MSI Z170A GAMING M3 (MS-7978)

Performance Results


Gaming 60% Destroyer	Desktop 97% Nuclear submarine	Workstation 51% Yacht


PC Status	Overall this PC is performing as expected (60th percentile). This means that out of 100 PCs with exactly the same components, 40 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 96.3%, this CPU's suitability for 3D gaming is excellent.
Graphics	57.7% 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	115% is an exceptional SSD score. This drive is suitable for heavy workstation use, it will facilitate fast boots, responsive applications and allow for fast transfers of multi-gigabyte files.
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 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	24.9 GB free of 32 GB @ 2.4 GHz
Display	1920 x 1200 - 32 Bit colors
OS	Windows 10
BIOS Date	20150810
Uptime	0.1 Days
Run Date	Jan 27 '18 at 12:32
Run Duration	196 Seconds
Run User	ROU-User
Background CPU	3%

PC Performing as expected (60^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 (100^th percentile)	96.3% Outstanding	Memory 93.6 1-Core 139 2-Core 280 94% 171 Pts	4-Core 539 8-Core 732 80% 636 Pts	64-Core 730 45% 730 Pts
Poor: 70% ↑ This bench: 96.3% Great: 90%

Graphics Card	Bench	3D DX9	3D DX10	3D DX11
Nvidia GTX 970-$200 834,238 User benchmarks, average bench 49% Gigabyte(1458 367A) CLim: 1519 MHz, MLim: 1752 MHz, Ram: 4GB, Driver: 384.94 Performing way above expectations (100^th percentile)	57.7% Above average	Lighting 73.8 Reflection 72 Parallax 65.3 60% 70.4 fps	MRender 75.2 Gravity 65.9 Splatting 56.3 53% 65.8 fps
Poor: 43% ↑ This bench: 57.7% Great: 54%

Drives	Bench	Sequential	Random 4k	Deep queue 4k
Samsung 850 Evo 250GB-$100 951,591 User benchmarks, average bench 103% 24GB free (System drive) Firmware: EMT01B6Q Max speed: SATA 3.0 600 MB/s Performing above expectations (82^nd percentile) (ID) Attribute Now Worst Value (05) Reallocated sector count 100 100 0 (09) Power-on hours count 97 97 11476 (0C) Power cycle count 99 99 820 (B1) Unknown 95 95 104 (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 61 46 39 (C3) Hardware ECC recovered 200 200 0 (C7) UDMA CRC error rate 100 100 0 (EB) Unknown 99 99 45 (F1) Unknown 99 99 26821521133	115% Outstanding	Read 514 Write 410 Mixed 417 99% 447 MB/s	4K Read 43.9 4K Write 96.6 4K Mixed 46.9 178% 62.5 MB/s	DQ Read 374 DQ Write 277 DQ Mixed 107 140% 253 MB/s
Poor: 72% ↑ This bench: 115% Great: 124%
WD WD30EURX 3TB-$144 1,455 User benchmarks, average bench 63% 417GB free Firmware: 80.00A80 Max speed: SATA 3.0 600 MB/s Performing as expected (54^th percentile) (ID) Attribute Now Worst Value (01) Raw read error rate 200 200 0 (03) Spinup time 176 173 6191 (04) Start/Stop count 99 99 1608 (05) Reallocated sector count 200 200 0 (07) Seek error rate 200 200 0 (09) Power-on hours count 76 76 18177 (0A) Spinup retry count 100 100 0 (0B) Calibration retry count 100 100 0 (0C) Power cycle count 99 99 1526 (C0) Power-off retract count 200 200 85 (C1) Load/Unload cycle count 200 200 1522 (C2) HDA temperature 118 91 32 (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 1 (C8) Write error rate 100 253 0	65.1% Good	Read 112 Write 115 Mixed 104 83% 110 MB/s	4K Read 0.45 4K Write 1.61 4K Mixed 0.22 73% 0.76 MB/s
Poor: 39% ↑ This bench: 65.1% Great: 83%
WD WD2001FASS-00U0B0 2TB 6,005 User benchmarks, average bench 66% 174GB free Firmware: 01.00101 Max speed: SATA 2.0 300 MB/s Performing way below expectations (6^th percentile) (ID) Attribute Now Worst Value (01) Raw read error rate 200 200 0 (03) Spinup time 40 40 15000 (04) Start/Stop count 97 97 3511 (05) Reallocated sector count 200 200 0 (07) Seek error rate 100 253 0 (09) Power-on hours count 56 56 32834 (0A) Spinup retry count 100 100 0 (0B) Calibration retry count 100 100 0 (0C) Power cycle count 97 97 3455 (C0) Power-off retract count 200 200 516 (C1) Load/Unload cycle count 106 106 282663 (C2) HDA temperature 112 80 40 (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	44% Average	Read 89 Write 64.1 Mixed 62 54% 71.7 MB/s	4K Read 0.43 4K Write 2.01 4K Mixed 0.36 95% 0.93 MB/s
Poor: 42% ↑ This bench: 44% Great: 83%
Seagate ST31000340AS 1TB-$136 7,908 User benchmarks, average bench 46% 94GB free Firmware: SD1A Max speed: SATA 2.0 300 MB/s Performing below expectations (37^th percentile) (ID) Attribute Now Worst Value (01) Raw read error rate 118 90 179186181 (03) Spinup time 91 91 0 (04) Start/Stop count 97 97 3412 (05) Reallocated sector count 71 71 611 (07) Seek error rate 68 60 86021054755 (09) Power-on hours count 70 70 27057 (0A) Spinup retry count 100 100 18 (0C) Power cycle count 98 37 2781 (B8) Unknown 100 100 0 (BB) vendor-specific 100 100 0 (BC) Unknown 100 97 408028119135 (BD) vendor-specific 98 98 2 (BE) vendor-specific 62 27 29403985215526 (C2) HDA temperature 38 73 68719476774 (C3) Hardware ECC recovered 35 19 179186181 (C5) Current pending sector count 100 100 0 (C6) Offline scan uncorrectable count 100 100 0 (C7) UDMA CRC error rate 200 200 0	43.7% Average	Read 72.1 Write 79.9 Mixed 80.8 59% 77.6 MB/s	4K Read 0.56 4K Write 1.37 4K Mixed 0.5 105% 0.81 MB/s
Poor: 28% ↑ This bench: 43.7% Great: 59%
WD Black 1TB (2010)-$49 257,835 User benchmarks, average bench 57% 38GB free Firmware: 05.00K05 Max speed: SATA 2.0 300 MB/s Performing below expectations (21^st percentile) (ID) Attribute Now Worst Value (01) Raw read error rate 200 200 0 (03) Spinup time 253 230 1241 (04) Start/Stop count 97 97 3766 (05) Reallocated sector count 200 200 0 (07) Seek error rate 200 200 0 (09) Power-on hours count 51 51 36436 (0A) Spinup retry count 100 100 0 (0B) Calibration retry count 100 100 0 (0C) Power cycle count 97 97 3600 (C0) Power-off retract count 200 200 371 (C1) Load/Unload cycle count 199 199 3393 (C2) HDA temperature 113 75 37 (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 39660 (C8) Write error rate 200 200 0	47% Average	Read 99.6 Write 63.7 Mixed 83 62% 82.1 MB/s	4K Read 0.6 4K Write 2.14 4K Mixed 0.31 98% 1.01 MB/s
Poor: 35% ↑ This bench: 47% Great: 76%

Memory Kit	Bench	Multi core	Single core	Latency
Corsair Vengeance LPX DDR4 2400 C14 4x8GB 4,792 User benchmarks, average bench 79% 4 of 4 slots used 32GB DIMM DDR4 clocked @ 2400 MHz Performing above expectations (77^th percentile)	82.3% Excellent	MC Read 28.5 MC Write 31.7 MC Mixed 25.8 82% 28.7 GB/s	SC Read 19.9 SC Write 34.2 SC Mixed 26.3 77% 26.8 GB/s	Latency 60.7 66% 60.7 ns
Poor: 66% ↑ This bench: 82.3% Great: 106%

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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 2,308 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	817x
Core i5-6600KIntel $81Bench 72%, 342,244 samples	630x
Core i7-6700Intel $180Bench 72%, 282,363 samples	226x

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	221x

SSD
850 Evo 250GBSamsung $100Bench 103%, 951,591 samples	117x
850 Evo 500GBSamsung $109Bench 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 $279	Nvidia RTX 4060 $300	Crucial MX500 250GB $40
Intel Core i5-12400F $134	Nvidia RTX 4060-Ti $385	Samsung 850 Evo 120GB $80
Intel Core i5-12600K $184	Nvidia RTX 4070 $409	Samsung 860 Evo 250GB $52

HDD	RAM	USB
Seagate Barracuda 1TB (2016) $39	Corsair Vengeance LPX DDR4 3200 C16 2x8GB $40	SanDisk Extreme 64GB $72
WD Blue 1TB (2012) $35	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