MSI Z170A GAMING M3 (MS-7978)

Performance Results


Gaming 73% Battleship	Desktop 92% Nuclear submarine	Workstation 58% Gunboat


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 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 light workstation, and even some light server workloads. Finally, with a gaming score of 89.2%, this CPU's suitability for 3D gaming is very good.
Graphics	77.8% is a very good 3D score, it's the business. This GPU can handle recent 3D games at high resolutions and ultra detail levels.
Boot Drive	33.1% is low SSD score. With a better SSD this system will boot faster, make applications more responsive and reduce 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.

Very high background CPU (35%). High background CPU reduces benchmark accuracy. How to reduce background CPU.

Run History

4 years ago, 4 years ago, 4 years ago, 4 years ago, 4 years ago.

System	MSI MS-7978
Motherboard	MSI Z170A GAMING M3 (MS-7978) (all builds)
Memory	10.5 GB free of 16 GB @ 2.7 GHz
Display	2560 x 1440 - 32 Bit colors
OS	Windows 10
BIOS Date	20150906
Uptime	0.3 Days
Run Date	Dec 09 '19 at 11:26
Run Duration	126 Seconds
Run User	ARE-User
Background CPU	35%

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 i5-6600K-$81 342,244 User benchmarks, average bench 72% U3E1, 1 CPU, 4 cores, 4 threads Base clock 3.5 GHz, turbo 4.1 GHz (avg) Performing way above expectations (99^th percentile)	89.2% Excellent	Memory 92.5 1-Core 128 2-Core 260 89% 160 Pts	4-Core 496 8-Core 498 66% 497 Pts	64-Core 498 31% 498 Pts
Poor: 57% ↑ This bench: 89.2% Great: 85%

Graphics Card	Bench	3D DX9	3D DX10	3D DX11
Nvidia GTX 980-Ti-$560 214,030 User benchmarks, average bench 79% MSI(1462 3236) ≥ 4GB CLim: 1531 MHz, MLim: 1772 MHz, Ram: 6GB, Driver: 441.41 Performing below potential (49^th percentile) - GPU OC Guide	77.8% Very good	Lighting 99.6 Reflection 106 Parallax 94 81% 99.8 fps	MRender 88.1 Gravity 92 Splatting 82.6 71% 87.6 fps
Poor: 70% ↑ This bench: 77.8% Great: 87%

Drives	Bench	Sequential	Random 4k	Deep queue 4k
Zotac ZTSSD-A4P-120G 120GB 495 User benchmarks, average bench 47% 6GB free (System drive) Firmware: S9FM02.2 SusWrite @10s intervals: 33 20 17 29 15 29 MB/s Performing below potential (7^th percentile) - Ensure that this drive is connected to a SATA 3.0 port with a SATA 3.0 cable	33.1% Below average	Read 284 Write 87.2 Mixed 52 SusWrite 23.7 24% 112 MB/s	4K Read 23.6 4K Write 38.6 4K Mixed 8.1 67% 23.4 MB/s	DQ Read 1.8 DQ Write 59.8 DQ Mixed 6.2 12% 22.6 MB/s
Poor: 34% ↑ This bench: 33.1% Great: 67%
Seagate Barracuda 7200.14 2TB-$50 815,515 User benchmarks, average bench 88% 47GB free Firmware: CC26 SusWrite @10s intervals: 135 137 134 137 137 129 MB/s Performing as expected (51^st percentile)	91.3% Outstanding	Read 184 Write 150 Mixed 82 SusWrite 135 101% 138 MB/s	4K Read 0.7 4K Write 1.7 4K Mixed 0.7 138% 1.03 MB/s
Poor: 51% ↑ This bench: 91.3% Great: 114%

Memory Kit	Bench	Multi core	Single core	Latency
Corsair Vengeance LPX DDR4 2666 C16 2x8GB-$42 131,007 User benchmarks, average bench 77% 2 of 4 slots used 16GB DIMM DDR4 clocked @ 2667 MHz Performing above expectations (72^nd percentile)	82.6% Excellent	MC Read 26.7 MC Write 33.7 MC Mixed 27 83% 29.1 GB/s	SC Read 15.7 SC Write 35 SC Mixed 26.4 73% 25.7 GB/s	Latency 63.2 63% 63.2 ns
Poor: 56% ↑ This bench: 82.6% Great: 95%

Take a copy of your results How to check your in-game FPS

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