MSI Z170A GAMING M3 (MS-7978)

Performance Results

Benchmarks - missing SSD
Gaming 2% Tree trunk	Desktop 28% Raft	Workstation 2% Tree trunk


PC Status	Overall this PC is performing as expected (42nd percentile). This means that out of 100 PCs with exactly the same components, 58 performed better. The overall PC percentile is the average of each of its individual components.
Processor	With a relatively low single core score, this CPU can handle email, light web browsing and basic audio/video playback, but it will struggle to handle CPU intensive tasks. Finally, with a gaming score of 31.2%, this CPU's suitability for 3D gaming is poor.
Graphics	3.99% is too low to play 3D games or use CAD packages. (Note: general computing tasks don't require 3D graphics)
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	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.

Very high background CPU (76%). 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	6.1 GB free of 8 GB @ 2.4 GHz
Display	1920 x 1080 - 32 Bit colores
OS	Windows 10
BIOS Date	20150810
Uptime	0.2 Days
Run Date	Sep 24 '16 at 11:33
Run Duration	172 Seconds
Run User	ARG-User
Background CPU	76%

PC Performing as expected (42^nd percentile)

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

Processor	Bench	Normal	Heavy	Server
Intel Core i7-6700K-$180 588,978 User benchmarks, average bench 81% U3E1, 1 CPU, 4 cores, 8 threads Base clock 4 GHz, turbo 0.8 GHz (avg) Performing way below expectations (1^st percentile)	31.2% Below average	Memory 46.4 1-Core 24.7 2-Core 50.4 27% 40.5 Pts	4-Core 88.3 8-Core 126 13% 107 Pts	64-Core 133 8% 133 Pts
Poor: 70% ↑ This bench: 31.2% Great: 90%

Graphics Card	Bench	3D DX9	3D DX10	3D DX11
Nvidia GeForce GT 440 14,286 User benchmarks, average bench 4% EVGA(3842 1441) 1GB Driver: nvd3dumx.dll Ver. 10.18.13.5354 Performing above expectations (62^nd percentile)	3.99% Terrible	Lighting 4.9 Reflection 5.62 Parallax 3.87 4% 4.8 fps	MRender 6.52 Gravity 5.13 Splatting 3.52 4% 5.06 fps
Poor: 3% ↑ This bench: 3.99% Great: 4%

Drives	Bench	Sequential	Random 4k
WD Blue 2.5" 320GB (2009)-$80 42,987 User benchmarks, average bench 29% 169GB free Firmware: 01.01A01 Max speed: SATA 2.0 300 MB/s Performing way above expectations (92^nd percentile) (ID) Attribute Now Worst Value (01) Raw read error rate 200 199 5327 (03) Spinup time 153 146 1350 (04) Start/Stop count 92 92 8039 (05) Reallocated sector count 200 200 0 (07) Seek error rate 100 253 0 (09) Power-on hours count 91 91 7042 (0A) Spinup retry count 100 100 0 (0B) Calibration retry count 100 100 0 (0C) Power cycle count 93 93 7844 (C0) Power-off retract count 200 200 345 (C1) Load/Unload cycle count 160 160 120559 (C2) HDA temperature 118 88 25 (C4) Reallocation count 200 200 0 (C5) Current pending sector count 200 200 6 (C6) Offline scan uncorrectable count 100 253 0 (C7) UDMA CRC error rate 200 200 0 (C8) Write error rate 100 253 0	38.1% Below average	Read 68.1 Write 64.5 Mixed 67.9 50% 66.9 MB/s	4K Read 0.34 4K Write 1.64 4K Mixed 0.41 90% 0.8 MB/s
Poor: 15% ↑ This bench: 38.1% Great: 41%
Fujitsu MHV2120BH PL 120GB 702 User benchmarks, average bench 16% 15GB free (System drive) Firmware: 892C Max speed: SATA 1.0 150 MB/s Performing below expectations (20^th percentile) (ID) Attribute Now Worst Value (01) Raw read error rate 100 100 3755 (02) Throughput performance 100 100 31850496 (03) Spinup time 100 100 1 (04) Start/Stop count 95 95 21995 (05) Reallocated sector count 100 100 8589934592000 (07) Seek error rate 100 55 1899 (08) Seek timer performance 100 100 0 (09) Power-on hours count 80 80 10200 (0A) Spinup retry count 100 100 0 (0C) Power cycle count 97 97 16153 (C0) Power-off retract count 99 99 390 (C1) Load/Unload cycle count 89 89 229363 (C2) HDA temperature 100 65 287763660833 (C3) Hardware ECC recovered 100 100 5 (C4) Reallocation count 100 100 440664064 (C5) Current pending sector count 100 99 0 (C6) Offline scan uncorrectable count 100 100 0 (C7) UDMA CRC error rate 200 200 0 (C8) Write error rate 100 100 21616 (CB) Run out cancel 100 100 2632740634833 (F0) Head flying hours 200 200 0	12.2% Very poor	Read 22.5 Write 19.9 Mixed 22.4 16% 21.6 MB/s	4K Read 0.13 4K Write 0.63 4K Mixed 0.08 26% 0.28 MB/s
Poor: 7% ↑ This bench: 12.2% Great: 22%

Memory Kit	Bench	Multi core	Single core	Latency
Kingston HyperX 2400 C15 1x8GB 46,352 User benchmarks, average bench 40% 1 of 4 slots used 8GB DIMM DDR4 clocked @ 2400 MHz Performing below expectations (34^th percentile)	37.5% Below average	MC Read 15.8 MC Write 14.9 MC Mixed 11.7 40% 14.1 GB/s	SC Read 6.4 SC Write 9.9 SC Mixed 8.8 24% 8.37 GB/s	Latency 175 23% 175 ns
Poor: 28% ↑ This bench: 37.5% Great: 47%

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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 $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