MSI Z170A GAMING M3 (MS-7978)

Performance Results


Gaming 42% Speed boat	Desktop 69% Battle cruiser	Workstation 41% Speed boat


PC Status	Overall this PC is performing as expected (54th percentile). This means that out of 100 PCs with exactly the same components, 46 performed better. The overall PC percentile is the average of each of its individual components.
Processor	With a good single core score, this CPU can easily handle the majority of general computing tasks. Additionally this processor can handle light workstation, and even some light server workloads. Finally, with a gaming score of 75.8%, this CPUs suitability for 3D gaming is very good.
Graphics	38.8% is a below average 3D score (GTX 1070 = 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	92.5% is a very good SSD score. This drive is suitable for moderate workstation use, it will facilitate fast boots, responsive applications and ensure minimum IO wait times.
Memory	8GB is enough RAM to run any version of Windows and it's sufficient for the vast majority of games. 8GB is also enough for moderate file and system caches which result in a very responsive system.
OS Version	Windows 10 is the most recent version of Windows, and the best to date in our opinion.

Sub-optimal background CPU (14%). High background CPU reduces benchmark accuracy. Find active processes with Windows task manager (CTRL+SHIFT+ESC).

System	MSI MS-7978
Motherboard	MSI Z170A GAMING M3 (MS-7978) (all builds)
Memory	2.5 GB free of 8 GB @ 2.4 GHz
Display	1920 x 1080 - 32 Bit colors
OS	Windows 10
BIOS Date	20150810
Uptime	4 Days
Run Date	Mar 03 '17 at 03:40
Run Duration	117 Seconds
Run User	CAN-User
Background CPU	14%

PC Performing as expected (54^th percentile)

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

Processor	Bench	Single core	Quad core	Multi core
Intel Core i5-6500-$172 40,242 User benchmarks - Average bench 73% U3E1, 1 CPU, 4 cores, 4 threads Base clock 3.2 GHz, turbo 3.3 GHz (avg) Performing above expectations (69^th percentile)	75.8% Very good	SC Int 98.9 SC Float 106 SC Mixed 101 82% 102 Pts	QC Int 390 QC Float 418 QC Mixed 398 91% 402 Pts	MC Int 388 MC Float 416 MC Mixed 404 60% 403 Pts
Poor: 60% ↑ This bench: 75.8% Great: 80%

Graphics Card	Bench	3D DX9	3D DX10	3D DX11
Nvidia GTX 960-$200 90,112 User benchmarks - Average bench 41% Asus(1043 854D) CLim: 1493 MHz, MLim: 1752 MHz, Ram: 4GB, Driver: 376.53 Performing below expectations (25^th percentile)	38.8% Below average	Lighting 131 Reflection 110 Parallax 118 39% 119 fps	MRender 75.7 Gravity 114 Splatting 78.7 39% 89.4 fps
Poor: 37% ↑ This bench: 38.8% Great: 45%

Drives	Bench	Sequential	Random 4k	Deep queue 4k
Samsung 850 Evo 120GB-$73 23,657 User benchmarks - Average bench 95% 11GB free Firmware: EMT02B6Q Max speed: SATA 3.0 600 MB/s SYSTEM NCQ 4KALIGNED SSD TRIM S.M.A.R.T Performing as expected (44^th percentile) (ID) Attribute Now Worst Value (05) Reallocated sector count 100 100 0 (09) Power-on hours count 99 99 3099 (0C) Power cycle count 99 99 581 (B1) Unknown 93 93 145 (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 65 59 35 (C3) Hardware ECC recovered 200 200 0 (C7) UDMA CRC error rate 100 100 0 (EB) Unknown 99 99 16 (F1) Unknown 99 99 33663573628	92.5% Outstanding	Read 503 Write 395 Mixed 399 96% 432 MB/s	4K Read 43.1 4K Write 87.8 4K Mixed 23.9 142% 51.6 MB/s	DQ Read 44 DQ Write 255 DQ Mixed 23.9 55% 108 MB/s
Poor: 71% ↑ This bench: 92.5% Great: 115%
WD Blue 1TB (2012)-$47 290,453 User benchmarks - Average bench 87% 359GB free Firmware: 01.01A01 Max speed: SATA 3.0 600 MB/s NCQ 7200 RPM 4KALIGNED S.M.A.R.T Performing as expected (52^nd percentile) (ID) Attribute Now Worst Value (01) Raw read error rate 200 200 0 (03) Spinup time 174 173 2283 (04) Start/Stop count 100 100 584 (05) Reallocated sector count 200 200 0 (07) Seek error rate 200 200 0 (09) Power-on hours count 96 96 3094 (0A) Spinup retry count 100 100 0 (0B) Calibration retry count 100 100 0 (0C) Power cycle count 100 100 580 (C0) Power-off retract count 200 200 15 (C1) Load/Unload cycle count 200 200 568 (C2) HDA temperature 114 107 29 (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	88.4% Excellent	Read 174 Write 135 Mixed 130 110% 146 MB/s	4K Read 0.74 4K Write 2.24 4K Mixed 0.28 104% 1.09 MB/s
Poor: 62% ↑ This bench: 88.4% Great: 104%

Memory Kit	Bench	Multi core	Single core	Latency
Crucial Ballistix Sport DDR4 2400 C16 2x4GB-$84 265 User benchmarks - Average bench 70% 2 of 4 slots used 8GB DIMM DDR4 clocked @ 2400 MHz Performing above expectations (80^th percentile)	79.5% Very good	MC Read 29.6 MC Write 31.6 MC Mixed 24.4 82% 28.5 GB/s	SC Read 16.4 SC Write 29.2 SC Mixed 22.5 65% 22.7 GB/s	Latency 67.8 59% 67.8 ns
Poor: 42% ↑ This bench: 79.5% Great: 83%

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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 2,917 builds) See popular component choices, score breakdowns and rankings.

Gaming 95%

Nuclear submarine

Desktop 85%

Aircraft carrier

Workstation 66%

Battle cruiser

Motherboard: MSI Z170A GAMING M3 (MS-7978) - $140

CPU
Core i7-6700KIntel $290Bench 92%, 134,212 samples	1,055x
Core i5-6600KIntel $216Bench 88%, 86,171 samples	979x
Core i7-6700Intel $297Bench 79%, 38,281 samples	247x

GPU
GTX 1070Nvidia $410Bench 100%, 166,352 samples	601x
GTX 970Nvidia $350Bench 64%, 198,763 samples	424x
GTX 1060-6GBNvidia $263Bench 73%, 100,890 samples	381x

SSD
850 Evo 250GBSamsung $97Bench 95%, 163,629 samples	390x
850 Evo 500GBSamsung $150Bench 97%, 101,328 samples	206x
SSDNow V300 120GBKingston $55Bench 47%, 79,067 samples	124x

RAM
Ripjaws V DDR4 2400 C15 2x8GBG.SKILL $130Bench 71%, 12,577 samples	157x
Vengeance LPX DDR4 3000 C15 2x8GBCorsair $155Bench 83%, 32,832 samples	146x
Fury DDR4 2133 C14 2x8GBHyperX $141Bench 70%, 11,746 samples	116x

EDIT WITH CUSTOM PC BUILDER

Value: 86% - Excellent

Total price: $1,067

CPU	GPU	SSD
Intel Core i7-7700K $295	Nvidia GTX 1070 $410	Samsung 850 Evo 250GB $97
AMD Ryzen 7 1700 $270	AMD RX 480 $350	Samsung 850 Pro 256GB $120
Intel Core i5-7600K $198	Nvidia GTX 1060-6GB $263	Samsung 850 Evo 500GB $150

HDD	RAM	USB
Seagate Barracuda 1TB (2016) $45	G.SKILL Trident Z DDR4 3200 C14 4x16GB $724	SanDisk Extreme 64GB $33
Seagate Barracuda 3TB (2016) $77	Corsair Vengeance LPX DDR4 3000 C15 2x8GB $155	SanDisk Extreme 32GB $22
Seagate Barracuda 7200.14 1TB $56	HyperX Fury DDR4 2133 C14 2x8GB $141	SanDisk Extreme 16GB $20