MSI Z170A GAMING M3 (MS-7978)

Performance Results


Gaming 12% Tree trunk	Desktop 41% Speed boat	Workstation 9% Tree trunk


PC Status	Overall this PC is performing below expectations (34th percentile). This means that out of 100 PCs with exactly the same components, 66 performed better. The overall PC percentile is the average of each of its individual components. Use the charts in the benchmark sections of this report to identify problem areas.
Processor	With an extremely low single core score, this CPU can barely handle email and light web browsing. Finally, with a gaming score of 28.4%, this CPU's suitability for 3D gaming is very poor.
Graphics	27.2% 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	54.5% is a reasonable SSD score. This drive enables fast boots and responsive applications.
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.

Very high background CPU (47%). High background CPU reduces benchmark accuracy. How to reduce background CPU.

Run History

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

System	MSI MS-7978
Motherboard	MSI Z170A GAMING M3 (MS-7978) (all builds)
Memory	12.3 GB free of 16 GB @ 2.1 GHz
Display	1920 x 1080 - 32 Bit colors
OS	Windows 10
BIOS Date	20160724
Uptime	0 Days
Run Date	Mar 31 '18 at 06:39
Run Duration	141 Seconds
Run User	USA-User
Background CPU	47%

PC Performing below expectations (34^th percentile)

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

Processor	Bench	Normal	Heavy	Server
Intel Core i5-6600K-$81 342,244 User benchmarks, average bench 72% U3E1, 1 CPU, 4 cores, 4 threads Base clock 3.5 GHz, turbo 0.75 GHz (avg) Performing way below expectations (1^st percentile)	28.4% Poor	Memory 42.5 1-Core 24.3 2-Core 41 24% 35.9 Pts	4-Core 84.8 8-Core 81.5 11% 83.2 Pts	64-Core 87.1 5% 87.1 Pts
Poor: 57% ↑ This bench: 28.4% Great: 85%

Graphics Card	Bench	3D DX9	3D DX10	3D DX11
AMD R9 270X-$199 77,943 User benchmarks, average bench 27% XFX(1682 9275) 2GB CLim: 1100 MHz, MLim: 1450 MHz, Ram: 2GB, Driver: 18.2.3 Performing below potential (70^th percentile) - GPU OC Guide	27.2% Poor	Lighting 33.9 Reflection 31.7 Parallax 42.1 28% 35.9 fps	MRender 28.7 Gravity 29.3 Splatting 36.6 26% 31.5 fps
Poor: 25% ↑ This bench: 27.2% Great: 29%

Drives	Bench	Sequential	Random 4k	Deep queue 4k
Sandisk S3512G 512GB 19,948 User benchmarks, average bench 97% 413GB free (System drive) Firmware: X6104000 Max speed: SATA 3.0 600 MB/s Performing way below expectations (1^st percentile) (ID) Attribute Now Worst Value (05) Reallocated sector count 100 100 0 (09) Power-on hours count 100 100 680 (0C) Power cycle count 100 100 160 (A5) Unknown 100 100 7209032 (A6) Unknown 100 100 1 (A7) Unknown 100 100 32 (A8) Unknown 100 100 3 (A9) Unknown 100 100 287 (AA) Unknown 100 100 0 (AB) Unknown 100 100 0 (AC) Unknown 100 100 0 (AD) Unknown 100 100 1 (AE) Unknown 100 100 26 (B8) Unknown 100 100 0 (BB) vendor-specific 100 100 0 (BC) Unknown 100 100 0 (C2) HDA temperature 71 45 193274380317 (C7) UDMA CRC error rate 100 100 0 (E6) GMR head amplitude 100 100 60130197518 (E8) Unknown 100 100 100 (E9) Unknown 100 100 683 (EA) Unknown 100 100 886 (F1) Unknown 253 253 836 (F2) Unknown 253 253 380 (F4) Unknown 0 100 0	54.5% Above average	Read 480 Write 293 Mixed 259 76% 344 MB/s	4K Read 18 4K Write 21.4 4K Mixed 11 53% 16.8 MB/s	DQ Read 21 DQ Write 59.1 DQ Mixed 7.79 15% 29.3 MB/s
Poor: 70% ↑ This bench: 54.5% Great: 119%
WD Green 2TB (2012)-$49 170,877 User benchmarks, average bench 64% 2TB free Firmware: 80.00A80 Max speed: SATA 3.0 600 MB/s Performing way above expectations (93^rd percentile) (ID) Attribute Now Worst Value (01) Raw read error rate 200 200 898 (03) Spinup time 171 164 4433 (04) Start/Stop count 98 98 2113 (05) Reallocated sector count 200 200 0 (07) Seek error rate 200 200 0 (09) Power-on hours count 93 93 5580 (0A) Spinup retry count 100 100 0 (0B) Calibration retry count 100 100 0 (0C) Power cycle count 99 99 1717 (C0) Power-off retract count 200 200 78 (C1) Load/Unload cycle count 182 182 54822 (C2) HDA temperature 118 110 29 (C4) Reallocation count 200 200 0 (C5) Current pending sector count 200 200 0 (C6) Offline scan uncorrectable count 200 200 2 (C7) UDMA CRC error rate 200 200 0 (C8) Write error rate 200 200 16	82.4% Excellent	Read 136 Write 151 Mixed 144 108% 144 MB/s	4K Read 0.92 4K Write 2.44 4K Mixed 0.22 108% 1.19 MB/s
Poor: 40% ↑ This bench: 82.4% Great: 84%

Memory Kit	Bench	Multi core	Single core	Latency
Corsair Vengeance LPX DDR4 2133 C13 2x8GB-$46 47,721 User benchmarks, average bench 69% 2 of 4 slots used 16GB DIMM DDR4 clocked @ 2133 MHz Performing way below expectations (4^th percentile)	41.2% Average	MC Read 13.6 MC Write 16.4 MC Mixed 18 46% 16 GB/s	SC Read 5.6 SC Write 9.4 SC Mixed 7.8 22% 7.6 GB/s	Latency 191 21% 191 ns
Poor: 42% ↑ This bench: 41.2% Great: 80%

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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 $76Bench 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 $46

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