MSI Z170A GAMING M3 (MS-7978)

Performance Results


Gaming 41% Speed boat	Desktop 97% Nuclear submarine	Workstation 34% Sail boat


PC Status	Overall this PC is performing above expectations (79th percentile). This means that out of 100 PCs with exactly the same components, 21 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 90.8%, this CPU's suitability for 3D gaming is excellent.
Graphics	36.8% 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	190% 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	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

3 years ago, 3 years ago, 3 years ago, 3 years ago, 3 years ago.

System	MSI MS-7978
Motherboard	MSI Z170A GAMING M3 (MS-7978) (all builds)
Memory	4.9 GB free of 8 GB @ 2.4 GHz
Display	1440 x 900 - 32 Bit colors
OS	Windows 10
BIOS Date	20161221
Uptime	1 Days
Run Date	Sep 23 '20 at 18:23
Run Duration	125 Seconds
Run User	USA-User
Background CPU	1%

PC Performing above expectations (79^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)	90.8% Outstanding	Memory 92.5 1-Core 133 2-Core 267 91% 164 Pts	4-Core 512 8-Core 529 69% 521 Pts	64-Core 531 33% 531 Pts
Poor: 57% ↑ This bench: 90.8% Great: 85%

Graphics Card	Bench	3D DX9	3D DX10	3D DX11
AMD HD 7990 (CrossFire Disabled) 1,161 User benchmarks, average bench 34% AMD(1002 0B2A) 3GB CLim: 1000 MHz, MLim: 1500 MHz, Ram: 3GB, Driver: 20.4.1 Performing way above expectations (94^th percentile)	36.8% Below average	Lighting 47.6 Reflection 32.4 Parallax 65.6 39% 48.5 fps	MRender 31.1 Gravity 48.8 Splatting 40.2 33% 40 fps
Poor: 28% ↑ This bench: 36.8% Great: 37%

Drives	Bench	Sequential	Random 4k	Deep queue 4k
Thnsn5128gpu7 TOSHIBA 128GB 3,510 User benchmarks, average bench 139% 74GB free (System drive) Firmware: 57XA4104 SusWrite @10s intervals: 538 574 575 583 539 524 MB/s Performing way above expectations (99^th percentile)	190% Outstanding	Read 1,425 Write 522 Mixed 666 SusWrite 556 175% 792 MB/s	4K Read 44 4K Write 161 4K Mixed 61.9 231% 89.1 MB/s	DQ Read 657 DQ Write 602 DQ Mixed 522 421% 593 MB/s
Poor: 91% ↑ This bench: 190% Great: 176%
Intel Raid 0 Volume 1.5TB 1,782 User benchmarks, average bench 116% 1.5TB free Firmware: 1.0. SusWrite @10s intervals: 140 139 136 139 139 142 MB/s Performing below expectations (24^th percentile)	84.1% Excellent	Read 154 Write 144 Mixed 47 SusWrite 139 88% 121 MB/s	4K Read 0.5 4K Write 3.5 4K Mixed 0.9 186% 1.63 MB/s
Poor: 47% ↑ This bench: 84.1% Great: 189%

Memory Kit	Bench	Multi core	Single core	Latency
Crucial BLS4G4D240FSB.8FBD 2x4GB 15,450 User benchmarks, average bench 77% 2 of 4 slots used 8GB DIMM DDR4 clocked @ 2400 MHz Performing above expectations (79^th percentile)	84% Excellent	MC Read 30.9 MC Write 33.2 MC Mixed 24.6 84% 29.6 GB/s	SC Read 19.3 SC Write 33.6 SC Mixed 26.4 76% 26.4 GB/s	Latency 63.2 63% 63.2 ns
Poor: 47% ↑ This bench: 84% Great: 90%

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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 2,313 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 $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 $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 $40	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