ID) Attribute Now Worst Value (01) Raw read error rate 100 100 1 (05) Reallocated sector count 100 100 0 (09) Power-on hours count 100 100 2338 (0C) Power cycle count 100 100 710 (AB) Unknown 100 100 0 (AC) Unknown 100 100 0 (AD) Unknown 100 100 4 (AE) Unknown 100 100 34 (B4) Unknown 0 0 5542 (B7) Unknown 100 100 470 (B8) Unknown 100 100 0 (BB) vendor-specific 100 100 0 (C2) HDA temperature 68 38 266288758816 (C4) Reallocation count 100 100 0 (C5) Current pending sector count 100 100 0 (C6) Offline scan uncorrectable count 100 100 0 (C7) UDMA CRC error rate 100 100 0 (CA) Data Address Mark errors 100 100 0 (CE) Flying height 100 100 0 (D2) Unknown 100 100 0 (F6) Unknown 100 100 4102096661 (F7) Unknown 100 100 128257732 (F8) Unknown 100 100 49619472	91.8% Outstanding	Read 509 Write 397 Mixed 387 96% 431 MB/s	4K Read 28.5 4K Write 89.3 4K Mixed 25.4 123% 47.7 MB/s	DQ Read 234 DQ Write 242 DQ Mixed 37.2 83% 171 MB/s
Poor: 56% ↑ This bench: 91.8% Great: 105%
Samsung 840 120GB-$109 51,792 User benchmarks, average bench 61% 15GB free (System drive) Firmware: DXT08B0Q Max speed: SATA 3.0 600 MB/s Performing way below expectations (16^th percentile) (ID) Attribute Now Worst Value (05) Reallocated sector count 100 100 0 (09) Power-on hours count 98 98 8715 (0C) Power cycle count 98 98 1313 (B1) Unknown 86 86 160 (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 63 42 37 (C3) Hardware ECC recovered 200 200 0 (C7) UDMA CRC error rate 99 99 2 (EB) Unknown 1 1 4294966989 (F1) Unknown 99 99 29430992152	51.2% Above average	Read 446 Write 66.7 Mixed 87.8 43% 200 MB/s	4K Read 27.7 4K Write 75.1 4K Mixed 10.3 95% 37.7 MB/s	DQ Read 29.7 DQ Write 80.9 DQ Mixed 27 29% 45.9 MB/s
Poor: 46% ↑ This bench: 51.2% Great: 73%
WD Blue 3TB (2015)-$80 75,644 User benchmarks, average bench 71% 2.5TB free Firmware: 80.00A80 Max speed: SATA 3.0 600 MB/s Performing above expectations (65^th percentile) (ID) Attribute Now Worst Value (01) Raw read error rate 200 200 0 (03) Spinup time 177 177 6108 (04) Start/Stop count 100 100 126 (05) Reallocated sector count 200 200 0 (07) Seek error rate 200 200 0 (09) Power-on hours count 99 99 1207 (0A) Spinup retry count 100 100 0 (0B) Calibration retry count 100 100 0 (0C) Power cycle count 100 100 125 (C0) Power-off retract count 200 200 2 (C1) Load/Unload cycle count 200 200 2539 (C2) HDA temperature 118 107 32 (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	75.3% Very good	Read 129 Write 133 Mixed 131 99% 131 MB/s	4K Read 0.86 4K Write 2.48 4K Mixed 0.22 106% 1.19 MB/s
Poor: 46% ↑ This bench: 75.3% Great: 96%

Memory Kit	Bench	Multi core	Single core	Latency
Corsair Vengeance LPX DDR4 3200 C16 2x8GB-$40 653,654 User benchmarks, average bench 85% 2 of 4 slots used 16GB DIMM DDR4 clocked @ 2133 MHz Performing below potential (30^th percentile) - ensure that a dual+ channel XMP BIOS profile is enabled: How to enable XMP	73.3% Very good	MC Read 26.2 MC Write 28.1 MC Mixed 23 74% 25.8 GB/s	SC Read 16.3 SC Write 27.9 SC Mixed 23.8 65% 22.7 GB/s	Latency 66.8 60% 66.8 ns
Poor: 61% ↑ This bench: 73.3% Great: 110%

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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 2,308 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	817x
Core i5-6600KIntel $81Bench 72%, 342,244 samples	630x
Core i7-6700Intel $180Bench 72%, 282,363 samples	226x

GPU
GTX 1060-6GBNvidia $117Bench 56%, 1,368,019 samples	316x
GTX 1070Nvidia $132Bench 80%, 1,459,281 samples	305x
GTX 970Nvidia $200Bench 49%, 834,238 samples	221x

SSD
850 Evo 250GBSamsung $100Bench 103%, 951,591 samples	117x
850 Evo 500GBSamsung $109Bench 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 $43Bench 82%, 606,405 samples	98x
Ripjaws V DDR4 2400 C15 2x8GBG.SKILL $40Bench 71%, 98,777 samples	83x
Fury DDR4 2133 C14 2x8GBHyperX $125Bench 73%, 59,072 samples	71x

EDIT WITH CUSTOM PC BUILDER

Value: 86% - Excellent

Total price: $589

CPU	GPU	SSD
Intel Core i5-13600K $279	Nvidia RTX 4060 $300	Crucial MX500 250GB $40
Intel Core i5-12400F $133	Nvidia RTX 4060-Ti $385	Samsung 850 Evo 120GB $80
Intel Core i5-12600K $182	Nvidia RTX 4070 $409	Samsung 860 Evo 250GB $52

HDD	RAM	USB
Seagate Barracuda 1TB (2016) $39	Corsair Vengeance LPX DDR4 3200 C16 2x8GB $40	SanDisk Extreme 64GB $72
WD Blue 1TB (2012) $30	Corsair Vengeance LPX DDR4 3000 C15 2x8GB $43	SanDisk Extreme 32GB $28
Seagate Barracuda 2TB (2016) $51	G.SKILL Trident Z DDR4 3200 C14 4x16GB $351	SanDisk Ultra Fit 32GB $16