MSI Z170A GAMING M3 (MS-7978)

Performance Results

Benchmarks - missing SSD
Gaming 102% UFO	Desktop 74% Battleship	Workstation 78% Battleship


PC Status	Overall this PC is performing above expectations (61st percentile). This means that out of 100 PCs with exactly the same components, 39 performed better. The overall PC percentile is the average of each of its individual components.
Processor	With a good single core score, this CPU can easily handle the majority of general computing tasks. Additionally this processor can handle very light workstation, and even some very light server workloads. Finally, with a gaming score of 73.5%, this CPU's suitability for 3D gaming is good.
Graphics	147% is an outstanding 3D score, it's the bee's knees. This GPU can handle almost all 3D games at very high resolutions and ultra detail levels.
Boot Drive	The boot partition is located on a mechanical or hybrid drive. Moving the system to an SSD will yield far faster boot times, better system responsiveness and faster application load 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.

Sub-optimal background CPU (17%). High background CPU reduces benchmark accuracy. How to reduce background CPU.

System	MSI MS-7978
Motherboard	MSI Z170A GAMING M3 (MS-7978) (all builds)
Memory	11.5 GB free of 16 GB @ 2.4 GHz
Display	1920 x 1080 - 32 Bit colors
OS	Windows 10
BIOS Date	20180704
Uptime	0 Days
Run Date	Mar 26 '24 at 14:01
Run Duration	118 Seconds
Run User	GBR-User
Background CPU	17%

Watch Gameplay: 3070 + 9600K How to compare your gameplay

PC Performing above expectations (61^st percentile)

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

Processor	Bench	Normal	Heavy	Server
Intel Core i5-6500-$60 241,476 User benchmarks, average bench 64% U3E1, 1 CPU, 4 cores, 4 threads Base clock 3.2 GHz, turbo 3.3 GHz (avg) Performing way above expectations (98^th percentile)	73.5% Very good	Memory 79.9 1-Core 99.6 2-Core 199 72% 126 Pts	4-Core 387 8-Core 394 52% 391 Pts	64-Core 399 25% 399 Pts
Poor: 43% ↑ This bench: 73.5% Great: 73%

Graphics Card	Bench	3D DX9	3D DX10	3D DX11
Nvidia RTX 3070-$500 619,642 User benchmarks, average bench 148% MSI(1462 3908) CLim: 2100 MHz, MLim: 3500 MHz, Ram: 8GB, Driver: 551.86 Performing below potential (41^st percentile) - GPU OC Guide	147% Outstanding	Lighting 214 Reflection 205 Parallax 193 174% 204 fps	MRender 195 Gravity 148 Splatting 134 127% 159 fps
Poor: 135% ↑ This bench: 147% Great: 158%

Drive	Bench	Sequential	Random 4k	Deep queue 4k
Seagate Barracuda 7200.14 500GB-$23 574,344 User benchmarks, average bench 58% 416GB free (System drive) Firmware: HP74 SusWrite @10s intervals: 70 97 98 72 100 104 MB/s Performing as expected (43^rd percentile)	55.7% Above average	Read 104 Write 98.9 Mixed 63.5 SusWrite 90.2 66% 89.2 MB/s	4K Read 0.7 4K Write 1.1 4K Mixed 0.7 127% 0.83 MB/s
Poor: 27% ↑ This bench: 55.7% Great: 88%

Memory Kit	Bench	Multi core	Single core	Latency
Crucial BLS16G4D240FSB.16FBR 1x16GB 142 User benchmarks, average bench 42% 1 of 4 slots used 16GB DIMM DDR4 clocked @ 2400 MHz Performing above expectations (61^st percentile)	42.7% Average	MC Read 15.4 MC Write 15.7 MC Mixed 12.9 42% 14.7 GB/s	SC Read 11.7 SC Write 15.2 SC Mixed 10.3 35% 12.4 GB/s	Latency 80.4 50% 80.4 ns
Poor: 33% ↑ This bench: 42.7% Great: 47%

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System Memory Latency Ladder

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

SkillBench Score 0: 0P 0R 0G 0B (High Scores)

Measures user input accuracy relative to the given hardware

Score	Hit Rate	Shots	EFps	0.1% Low	Refresh Rate	Screen	Resolution	Monitor
0%	0%	0	69	56	60	24"	1280 720	ACR0289 S240HL

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Typical Z170A GAMING M3 (MS-7978) Builds (Compare 2,333 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 $170Bench 81%, 588,978 samples	827x
Core i5-6600KIntel $113Bench 72%, 342,244 samples	634x
Core i7-6700Intel $170Bench 72%, 282,363 samples	227x

GPU
GTX 1060-6GBNvidia $117Bench 56%, 1,368,019 samples	318x
GTX 1070Nvidia $278Bench 80%, 1,459,281 samples	312x
GTX 970Nvidia $200Bench 49%, 834,238 samples	225x

SSD
850 Evo 250GBSamsung $100Bench 103%, 951,591 samples	117x
850 Evo 500GBSamsung $94Bench 112%, 695,664 samples	75x
970 Evo Plus NVMe PCIe M.2 1TBSamsung $90Bench 310%, 455,997 samples	55x

RAM
Vengeance LPX DDR4 3000 C15 2x8GBCorsair $48Bench 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: 85% - Excellent

Total price: $584

CPU	GPU	SSD
Intel Core i5-12600K $174	Nvidia RTX 4060 $293	Crucial MX500 250GB $39
Intel Core i5-12400F $120	Nvidia RTX 4060-Ti $385	Samsung 850 Evo 120GB $80
Intel Core i5-13600K $260	Nvidia RTX 4070 $549	Samsung 870 Evo 250GB $44

HDD	RAM	USB
Seagate Barracuda 1TB (2016) $37	Corsair Vengeance LPX DDR4 3200 C16 2x8GB $40	SanDisk Extreme 64GB $72
WD Blue 1TB (2012) $28	Corsair Vengeance LPX DDR4 3000 C15 2x8GB $48	SanDisk Extreme 32GB $28
Seagate Barracuda 2TB (2016) $62	G.SKILL Trident Z DDR4 3200 C14 4x16GB $351	SanDisk Ultra Fit 32GB $16