MSI Z170A GAMING M3 (MS-7978)

Performance Results


Gaming 49% Yacht	Desktop 90% Aircraft carrier	Workstation 39% Jet ski


PC Status	Overall this PC is performing above expectations (65th percentile). This means that out of 100 PCs with exactly the same components, 35 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 80.7%, this CPU's suitability for 3D gaming is very good.
Graphics	52.6% is a reasonable 3D score (RTX 2060S = 100%). This GPU can handle the majority of recent games but it will struggle with resolutions greater than 1080p at ultra detail levels. (Note: general computing tasks don't require 3D graphics)
Boot Drive	92.5% is a very good SSD score. This drive is suitable for moderate workstation use, it will facilitate fast boots, responsive applications and ensure minimum 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.

Run History

6 years ago, 6 years ago.

System	MSI MS-7978
Motherboard	MSI Z170A GAMING M3 (MS-7978) (all builds)
Memory	10.3 GB free of 16 GB @ 2.1 GHz
Display	2560 x 1440 - 32 Bit colors
OS	Windows 10
BIOS Date	20161221
Uptime	0 Days
Run Date	May 06 '17 at 23:03
Run Duration	273 Seconds
Run User	USA-User
Background CPU	7%

PC Performing above expectations (65^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 3.6 GHz (avg) Performing way above expectations (87^th percentile)	80.7% Excellent	Memory 84.9 1-Core 115 2-Core 230 80% 143 Pts	4-Core 440 8-Core 448 59% 444 Pts	64-Core 437 27% 437 Pts
Poor: 57% ↑ This bench: 80.7% Great: 85%

Graphics Card	Bench	3D DX9	3D DX10	3D DX11
Nvidia GTX 970-$200 834,238 User benchmarks, average bench 49% EVGA(3842 2978) ≥ 4GB CLim: 1531 MHz, MLim: 1752 MHz, Ram: 4GB, Driver: 376.53 Performing way above expectations (92^nd percentile)	52.6% Above average	Lighting 64.7 Reflection 69.5 Parallax 68 53% 67.4 fps	MRender 74.9 Gravity 63.2 Splatting 56.9 52% 65 fps
Poor: 43% ↑ This bench: 52.6% Great: 54%

Drives	Bench	Sequential	Random 4k	Deep queue 4k
Samsung 960 Evo NVMe PCIe M.2 250GB-$45 240,629 User benchmarks, average bench 199% 233GB free Firmware: 2B7QCXE7 Max speed: PCIe 16,000 MB/s Performing way above expectations (100^th percentile)	256% Outstanding	Read 2,549 Write 1,257 Mixed 1,395 381% 1,734 MB/s	4K Read 54.8 4K Write 115 4K Mixed 42.5 199% 70.9 MB/s	DQ Read 470 DQ Write 343 DQ Mixed 174 193% 329 MB/s
Poor: 142% ↑ This bench: 256% Great: 236%
Samsung 850 Evo 250GB-$100 951,591 User benchmarks, average bench 103% 43GB free (System drive) Firmware: EMT02B6Q Max speed: SATA 3.0 600 MB/s Performing below expectations (21^st percentile) (ID) Attribute Now Worst Value (05) Reallocated sector count 100 100 0 (09) Power-on hours count 98 98 5547 (0C) Power cycle count 99 99 519 (B1) Unknown 98 98 36 (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 63 58 37 (C3) Hardware ECC recovered 200 200 0 (C7) UDMA CRC error rate 100 100 0 (EB) Unknown 99 99 37 (F1) Unknown 99 99 14695898747	92.5% Outstanding	Read 502 Write 395 Mixed 407 97% 435 MB/s	4K Read 41.9 4K Write 85.3 4K Mixed 25.6 142% 51 MB/s	DQ Read 44.6 DQ Write 260 DQ Mixed 25.9 57% 110 MB/s
Poor: 72% ↑ This bench: 92.5% Great: 124%
WD Blue 1TB (2012)-$37 3,105,054 User benchmarks, average bench 83% 492GB free Firmware: 01.01A01 Max speed: SATA 3.0 600 MB/s Performing above expectations (64^th percentile) (ID) Attribute Now Worst Value (01) Raw read error rate 200 200 0 (03) Spinup time 177 172 2133 (04) Start/Stop count 99 99 1861 (05) Reallocated sector count 200 200 0 (07) Seek error rate 200 200 0 (09) Power-on hours count 93 93 5536 (0A) Spinup retry count 100 100 0 (0B) Calibration retry count 100 100 0 (0C) Power cycle count 100 100 515 (C0) Power-off retract count 200 200 62 (C1) Load/Unload cycle count 200 200 1798 (C2) HDA temperature 111 102 32 (C4) Reallocation count 200 200 0 (C5) Current pending sector count 200 200 0 (C6) Offline scan uncorrectable count 200 200 0 (C7) UDMA CRC error rate 200 200 0 (C8) Write error rate 200 200 0	91% Outstanding	Read 156 Write 161 Mixed 158 119% 158 MB/s	4K Read 0.79 4K Write 2.39 4K Mixed 0.29 110% 1.16 MB/s
Poor: 52% ↑ This bench: 91% Great: 109%
WD Black 4TB (2013)-$178 20,205 User benchmarks, average bench 79% 408GB free Firmware: 01.01A01 Max speed: SATA 3.0 600 MB/s Performing below expectations (22^nd percentile) (ID) Attribute Now Worst Value (01) Raw read error rate 200 200 0 (03) Spinup time 230 148 7483 (04) Start/Stop count 97 97 3584 (05) Reallocated sector count 200 200 0 (07) Seek error rate 200 200 0 (09) Power-on hours count 93 93 5163 (0A) Spinup retry count 100 100 0 (0B) Calibration retry count 100 100 0 (0C) Power cycle count 100 100 479 (10) Unknown 26 174 464962152229 (C0) Power-off retract count 200 200 47 (C1) Load/Unload cycle count 199 199 3536 (C2) HDA temperature 118 106 34 (C4) Reallocation count 200 200 0 (C5) Current pending sector count 200 200 0 (C6) Offline scan uncorrectable count 200 200 0 (C7) UDMA CRC error rate 200 200 0 (C8) Write error rate 200 200 0	67.5% Good	Read 122 Write 113 Mixed 98.8 83% 111 MB/s	4K Read 0.49 4K Write 2.24 4K Mixed 0.26 91% 1 MB/s
Poor: 58% ↑ This bench: 67.5% Great: 98%
Generic Flash Disk 2GB 6,669 User benchmarks, average bench 5% 1GB free, PID 6387 Operating at USB 2.0 Speed Performing way above expectations (92^nd percentile)	7.18% Terrible	Read 25.4 Write 10.1 Mixed 14.2 19% 16.6 MB/s	4K Read 5.43 4K Write 0.008 4K Mixed 0.01 21% 1.82 MB/s
Poor: 2% ↑ This bench: 7.18% Great: 8%

Memory Kit	Bench	Multi core	Single core	Latency
Corsair Vengeance LPX DDR4 3000 C15 2x8GB-$43 606,405 User benchmarks, average bench 82% 2 of 4 slots used 16GB DIMM DDR4 clocked @ 2133 MHz Performing as expected (40^th percentile)	75.6% Very good	MC Read 27.7 MC Write 29.1 MC Mixed 24.6 78% 27.1 GB/s	SC Read 16.3 SC Write 26.2 SC Mixed 22.1 62% 21.5 GB/s	Latency 72 56% 72 ns
Poor: 58% ↑ This bench: 75.6% Great: 104%

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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 $295	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