MSI Z170A GAMING M3 (MS-7978)

Performance Results


Gaming 18% Surfboard	Desktop 51% Yacht	Workstation 14% Tree trunk


PC Status	Overall this PC is performing below expectations (24th percentile). This means that out of 100 PCs with exactly the same components, 76 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 a below average single core score, this CPU can handle email, web browsing and audio/video playback but it will struggle to handle modern 3D games or workstation tasks such as video editing. Finally, with a gaming score of 41.8%, this CPU's suitability for 3D gaming is below average.
Graphics	34.5% 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	37.3% is low SSD score. With a better SSD this system will boot faster, make applications more responsive and reduce IO wait times.
Memory	8GB is enough RAM to run any version of Windows and it's sufficient for the vast majority of games. 8GB is also enough for moderate file and system caches which result in a very responsive system.
OS Version	Although Windows 10 is not the most recent version of Windows, it remains a great option.

Run History

7 years ago, 7 years ago, 7 years ago, 7 years ago, 7 years ago, 7 years ago, 7 years ago, 7 years ago, 7 years ago.

System	MSI MS-7978
Motherboard	MSI Z170A GAMING M3 (MS-7978) (all builds)
Memory	6.6 GB free of 8 GB @ 3.2 GHz
Display	1920 x 1080 - 32 Bit colors
OS	Windows 10
BIOS Date	20160724
Uptime	0 Days
Run Date	Jan 12 '17 at 20:25
Run Duration	117 Seconds
Run User	GRC-User
Background CPU	4%

Watch Gameplay: 480 + 9600K How to compare your gameplay

PC Performing below expectations (24^th percentile)

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

Processor	Bench	Normal	Heavy	Server
Intel Core i5-6500-$67 241,476 User benchmarks, average bench 64% U3E1, 1 CPU, 4 cores, 4 threads Base clock 3.2 GHz, turbo 0.8 GHz (avg) Performing way below expectations (5^th percentile)	41.8% Average	Memory 66.7 1-Core 25.9 2-Core 51.9 34% 48.2 Pts	4-Core 101 8-Core 101 14% 101 Pts	64-Core 95.6 6% 95.6 Pts
Poor: 43% ↑ This bench: 41.8% Great: 73%

Graphics Card	Bench	3D DX9	3D DX10	3D DX11
AMD RX 480-$75 261,163 User benchmarks, average bench 46% MSI(1462 3413) CLim: 1303 MHz, MLim: 2000 MHz, Ram: 8GB, Driver: 16.12.2 Performing below potential (4^th percentile) - GPU OC Guide	34.5% Below average	Lighting 32.1 Reflection 40.3 Parallax 83.4 26% 51.9 fps	MRender 68.5 Gravity 65 Splatting 54.9 51% 62.8 fps
Poor: 35% ↑ This bench: 34.5% Great: 53%

Drives	Bench	Sequential	Random 4k
Samsung 850 Evo 250GB-$100 951,591 User benchmarks, average bench 103% 115GB free (System drive) Firmware: EMT02B6Q Max speed: SATA 3.0 600 MB/s Performing way below expectations (0^th percentile) (ID) Attribute Now Worst Value (05) Reallocated sector count 100 100 0 (09) Power-on hours count 99 99 57 (0C) Power cycle count 99 99 48 (B1) Unknown 99 99 2 (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 68 64 32 (C3) Hardware ECC recovered 200 200 0 (C7) UDMA CRC error rate 100 100 0 (EB) Unknown 99 99 16 (F1) Unknown 99 99 1179378773	37.3% Below average	Read 410 Write 169 Mixed 228 59% 269 MB/s	4K Read 23.9 4K Write 1.8 4K Mixed 1.6 39% 9.11 MB/s
Poor: 72% ↑ This bench: 37.3% Great: 124%
WD Blue 1TB (2012)-$31 3,105,054 User benchmarks, average bench 83% 206GB free Firmware: 01.01A01 Max speed: SATA 3.0 600 MB/s Performing as expected (55^th percentile) (ID) Attribute Now Worst Value (01) Raw read error rate 200 200 436 (03) Spinup time 174 169 2266 (04) Start/Stop count 97 97 3967 (05) Reallocated sector count 200 200 0 (07) Seek error rate 200 200 0 (09) Power-on hours count 94 94 4584 (0A) Spinup retry count 100 100 0 (0B) Calibration retry count 100 100 0 (0C) Power cycle count 100 100 949 (C0) Power-off retract count 200 200 98 (C1) Load/Unload cycle count 199 199 3868 (C2) HDA temperature 113 107 30 (C4) Reallocation count 200 200 0 (C5) Current pending sector count 200 200 2 (C6) Offline scan uncorrectable count 200 200 1 (C7) UDMA CRC error rate 200 200 0 (C8) Write error rate 200 200 1	85.9% Excellent	Read 155 Write 144 Mixed 123 106% 141 MB/s	4K Read 0.68 4K Write 2.07 4K Mixed 0.28 98% 1.01 MB/s
Poor: 52% ↑ This bench: 85.9% Great: 109%

Memory Kit	Bench	Multi core	Single core	Latency
G.SKILL F4 DDR4 3200 C16 1x8GB 750 User benchmarks, average bench 46% 1 of 4 slots used 8GB DIMM DDR4 clocked @ 3200 MHz Performing as expected (56^th percentile)	42.7% Average	MC Read 16.5 MC Write 16 MC Mixed 15.8 46% 16.1 GB/s	SC Read 5.7 SC Write 9.6 SC Mixed 8 22% 7.77 GB/s	Latency 109 37% 109 ns
Poor: 34% ↑ This bench: 42.7% Great: 61%

Take a copy of your results

System Memory Latency Ladder

L1/L2/L3 CPU cache and main memory (DIMM) access latencies in nano seconds

Custom PC Builder (Explore upgrades for this PC) Build your perfect PC: compare component prices, popularity, speed and value for money

CHOOSE AN UPGRADE:

CPU

GPU

SSD

HDD

RAM

MBD

Typical Z170A GAMING M3 (MS-7978) Builds (Compare 2,316 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	821x
Core i5-6600KIntel $130Bench 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 $90Bench 112%, 695,664 samples	74x
970 Evo Plus NVMe PCIe M.2 1TBSamsung $96Bench 310%, 455,997 samples	55x

RAM
Vengeance LPX DDR4 3000 C15 2x8GBCorsair $37Bench 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: 87% - Excellent

Total price: $583

CPU	GPU	SSD
Intel Core i5-13600K $254	Nvidia RTX 4060 $300	Crucial MX500 250GB $39
Intel Core i5-12400F $133	Nvidia RTX 4060-Ti $385	Samsung 850 Evo 120GB $80
Intel Core i5-12600K $163	Nvidia RTX 4070 $539	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) $31	Corsair Vengeance LPX DDR4 3000 C15 2x8GB $37	SanDisk Extreme 32GB $28
Seagate Barracuda 2TB (2016) $51	G.SKILL Trident Z DDR4 3200 C14 4x16GB $351	SanDisk Ultra Fit 32GB $16