MSI Z170A GAMING M3 (MS-7978)

Performance Results


Gaming 51% Yacht	Desktop 90% Aircraft carrier	Workstation 44% Speed boat


PC Status	Overall this PC is performing as expected (56th percentile). This means that out of 100 PCs with exactly the same components, 44 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 moderate workstation, and even light server workloads. Finally, with a gaming score of 85.4%, this CPU's suitability for 3D gaming is very good.
Graphics	54.6% 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	93.8% 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	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.

System	MSI MS-7978
Motherboard	MSI Z170A GAMING M3 (MS-7978) (all builds)
Memory	13.1 GB free of 16 GB @ 2.1 GHz
Display	1920 x 1080 - 32 Bit Farben
OS	Windows 10
BIOS Date	20160223
Uptime	8 Days
Run Date	Jan 07 '18 at 16:50
Run Duration	213 Seconds
Run User	DEU-User
Background CPU	1%

PC Performing as expected (56^th percentile)

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

Processor	Bench	Normal	Heavy	Server
Intel Core i7-6700-$180 282,363 User benchmarks, average bench 72% U3E1, 1 CPU, 4 cores, 8 threads Base clock 3.4 GHz, turbo 3.7 GHz (avg) Performing way above expectations (100^th percentile)	85.4% Excellent	Memory 91.1 1-Core 126 2-Core 244 86% 154 Pts	4-Core 430 8-Core 657 67% 543 Pts	64-Core 650 40% 650 Pts
Poor: 60% ↑ This bench: 85.4% Great: 80%

Graphics Card	Bench	3D DX9	3D DX10	3D DX11
Nvidia GTX 970-$200 834,238 User benchmarks, average bench 49% MSI(1462 3160) CLim: 1455 MHz, MLim: 1752 MHz, Ram: 4GB, Driver: 388.31 Performing way above expectations (98^th percentile)	54.6% Above average	Lighting 68 Reflection 69.4 Parallax 60.3 55% 65.9 fps	MRender 74.1 Gravity 64.5 Splatting 58.3 53% 65.6 fps
Poor: 43% ↑ This bench: 54.6% Great: 54%

Drives	Bench	Sequential	Random 4k	Deep queue 4k
Crucial BX200 480GB-$160 11,290 User benchmarks, average bench 78% 118GB free Firmware: MU02.6 Max speed: SATA 3.0 600 MB/s Performing as expected (47^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 100 100 508 (0C) Power cycle count 100 100 788 (A0) Unknown 100 100 0 (A1) Unknown 100 100 45 (A3) Unknown 100 100 612 (94) Unknown 100 100 41964 (95) Unknown 100 100 611 (96) Unknown 100 100 499 (97) Unknown 100 100 591 (A4) Unknown 100 100 15720 (A5) Unknown 100 100 28 (A6) Unknown 100 100 2 (A7) Unknown 100 100 12 (A9) Unknown 100 100 99 (B5) Unknown 100 100 0 (B6) Unknown 100 100 0 (C0) Power-off retract count 100 100 8 (C2) HDA temperature 100 100 34218543480856 (C7) UDMA CRC error rate 100 100 0 (E8) Unknown 100 100 100 (F1) Unknown 100 100 110835 (F2) Unknown 100 100 148138 (F5) Unknown 100 100 185692 (F6) Unknown 100 100 167856 (F7) Unknown 100 100 0	76.6% Very good	Read 493 Write 239 Mixed 264 73% 332 MB/s	4K Read 31 4K Write 55.9 4K Mixed 24.2 108% 37 MB/s	DQ Read 284 DQ Write 167 DQ Mixed 46.9 83% 166 MB/s
Poor: 57% ↑ This bench: 76.6% Great: 95%
Samsung 840 Evo 250GB-$95 217,115 User benchmarks, average bench 96% 97GB free (System drive) Firmware: EXT0BB6Q Max speed: SATA 3.0 600 MB/s Performing as expected (41^st percentile) (ID) Attribute Now Worst Value (05) Reallocated sector count 100 100 0 (09) Power-on hours count 96 96 17301 (0C) Power cycle count 98 98 1747 (B1) Unknown 92 92 91 (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 71 58 29 (C3) Hardware ECC recovered 200 200 0 (C7) UDMA CRC error rate 99 99 2 (EB) Unknown 99 99 105 (F1) Unknown 99 99 53736067383	93.8% Outstanding	Read 505 Write 335 Mixed 345 88% 395 MB/s	4K Read 42.9 4K Write 71.4 4K Mixed 25.6 136% 46.6 MB/s	DQ Read 367 DQ Write 230 DQ Mixed 80.8 119% 226 MB/s
Poor: 64% ↑ This bench: 93.8% Great: 118%
Seagate Expansion Desk 5TB 11,776 User benchmarks, average bench 55% 1.5TB free Firmware: 9401 Performing below expectations (36^th percentile)	50% Above average	Read 104 Write 69.2 Mixed 76.4 62% 83.3 MB/s	4K Read 0.45 4K Write 3.72 4K Mixed 0.23 113% 1.47 MB/s
Poor: 14% ↑ This bench: 50% Great: 87%
Seagate ST31000528AS 3TB 21 User benchmarks, average bench 84% 1.5TB free Firmware: 80.00A80 Max speed: SATA 3.0 600 MB/s Performing way below expectations (5^th percentile) (ID) Attribute Now Worst Value (01) Raw read error rate 200 200 0 (03) Spinup time 182 179 5891 (04) Start/Stop count 94 94 6406 (05) Reallocated sector count 200 200 0 (07) Seek error rate 200 200 0 (09) Power-on hours count 80 80 15212 (0A) Spinup retry count 100 100 0 (0B) Calibration retry count 100 100 0 (0C) Power cycle count 99 99 1754 (C0) Power-off retract count 200 200 66 (C1) Load/Unload cycle count 136 136 192575 (C2) HDA temperature 121 112 29 (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	39.9% Below average	Read 66.9 Write 71.8 Mixed 82.6 56% 73.8 MB/s	4K Read 0.47 4K Write 2.18 4K Mixed 0.25 88% 0.97 MB/s
Poor: 59% ↑ This bench: 39.9% Great: 103%
WD Elements 25A3 5TB 1,735 User benchmarks, average bench 48% 3.5TB free, PID 25a3 Operating at USB 3.0 Speed Performing way above expectations (98^th percentile)	68% Good	Read 179 Write 158 Mixed 151 205% 163 MB/s	4K Read 0.84 4K Write 2.39 4K Mixed 0.28 94% 1.17 MB/s
Poor: 16% ↑ This bench: 68% Great: 66%

Memory Kit	Bench	Multi core	Single core	Latency
Unknown CL16-16-16 D4-3000 4x4GB 200 User benchmarks, average bench 90% 4 of 4 slots used 16GB DIMM DDR4 clocked @ 2133 MHz Performing below potential (27^th percentile) - ensure that a dual+ channel XMP BIOS profile is enabled: How to enable XMP	76.2% Very good	MC Read 27.2 MC Write 29 MC Mixed 23.8 76% 26.7 GB/s	SC Read 18.2 SC Write 30.4 SC Mixed 24.3 69% 24.3 GB/s	Latency 65.5 61% 65.5 ns
Poor: 69% ↑ This bench: 76.2% 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 2,313 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 $90Bench 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 $31Bench 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