MSI Z170A GAMING M3 (MS-7978)

Performance Results

Benchmarks - missing SSD
Gaming 54% Yacht	Desktop 73% Battleship	Workstation 42% Speed boat


PC Status	Overall this PC is performing below expectations (27th percentile). This means that out of 100 PCs with exactly the same components, 73 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 good single core score, this CPU can easily handle the majority of general computing tasks. Despite its good single core score this processor isn't appropriate for workstation use due to its relatively weak multi-core performance. Finally, with a gaming score of 68%, this CPU's suitability for 3D gaming is above average.
Graphics	79.8% is a very good 3D score, it's the business. This GPU can handle recent 3D games at 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.

Very high background CPU (68%). High background CPU reduces benchmark accuracy. How to reduce background CPU.

Run History

5 years ago, 5 years ago.

System	MSI MS-7978
Motherboard	MSI Z170A GAMING M3 (MS-7978) (all builds)
Memory	10.9 GB free of 16 GB @ 2.1 GHz
Display	1920 x 1080 - 32 Bit colors
OS	Windows 10
BIOS Date	20160516
Uptime	3.3 Days
Run Date	Oct 15 '18 at 03:26
Run Duration	108 Seconds
Run User	USA-User
Background CPU	68%

Watch Gameplay: 1070 + 9600K How to compare your gameplay

PC Performing below expectations (27^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 3.55 GHz (avg) Performing below expectations (29^th percentile)	68% Good	Memory 78.9 1-Core 96.7 2-Core 187 69% 121 Pts	4-Core 333 8-Core 316 44% 324 Pts	64-Core 347 22% 347 Pts
Poor: 57% ↑ This bench: 68% Great: 85%

Graphics Card	Bench	3D DX9	3D DX10	3D DX11
Nvidia GTX 1070-$132 1,459,281 User benchmarks, average bench 80% Gigabyte(1458 3703) CLim: 1961 MHz, MLim: 2002 MHz, Ram: 8GB, Driver: 388.31 Performing below potential (58^th percentile) - GPU OC Guide	79.8% Very good	Lighting 98.9 Reflection 110 Parallax 104 81% 104 fps	MRender 92.4 Gravity 96 Splatting 97.5 78% 95.3 fps
Poor: 71% ↑ This bench: 79.8% Great: 88%

Drive	Bench	Sequential	Random 4k	Deep queue 4k
Toshiba P300 2TB-$61 100,891 User benchmarks, average bench 88% 95GB free (System drive) Firmware: MX4OACF0 SusWrite @10s intervals: 93 90 94 96 98 97 MB/s Performing way below expectations (4^th percentile)	55.2% Above average	Read 97.7 Write 112 Mixed 34.2 SusWrite 94.7 62% 84.6 MB/s	4K Read 0.1 4K Write 1.5 4K Mixed 0.3 65% 0.63 MB/s
Poor: 58% ↑ This bench: 55.2% Great: 108%

Memory Kit	Bench	Multi core	Single core	Latency
Corsair Vengeance LPX DDR4 3200 C16 2x8GB-$40 653,654 User benchmarks, average bench 85% 2 of 4 slots used 16GB DIMM DDR4 clocked @ 2133 MHz Performing way below expectations (16^th percentile)	67.5% Good	MC Read 22.5 MC Write 27.1 MC Mixed 23.4 70% 24.3 GB/s	SC Read 13.3 SC Write 23.8 SC Mixed 20 54% 19 GB/s	Latency 82.5 48% 82.5 ns
Poor: 61% ↑ This bench: 67.5% Great: 110%

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 2,309 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	630x
Core i7-6700Intel $180Bench 72%, 282,363 samples	226x

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	221x

SSD
850 Evo 250GBSamsung $100Bench 103%, 951,591 samples	117x
850 Evo 500GBSamsung $109Bench 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 $40Bench 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 $279	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 $182	Nvidia RTX 4070 $409	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) $30	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