MSI Z170A GAMING M5 (MS-7977)

Performance Results

Benchmarks - missing SSD
Gaming 44% Speed boat	Desktop 83% Aircraft carrier	Workstation 34% Sail boat


PC Status	Overall this PC is performing as expected (54th percentile). This means that out of 100 PCs with exactly the same components, 46 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 84%, this CPU's suitability for 3D gaming is very good.
Graphics	54.5% 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	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.

High background CPU (29%). High background CPU reduces benchmark accuracy. How to reduce background CPU.

System	MSI MS-7977
Motherboard	MSI Z170A GAMING M5 (MS-7977) (all builds)
Memory	4.9 GB free of 8 GB @ 2.1 GHz
Display	1920 x 1080 - 32 Bit colors
OS	Windows 10
BIOS Date	20160222
Uptime	1.4 Days
Run Date	Jul 07 '17 at 06:02
Run Duration	107 Seconds
Run User	USA-User
Background CPU	29%

PC Performing as expected (54^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-$130 342,244 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 (94^th percentile)	84% Excellent	Memory 89.9 1-Core 116 2-Core 228 82% 144 Pts	4-Core 454 8-Core 443 60% 448 Pts	64-Core 449 28% 449 Pts
Poor: 57% ↑ This bench: 84% Great: 85%

Graphics Card	Bench	3D DX9	3D DX10	3D DX11
Nvidia GTX 970-$200 834,238 User benchmarks, average bench 49% MSI(1462 3161) ≥ 4GB CLim: 1455 MHz, MLim: 1752 MHz, Ram: 4GB, Driver: 382.53 Performing way above expectations (98^th percentile)	54.5% Above average	Lighting 69.1 Reflection 68.4 Parallax 60.9 56% 66.1 fps	MRender 72.3 Gravity 63.9 Splatting 54.5 51% 63.5 fps
Poor: 43% ↑ This bench: 54.5% Great: 54%

Drives	Bench	Sequential	Random 4k
WD Black 2TB (2013)-$48 144,544 User benchmarks, average bench 89% 1.5TB free Firmware: 80.00A80 Max speed: SATA 3.0 600 MB/s Performing as expected (40^th percentile) (ID) Attribute Now Worst Value (01) Raw read error rate 200 200 0 (03) Spinup time 178 176 6075 (04) Start/Stop count 100 100 33 (05) Reallocated sector count 200 200 0 (07) Seek error rate 200 200 0 (09) Power-on hours count 98 98 1837 (0A) Spinup retry count 100 253 0 (0B) Calibration retry count 100 253 0 (0C) Power cycle count 100 100 7 (C0) Power-off retract count 200 200 0 (C1) Load/Unload cycle count 197 197 10710 (C2) HDA temperature 110 104 40 (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	85.1% Excellent	Read 152 Write 145 Mixed 133 108% 143 MB/s	4K Read 0.61 4K Write 2.22 4K Mixed 0.27 97% 1.04 MB/s
Poor: 60% ↑ This bench: 85.1% Great: 112%
WD Black 2TB (2013)-$48 144,544 User benchmarks, average bench 89% 291GB free (System drive) Firmware: 01.01A01 Max speed: SATA 3.0 600 MB/s Performing below expectations (31^st percentile) (ID) Attribute Now Worst Value (01) Raw read error rate 200 200 0 (03) Spinup time 183 181 3841 (04) Start/Stop count 100 100 322 (05) Reallocated sector count 200 200 0 (07) Seek error rate 200 200 0 (09) Power-on hours count 94 94 4487 (0A) Spinup retry count 100 100 0 (0B) Calibration retry count 100 100 0 (0C) Power cycle count 100 100 318 (C0) Power-off retract count 200 200 27 (C1) Load/Unload cycle count 200 200 303 (C2) HDA temperature 106 101 41 (C4) Reallocation count 200 200 0 (C5) Current pending sector count 200 200 0 (C6) Offline scan uncorrectable count 100 253 0 (C7) UDMA CRC error rate 200 200 0 (C8) Write error rate 100 253 0	80.8% Excellent	Read 121 Write 160 Mixed 111 98% 131 MB/s	4K Read 0.51 4K Write 2.71 4K Mixed 0.36 112% 1.19 MB/s
Poor: 60% ↑ This bench: 80.8% Great: 112%

Memory Kit	Bench	Multi core	Single core	Latency
Unknown 4GBF1X04JEEE35-12-K 2x4GB 39 User benchmarks, average bench 69% 2 of 4 slots used 8GB DIMM DDR4 clocked @ 2133 MHz Performing below potential (6^th percentile) - ensure that a dual+ channel XMP BIOS profile is enabled: How to enable XMP	41.7% Average	MC Read 14.5 MC Write 14.3 MC Mixed 12.7 40% 13.8 GB/s	SC Read 11.8 SC Write 13.8 SC Mixed 12.6 36% 12.7 GB/s	Latency 67.4 59% 67.4 ns
Poor: 42% ↑ This bench: 41.7% Great: 79%

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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 M5 (MS-7977) Builds (Compare 4,903 builds) See popular component choices, score breakdowns and rankings

Gaming 68%

Battle cruiser

Desktop 87%

Aircraft carrier

Workstation 57%

Gunboat

Motherboard: MSI Z170A GAMING M5 (MS-7977) - $140

CPU
Core i7-6700KIntel $180Bench 81%, 588,978 samples	2,462x
Core i5-6600KIntel $130Bench 72%, 342,244 samples	1,153x
Core i7-6700Intel $180Bench 72%, 282,363 samples	310x

GPU
GTX 1070Nvidia $132Bench 80%, 1,459,281 samples	855x
GTX 1080Nvidia $400Bench 102%, 1,082,454 samples	440x
GTX 970Nvidia $200Bench 49%, 834,238 samples	364x

SSD
850 Evo 500GBSamsung $90Bench 112%, 695,664 samples	302x
850 Evo 250GBSamsung $100Bench 103%, 951,591 samples	277x
970 Evo Plus NVMe PCIe M.2 1TBSamsung $95Bench 310%, 455,997 samples	125x

RAM
Ripjaws V DDR4 2400 C15 2x8GBG.SKILL $31Bench 71%, 98,777 samples	270x
Vengeance LPX DDR4 3000 C15 2x8GBCorsair $43Bench 82%, 606,405 samples	245x
Vengeance LPX DDR4 3200 C16 2x8GBCorsair $45Bench 85%, 653,654 samples	198x

EDIT WITH CUSTOM PC BUILDER

Value: 100% - Outstanding

Total price: $573

CPU	GPU	SSD
Intel Core i5-13600K $269	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