MSI Z170A GAMING M3 (MS-7978)

Performance Results


Gaming 67% Battle cruiser	Desktop 87% Aircraft carrier	Workstation 52% Yacht


PC Status	Overall this PC is performing as expected (51st percentile). This means that out of 100 PCs with exactly the same components, 49 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 light workstation, and even some light server workloads. Finally, with a gaming score of 83.2%, this CPU's suitability for 3D gaming is very good.
Graphics	76.4% 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	34.1% 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 (46%). 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	6.4 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 11:50
Run Duration	129 Seconds
Run User	ARE-User
Background CPU	46%

PC Performing as expected (51^st 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 (92^nd percentile)	83.2% Excellent	Memory 92.3 1-Core 119 2-Core 206 81% 139 Pts	4-Core 439 8-Core 376 56% 408 Pts	64-Core 455 28% 455 Pts
Poor: 57% ↑ This bench: 83.2% 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 (36^th percentile) - GPU OC Guide	76.4% Very good	Lighting 99 Reflection 105 Parallax 93.9 81% 99.2 fps	MRender 87 Gravity 88.6 Splatting 76.5 68% 84 fps
Poor: 70% ↑ This bench: 76.4% Great: 87%

Drives	Bench	Sequential	Random 4k	Deep queue 4k
Zotac ZTSSD-A4P-120G 120GB 495 User benchmarks, average bench 47% 8GB free (System drive) Firmware: S9FM02.2 SusWrite @10s intervals: 24 17 25 23 28 26 MB/s Performing below potential (9^th percentile) - Ensure that this drive is connected to a SATA 3.0 port with a SATA 3.0 cable	34.1% Below average	Read 176 Write 43.8 Mixed 55.8 SusWrite 23.8 16% 74.8 MB/s	4K Read 22.1 4K Write 60.2 4K Mixed 10.3 79% 30.9 MB/s	DQ Read 96.2 DQ Write 41.3 DQ Mixed 6.7 21% 48.1 MB/s
Poor: 34% ↑ This bench: 34.1% Great: 67%
Seagate Barracuda 7200.14 2TB-$50 815,515 User benchmarks, average bench 88% 49GB free Firmware: CC26 SusWrite @10s intervals: 132 135 137 137 137 136 MB/s Performing as expected (55^th percentile)	93.3% Outstanding	Read 190 Write 143 Mixed 78 SusWrite 136 100% 137 MB/s	4K Read 0.8 4K Write 1.6 4K Mixed 0.7 141% 1.03 MB/s
Poor: 51% ↑ This bench: 93.3% 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 (63^rd percentile)	79% Very good	MC Read 25.1 MC Write 32.5 MC Mixed 26 80% 27.9 GB/s	SC Read 14.6 SC Write 33 SC Mixed 25 69% 24.2 GB/s	Latency 63.5 63% 63.5 ns
Poor: 56% ↑ This bench: 79% 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