MSI Z170A GAMING M3 (MS-7978)

Performance Results


Gaming 88% Aircraft carrier	Desktop 84% Aircraft carrier	Workstation 78% Battleship


PC Status	Overall this PC is performing as expected (46th percentile). This means that out of 100 PCs with exactly the same components, 54 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 78%, this CPU's suitability for 3D gaming is good.
Graphics	112% 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	68.5% is a good SSD score. This drive enables fast boots, responsive applications and ensures minimum system 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.

Sub-optimal background CPU (15%). 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	10.6 GB free of 16 GB @ 2.1 GHz
Display	3440 x 1440 - 32 Bit colors
OS	Windows 10
BIOS Date	20160724
Uptime	0 Days
Run Date	Apr 17 '17 at 15:22
Run Duration	363 Seconds
Run User	USA-User
Background CPU	15%

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PC Performing as expected (46^th 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 4 GHz (avg) Performing below expectations (27^th percentile)	78% Very good	Memory 86.9 1-Core 127 2-Core 192 80% 135 Pts	4-Core 372 8-Core 675 63% 523 Pts	64-Core 684 42% 684 Pts
Poor: 70% ↑ This bench: 78% Great: 90%

Graphics Card	Bench	3D DX9	3D DX10	3D DX11
Nvidia GTX 1080-$400 1,082,454 User benchmarks, average bench 102% EVGA(3842 6386) ≥ 4GB CLim: 2025 MHz, MLim: 2502 MHz, Ram: 8GB, Driver: 381.65 Performing way above expectations (98^th percentile)	112% Outstanding	Lighting 151 Reflection 149 Parallax 130 123% 143 fps	MRender 114 Gravity 138 Splatting 109 98% 120 fps
Poor: 93% ↑ This bench: 112% Great: 110%

Drives	Bench	Sequential	Random 4k	Deep queue 4k
SanDisk Ultra II 480GB-$39 62,883 User benchmarks, average bench 86% 208GB free (System drive) Firmware: X41200RL Max speed: SATA 3.0 600 MB/s Performing way below expectations (13^th percentile) (ID) Attribute Now Worst Value (05) Reallocated sector count 100 100 0 (09) Power-on hours count 100 100 2125 (0C) Power cycle count 100 100 222 (A5) Unknown 100 100 15597766 (A6) Unknown 100 100 2 (A7) Unknown 100 100 33 (A8) Unknown 100 100 8 (A9) Unknown 100 100 545 (AA) Unknown 100 100 0 (AB) Unknown 100 100 0 (AC) Unknown 100 100 0 (AD) Unknown 100 100 5 (AE) Unknown 100 100 37 (B8) Unknown 100 100 0 (BB) vendor-specific 100 100 0 (BC) Unknown 100 100 0 (C2) HDA temperature 65 62 266289020963 (C7) UDMA CRC error rate 100 100 0 (E6) GMR head amplitude 100 100 240522821703 (E8) Unknown 100 100 100 (E9) Unknown 100 100 2353 (EA) Unknown 100 100 4072 (F1) Unknown 253 253 3820 (F2) Unknown 253 253 2559 (F4) Unknown 0 100 0	68.5% Good	Read 493 Write 340 Mixed 336 86% 390 MB/s	4K Read 29.1 4K Write 42.5 4K Mixed 11.5 81% 27.7 MB/s	DQ Read 29.4 DQ Write 183 DQ Mixed 31.7 46% 81.3 MB/s
Poor: 59% ↑ This bench: 68.5% Great: 108%
Samsung 840 120GB-$109 51,792 User benchmarks, average bench 61% 28GB free Firmware: DXT08B0Q Max speed: SATA 3.0 600 MB/s Performing above expectations (78^th percentile) (ID) Attribute Now Worst Value (05) Reallocated sector count 100 100 0 (09) Power-on hours count 95 95 22940 (0C) Power cycle count 99 99 325 (B1) Unknown 99 99 11 (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 71 49 29 (C3) Hardware ECC recovered 200 200 0 (C7) UDMA CRC error rate 99 99 2 (EB) Unknown 99 99 70 (F1) Unknown 99 99 2915477614	67.8% Good	Read 500 Write 132 Mixed 184 59% 272 MB/s	4K Read 29.5 4K Write 98.6 4K Mixed 10.5 110% 46.2 MB/s	DQ Read 267 DQ Write 127 DQ Mixed 26.3 65% 140 MB/s
Poor: 46% ↑ This bench: 67.8% Great: 73%
Samsung HD502HJ 500GB-$50 72,924 User benchmarks, average bench 58% 300GB free Firmware: 1AJ10001 Max speed: SATA 2.0 300 MB/s Performing above expectations (80^th percentile) (ID) Attribute Now Worst Value (01) Raw read error rate 100 100 2 (02) Throughput performance 252 252 0 (03) Spinup time 83 82 5393 (04) Start/Stop count 97 97 3407 (05) Reallocated sector count 252 252 0 (07) Seek error rate 252 252 0 (08) Seek timer performance 252 252 0 (09) Power-on hours count 100 100 26445 (0A) Spinup retry count 252 252 0 (0B) Calibration retry count 252 252 0 (0C) Power cycle count 100 100 405 (BF) G-sense error rate 252 252 0 (C0) Power-off retract count 252 252 0 (C2) HDA temperature 64 41 257699020831 (C3) Hardware ECC recovered 100 100 0 (C4) Reallocation count 252 252 0 (C5) Current pending sector count 252 252 0 (C6) Offline scan uncorrectable count 252 252 0 (C7) UDMA CRC error rate 100 100 100 (C8) Write error rate 100 100 0 (DF) Load/unload retry count 252 252 0 (E1) Load/Unload cycle count 100 100 4591	69.8% Good	Read 109 Write 134 Mixed 123 92% 122 MB/s	4K Read 0.67 4K Write 2.66 4K Mixed 0.5 133% 1.28 MB/s
Poor: 30% ↑ This bench: 69.8% Great: 77%
SanDisk Cruzer Fit 16GB 8,778 User benchmarks, average bench 9% 11GB free, PID 5571 Operating at USB 2.0 Speed Performing way below expectations (17^th percentile)	5.51% Terrible	Read 22.2 Write 4.89 Mixed 8.17 12% 11.8 MB/s	4K Read 0.02 4K Write 0.4 4K Mixed 0.003 14% 0.14 MB/s
Poor: 6% ↑ This bench: 5.51% Great: 13%

Memory Kit	Bench	Multi core	Single core	Latency
Corsair Vengeance LPX DDR4 3600 C18 4x4GB 144 User benchmarks, average bench 102% 4 of 4 slots used 16GB DIMM DDR4 clocked @ 2133 MHz Performing way below expectations (9^th percentile)	72.5% Very good	MC Read 25.9 MC Write 28.5 MC Mixed 21.9 73% 25.4 GB/s	SC Read 16.8 SC Write 29.6 SC Mixed 22.6 66% 23 GB/s	Latency 70.5 57% 70.5 ns
Poor: 71% ↑ This bench: 72.5% Great: 138%

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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 2,308 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	817x
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 $134	Nvidia RTX 4060-Ti $385	Samsung 850 Evo 120GB $80
Intel Core i5-12600K $184	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) $35	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