MSI Z170A GAMING M3 (MS-7978)

Performance Results


Gaming 21% Surfboard	Desktop 45% Speed boat	Workstation 16% Surfboard


PC Status	Overall this PC is performing way below expectations (17th percentile). This means that out of 100 PCs with exactly the same components, 83 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 31.8%, this CPU's suitability for 3D gaming is poor.
Graphics	54.1% 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	72.7% 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.

Run History

7 years ago, 7 years ago.

System	MSI MS-7978
Motherboard	MSI Z170A GAMING M3 (MS-7978) (all builds)
Memory	12.9 GB free of 16 GB @ 2.4 GHz
Display	1920 x 1080 - 32 Bit colors
OS	Windows 10
BIOS Date	20160516
Uptime	0.1 Days
Run Date	Nov 04 '16 at 12:51
Run Duration	151 Seconds
Run User	ARE-User
Background CPU	9%

PC Performing way below expectations (17^th percentile)

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

Processor	Bench	Normal	Heavy	Server
Intel Core i5-6600K-$130 342,244 User benchmarks, average bench 72% U3E1, 1 CPU, 4 cores, 4 threads Base clock 3.5 GHz, turbo 0.75 GHz (avg) Performing way below expectations (1^st percentile)	31.8% Below average	Memory 47.3 1-Core 25.7 2-Core 51.5 27% 41.5 Pts	4-Core 95.4 8-Core 98.6 13% 97 Pts	64-Core 100 6% 100 Pts
Poor: 57% ↑ This bench: 31.8% Great: 85%

Graphics Card	Bench	3D DX9	3D DX10	3D DX11
Nvidia GTX 980-Ti-$560 214,030 User benchmarks, average bench 79% MSI(1462 3236) ≥ 4GB Driver: nvd3dumx Ver. 21.21.13.7570 Relative performance (0^th percentile) - GPU OC Guide	54.1% Above average	Lighting 49.8 Reflection 65.4 Parallax 109 41% 74.8 fps	MRender 98.1 Gravity 103 Splatting 94.4 80% 98.4 fps
Poor: 70% ↑ This bench: 54.1% Great: 87%

Drives	Bench	Sequential	Random 4k	Deep queue 4k
Geil Zenith A3-PRO 240GB 63 User benchmarks, average bench 88% 108GB free (System drive) Firmware: N1126F Max speed: SATA 3.0 600 MB/s Performing way below expectations (13^th percentile) (ID) Attribute Now Worst Value (01) Raw read error rate 100 100 0 (05) Reallocated sector count 100 100 0 (09) Power-on hours count 100 100 701 (0C) Power cycle count 100 100 157 (A0) Unknown 100 100 0 (A1) Unknown 100 100 120 (A3) Unknown 100 100 20 (A4) Unknown 100 100 27903 (A5) Unknown 100 100 125 (A6) Unknown 100 100 0 (A7) Unknown 100 100 27 (A8) Unknown 100 100 3000 (A9) Unknown 100 100 100 (AF) Unknown 100 100 0 (B0) Unknown 100 100 0 (B1) Unknown 100 100 0 (B2) Unknown 100 100 0 (B5) Unknown 100 100 0 (B6) Unknown 100 100 0 (C0) Power-off retract count 100 100 9 (C2) HDA temperature 100 100 30 (C3) Hardware ECC recovered 100 100 674 (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 (E8) Unknown 100 100 100 (F1) Unknown 100 100 84021 (F2) Unknown 100 100 75927 (F5) Unknown 100 100 223224	72.7% Very good	Read 502 Write 395 Mixed 454 100% 450 MB/s	4K Read 25.2 4K Write 41.5 4K Mixed 19.9 86% 28.9 MB/s	DQ Read 43.5 DQ Write 80.4 DQ Mixed 26.2 30% 50 MB/s
Poor: 53% ↑ This bench: 72.7% Great: 108%
Seagate Barracuda 7200.14 1TB-$28 1,562,409 User benchmarks, average bench 89% 564GB free Firmware: CC43 Max speed: SATA 3.0 600 MB/s Performing as expected (48^th percentile) (ID) Attribute Now Worst Value (01) Raw read error rate 79 63 96759022 (03) Spinup time 96 96 0 (04) Start/Stop count 100 100 156 (05) Reallocated sector count 100 100 0 (07) Seek error rate 69 60 8321189 (09) Power-on hours count 97 97 3261 (0A) Spinup retry count 100 100 0 (0C) Power cycle count 100 100 154 (B7) Unknown 100 100 0 (B8) Unknown 100 100 0 (BB) vendor-specific 100 100 0 (BC) Unknown 100 100 0 (BD) vendor-specific 99 99 1 (BE) vendor-specific 72 64 488308764 (C1) Load/Unload cycle count 100 100 209 (C2) HDA temperature 28 20 85899345948 (C3) Hardware ECC recovered 5 1 96759022 (C5) Current pending sector count 100 100 0 (C6) Offline scan uncorrectable count 100 100 0 (C7) UDMA CRC error rate 200 200 0 (F0) Head flying hours 100 253 68367289420926 (F1) Unknown 100 253 3519873805 (F2) Unknown 100 253 3325737120	90% Excellent	Read 164 Write 150 Mixed 140 114% 151 MB/s	4K Read 0.6 4K Write 1.46 4K Mixed 0.3 86% 0.79 MB/s
Poor: 55% ↑ This bench: 90% Great: 112%

Memory Kit	Bench	Multi core	Single core	Latency
Unknown DDR4-2400 CL16 8GB 2x8GB 2,791 User benchmarks, average bench 71% 2 of 4 slots used 16GB DIMM DDR4 clocked @ 2400 MHz Performing way below expectations (8^th percentile)	45.2% Average	MC Read 15.9 MC Write 16.5 MC Mixed 20.3 50% 17.6 GB/s	SC Read 6.2 SC Write 9.6 SC Mixed 8.7 23% 8.17 GB/s	Latency 171 23% 171 ns
Poor: 42% ↑ This bench: 45.2% Great: 84%

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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 2,317 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	631x
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	306x
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 $45Bench 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

EDIT WITH CUSTOM PC BUILDER

Value: 85% - Excellent

Total price: $591

CPU	GPU	SSD
Intel Core i5-13600K $254	Nvidia RTX 4060 $293	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 $45	SanDisk Extreme 64GB $72
WD Blue 1TB (2012) $32	Corsair Vengeance LPX DDR4 3000 C15 2x8GB $45	SanDisk Extreme 32GB $28
Seagate Barracuda 2TB (2016) $51	G.SKILL Trident Z DDR4 3200 C14 4x16GB $351	SanDisk Ultra Fit 32GB $16