MSI Z170A GAMING M3 (MS-7978)

Performance Results


Gaming 40% Jet ski	Desktop 94% Nuclear submarine	Workstation 35% Jet ski


PC Status	Overall this PC is performing as expected (48th percentile). This means that out of 100 PCs with exactly the same components, 52 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 90.4%, this CPU's suitability for 3D gaming is excellent.
Graphics	36.7% 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	101% 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	32GB is enough RAM to run any version of Windows and it's far more than any current game requires. 32GB will also allow for large file and system caches, virtual machine hosting, software development, video editing and batch multimedia processing.
OS Version	Although Windows 7 is still a viable option, it's now 14 years and 9 months old. This system should be upgraded to Windows 10 which is generally faster and has an improved set of core utilities including better versions of explorer and task manager.

Sub-optimal background CPU (11%). High background CPU reduces benchmark accuracy. How to reduce background CPU.

Run History

6 years ago, 5 years ago, 5 years ago.

System	MSI MS-7978
Motherboard	MSI Z170A GAMING M3 (MS-7978) (all builds)
Memory	29.3 GB free of 32 GB @ 2.4 GHz
Display	1920 x 1080 - 32 Bit colors
OS	Windows 7
BIOS Date	20170424
Uptime	0 Days
Run Date	Jul 15 '17 at 04:29
Run Duration	334 Seconds
Run User	DNK-User
Background CPU	11%

PC Performing as expected (48^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 Performing way above expectations (97^th percentile)	90.4% Outstanding	Memory 91.6 1-Core 134 2-Core 271 92% 165 Pts	4-Core 479 8-Core 783 77% 631 Pts	64-Core 784 48% 784 Pts
Poor: 70% ↑ This bench: 90.4% Great: 90%

Graphics Card	Bench	3D DX9	3D DX10	3D DX11
AMD R9 380-$200 83,027 User benchmarks, average bench 33% MSI(1462 2015) CLim: 980 MHz, MLim: 1425 MHz, Ram: 4GB, Driver: 17.7.1 Performing way above expectations (99^th percentile)	36.7% Below average	Lighting 46.6 Reflection 51.8 Parallax 55.5 38% 51.3 fps	MRender 50.9 Gravity 40.5 Splatting 36.8 34% 42.7 fps
Poor: 31% ↑ This bench: 36.7% Great: 35%

Drives	Bench	Sequential	Random 4k	Deep queue 4k
Samsung 850 Evo 500GB-$94 695,664 User benchmarks, average bench 112% 322GB free (System drive) Firmware: EMT02B6Q Max speed: SATA 3.0 600 MB/s Performing below expectations (25^th percentile) (ID) Attribute Now Worst Value (05) Reallocated sector count 100 100 0 (09) Power-on hours count 99 99 260 (0C) Power cycle count 99 99 142 (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 64 64 36 (C3) Hardware ECC recovered 200 200 0 (C7) UDMA CRC error rate 100 100 0 (EB) Unknown 99 99 5 (F1) Unknown 99 99 1401650832	101% Outstanding	Read 519 Write 402 Mixed 380 96% 434 MB/s	4K Read 42.2 4K Write 80.2 4K Mixed 34.4 150% 52.3 MB/s	DQ Read 253 DQ Write 225 DQ Mixed 112 119% 196 MB/s
Poor: 80% ↑ This bench: 101% Great: 134%
Samsung 840 Evo 250GB-$95 217,115 User benchmarks, average bench 96% 233GB free Firmware: EXT0DB6Q 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 99 99 2723 (0C) Power cycle count 98 98 1068 (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 68 51 32 (C3) Hardware ECC recovered 200 200 0 (C7) UDMA CRC error rate 100 100 0 (EB) Unknown 99 99 14 (F1) Unknown 99 99 939660958	84.4% Excellent	Read 515 Write 349 Mixed 340 89% 401 MB/s	4K Read 40.9 4K Write 62.8 4K Mixed 16.1 116% 39.9 MB/s	DQ Read 217 DQ Write 200 DQ Mixed 25.1 69% 148 MB/s
Poor: 64% ↑ This bench: 84.4% Great: 118%
Samsung 840 Evo 250GB-$95 217,115 User benchmarks, average bench 96% 231GB free Firmware: EXT0DB6Q Max speed: SATA 3.0 600 MB/s Performing below expectations (25^th percentile) (ID) Attribute Now Worst Value (05) Reallocated sector count 100 100 0 (09) Power-on hours count 99 99 2724 (0C) Power cycle count 98 98 1069 (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 68 49 32 (C3) Hardware ECC recovered 200 200 0 (C7) UDMA CRC error rate 100 100 0 (EB) Unknown 99 99 14 (F1) Unknown 99 99 782356987	84.7% Excellent	Read 515 Write 352 Mixed 289 85% 385 MB/s	4K Read 40.7 4K Write 61.5 4K Mixed 17.3 116% 39.8 MB/s	DQ Read 205 DQ Write 204 DQ Mixed 24.3 68% 145 MB/s
Poor: 64% ↑ This bench: 84.7% Great: 118%
WD Green 1TB (2011)-$109 43,695 User benchmarks, average bench 51% 325GB free Firmware: 51.0AB51 Max speed: SATA 3.0 600 MB/s Performing way below expectations (11^th percentile) (ID) Attribute Now Worst Value (01) Raw read error rate 199 199 14263 (03) Spinup time 114 109 7266 (04) Start/Stop count 97 97 3618 (05) Reallocated sector count 200 200 0 (07) Seek error rate 200 200 0 (09) Power-on hours count 95 95 4124 (0A) Spinup retry count 100 100 0 (0B) Calibration retry count 100 100 0 (0C) Power cycle count 97 97 3449 (C0) Power-off retract count 200 200 166 (C1) Load/Unload cycle count 166 166 103813 (C2) HDA temperature 115 95 32 (C4) Reallocation count 200 200 0 (C5) Current pending sector count 200 200 0 (C6) Offline scan uncorrectable count 200 200 1 (C7) UDMA CRC error rate 200 200 0 (C8) Write error rate 200 200 1	34.2% Below average	Read 62.2 Write 56.8 Mixed 59.4 45% 59.5 MB/s	4K Read 0.6 4K Write 1.56 4K Mixed 0.2 76% 0.79 MB/s
Poor: 28% ↑ This bench: 34.2% Great: 69%
Kingston DataTraveler 2.0 16GB 1,009 User benchmarks, average bench 6% 15GB free, PID 1607 Operating at USB 2.0 Speed Performing above expectations (74^th percentile)	6.74% Terrible	Read 24 Write 5.36 Mixed 7.74 12% 12.4 MB/s	4K Read 8.59 4K Write 0.02 4K Mixed 0.01 33% 2.87 MB/s
Poor: 3% ↑ This bench: 6.74% Great: 8%

Memory Kit	Bench	Multi core	Single core	Latency
Corsair Dominator DDR4 3200 C16 4x8GB 3,531 User benchmarks, average bench 95% 4 of 4 slots used 32GB DIMM DDR4 clocked @ 2400 MHz Performing below potential (30^th percentile) - ensure that a dual+ channel XMP BIOS profile is enabled: How to enable XMP	81.8% Excellent	MC Read 29.4 MC Write 31.3 MC Mixed 26.1 83% 28.9 GB/s	SC Read 19.4 SC Write 32.6 SC Mixed 23.5 72% 25.2 GB/s	Latency 64.7 62% 64.7 ns
Poor: 68% ↑ This bench: 81.8% Great: 129%

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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 2,313 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	818x
Core i5-6600KIntel $81Bench 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 $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 $273	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 $177	Nvidia RTX 4070 $539	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) $37	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