MSI Z170A GAMING M3 (MS-7978)

Performance Results


Gaming 55% Yacht	Desktop 93% Nuclear submarine	Workstation 47% Yacht


PC Status	Overall this PC is performing as expected (57th percentile). This means that out of 100 PCs with exactly the same components, 43 performed better. The overall PC percentile is the average of each of its individual components.
Processor	With an outstanding single core score, this CPU is the cat's whiskers: It demolishes everyday tasks such as web browsing, office apps and audio/video playback. Additionally this processor can handle moderate workstation, and even light server workloads. Finally, with a gaming score of 88.4%, this CPU's suitability for 3D gaming is very good.
Graphics	56.4% 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	93% 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	64GB is enough RAM to run any version of Windows and it's far more than any current game requires. 64GB will also allow for large file and system caches, virtual machine hosting, software development, video editing and batch multimedia processing.
OS Version	Although Windows 10 is not the most recent version of Windows, it remains a great option.

High background CPU (22%). 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	59.5 GB free of 64 GB @ 2.4 GHz
Display	1280 x 720 - 32 Bit colors, 1920 x 1080 - 32 Bit colors
OS	Windows 10
BIOS Date	20160122
Uptime	0.1 Days
Run Date	May 12 '17 at 08:09
Run Duration	180 Seconds
Run User	USA-User
Background CPU	22%

PC Performing as expected (57^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 4.4 GHz (avg) Performing way above expectations (93^rd percentile)	88.4% Excellent	Memory 87.5 1-Core 138 2-Core 276 92% 167 Pts	4-Core 482 8-Core 689 73% 585 Pts	64-Core 734 45% 734 Pts
Poor: 70% ↑ This bench: 88.4% Great: 90%

Graphics Card	Bench	3D DX9	3D DX10	3D DX11
Nvidia GTX 970-$200 834,238 User benchmarks, average bench 49% EVGA(3842 3975) CLim: 1531 MHz, MLim: 1752 MHz, Ram: 4GB, Driver: 382.5 Performing way above expectations (100^th percentile)	56.4% Above average	Lighting 71.6 Reflection 70.8 Parallax 63.5 58% 68.6 fps	MRender 74.3 Gravity 65.5 Splatting 56.3 52% 65.4 fps
Poor: 43% ↑ This bench: 56.4% Great: 54%

Drives	Bench	Sequential	Random 4k	Deep queue 4k
Samsung 850 Evo 500GB-$94 695,664 User benchmarks, average bench 112% 465GB free Firmware: EMT01B6Q Max speed: SATA 3.0 600 MB/s Performing as expected (40^th percentile) (ID) Attribute Now Worst Value (05) Reallocated sector count 100 100 0 (09) Power-on hours count 99 99 3995 (0C) Power cycle count 99 99 867 (B1) Unknown 99 99 1 (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 54 33 (C3) Hardware ECC recovered 200 200 0 (C7) UDMA CRC error rate 100 100 0 (EB) Unknown 99 99 9 (F1) Unknown 99 99 1313106724	110% Outstanding	Read 513 Write 415 Mixed 421 100% 450 MB/s	4K Read 43.3 4K Write 106 4K Mixed 48.1 184% 65.9 MB/s	DQ Read 57.6 DQ Write 278 DQ Mixed 107 100% 148 MB/s
Poor: 80% ↑ This bench: 110% Great: 134%
Samsung 850 Evo 1TB-$122 154,399 User benchmarks, average bench 110% 362GB free Firmware: EMT02B6Q Max speed: SATA 3.0 600 MB/s Performing as expected (51^st percentile) (ID) Attribute Now Worst Value (05) Reallocated sector count 100 100 0 (09) Power-on hours count 99 99 2208 (0C) Power cycle count 99 99 507 (B1) Unknown 100 100 0 (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 70 62 30 (C3) Hardware ECC recovered 200 200 0 (C7) UDMA CRC error rate 99 99 1 (EB) Unknown 99 99 13 (F1) Unknown 99 99 1977284458	112% Outstanding	Read 514 Write 410 Mixed 421 100% 448 MB/s	4K Read 48 4K Write 108 4K Mixed 50.4 195% 69 MB/s	DQ Read 49.8 DQ Write 277 DQ Mixed 30.4 62% 119 MB/s
Poor: 80% ↑ This bench: 112% Great: 133%
Samsung 840 Evo 500GB-$150 68,337 User benchmarks, average bench 103% 215GB free (System drive) Firmware: EXT0CB6Q Max speed: SATA 3.0 600 MB/s Performing below expectations (24^th percentile) (ID) Attribute Now Worst Value (05) Reallocated sector count 100 100 0 (09) Power-on hours count 98 98 6196 (0C) Power cycle count 98 98 1426 (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 99 99 1 (BE) vendor-specific 66 62 34 (C3) Hardware ECC recovered 199 199 1 (C7) UDMA CRC error rate 100 100 0 (EB) Unknown 99 99 93 (F1) Unknown 99 99 13521177553	93% Outstanding	Read 506 Write 341 Mixed 352 88% 400 MB/s	4K Read 41.4 4K Write 79.7 4K Mixed 24.8 137% 48.7 MB/s	DQ Read 309 DQ Write 224 DQ Mixed 76.1 108% 203 MB/s
Poor: 72% ↑ This bench: 93% Great: 126%
WD Red 2TB (2012)-$82 64,359 User benchmarks, average bench 66% 1.5TB free Firmware: 80.00A80 Max speed: SATA 3.0 600 MB/s Relative performance n/a - RAM cached drive detected (ID) Attribute Now Worst Value (01) Raw read error rate 200 200 0 (03) Spinup time 169 166 4525 (04) Start/Stop count 97 97 3068 (05) Reallocated sector count 200 200 0 (07) Seek error rate 200 200 0 (09) Power-on hours count 95 95 4028 (0A) Spinup retry count 100 100 0 (0B) Calibration retry count 100 100 0 (0C) Power cycle count 99 99 1501 (C0) Power-off retract count 200 200 142 (C1) Load/Unload cycle count 198 198 6408 (C2) HDA temperature 119 115 28 (C4) Reallocation count 200 200 0 (C5) Current pending sector count 200 200 0 (C6) Offline scan uncorrectable count 100 253 0 (C7) UDMA CRC error rate 200 200 0 (C8) Write error rate 100 253 0
Poor: 45% Great: 86%

Memory Kit	Bench	Multi core	Single core	Latency
G.SKILL Ripjaws V DDR4 3200 C16 4x16GB-$139 14,506 User benchmarks, average bench 95% 4 of 4 slots used 64GB DIMM DDR4 clocked @ 2400 MHz Performing below potential (31^st percentile) - ensure that a dual+ channel XMP BIOS profile is enabled: How to enable XMP	78.8% Very good	MC Read 27.3 MC Write 31.2 MC Mixed 25.3 80% 27.9 GB/s	SC Read 16 SC Write 33 SC Mixed 23.9 69% 24.3 GB/s	Latency 70 57% 70 ns
Poor: 66% ↑ This bench: 78.8% Great: 135%

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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 2,316 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	821x
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	305x
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 $82Bench 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