MSI Z170A GAMING M3 (MS-7978)

Performance Results


Gaming 21% Surfboard	Desktop 42% Speed boat	Workstation 17% Surfboard


PC Status	Overall this PC is performing way below expectations (19th percentile). This means that out of 100 PCs with exactly the same components, 81 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 an extremely low single core score, this CPU can barely handle email and light web browsing. Finally, with a gaming score of 25%, this CPU's suitability for 3D gaming is very poor.
Graphics	65.4% is a good 3D score. This GPU can handle the majority of recent games at high resolutions and ultra detail levels.
Boot Drive	153% is an exceptional SSD score. This drive is suitable for heavy workstation use, it will facilitate fast boots, responsive applications and allow for fast transfers of multi-gigabyte files.
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 (78%). High background CPU reduces benchmark accuracy. How to reduce background CPU.

Run History

5 years ago, 5 years ago, 5 years ago.

System	MSI MS-7978
Motherboard	MSI Z170A GAMING M3 (MS-7978) (all builds)
Memory	14 GB free of 16 GB @ 2.1 GHz
Display	1920 x 1080 - 32 Bit colors
OS	Windows 10
BIOS Date	20180125
Uptime	0 Days
Run Date	Aug 21 '18 at 03:46
Run Duration	189 Seconds
Run User	USA-User
Background CPU	78%

Watch Gameplay: 1080 + 9600K How to compare your gameplay

PC Performing way below expectations (19^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-$170 588,978 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 (0^th percentile)	25% Poor	Memory 39.5 1-Core 23.5 2-Core 32.8 22% 31.9 Pts	4-Core 58.5 8-Core 101 10% 79.9 Pts	64-Core 117 7% 117 Pts
Poor: 70% ↑ This bench: 25% Great: 90%

Graphics Card	Bench	3D DX9	3D DX10	3D DX11
Nvidia GTX 1080-$195 1,082,454 User benchmarks, average bench 102% Asus(1043 85AA) CLim: 1974 MHz, MLim: 2502 MHz, Ram: 8GB, Driver: 398.36 Relative performance (0^th percentile) - GPU OC Guide	65.4% Good	Lighting 60 Reflection 72.7 Parallax 136 49% 89.5 fps	MRender 115 Gravity 134 Splatting 111 98% 120 fps
Poor: 93% ↑ This bench: 65.4% Great: 110%

Drives	Bench	Sequential	Random 4k	Deep queue 4k
Samsung 970 Evo NVMe PCIe M.2 250GB-$95 154,949 User benchmarks, average bench 235% 151GB free (System drive) Firmware: 1B2Q Max speed: PCIe 16,000 MB/s SusWrite @10s intervals: 626 325 323 327 327 327 MB/s Performing way below expectations (4^th percentile)	153% Outstanding	Read 1766 Write 1,460 Mixed 858 SusWrite 376 248% 1,115 MB/s	4K Read 40.1 4K Write 59 4K Mixed 45.3 150% 48.1 MB/s	DQ Read 292 DQ Write 256 DQ Mixed 265 201% 271 MB/s
Poor: 160% ↑ This bench: 153% Great: 280%
Crucial M4 128GB-$116 34,516 User benchmarks, average bench 60% 41GB free Firmware: 070H SusWrite @10s intervals: 166 171 168 183 180 189 MB/s Performing way below expectations (2^nd percentile)	38.1% Below average	Read 406 Write 179 Mixed 206 SusWrite 176 54% 242 MB/s	4K Read 14.6 4K Write 6.4 4K Mixed 8.8 37% 9.93 MB/s
Poor: 44% ↑ This bench: 38.1% Great: 72%
WD Blue 1TB (2012)-$37 3,105,054 User benchmarks, average bench 83% 217GB free Firmware: 01.01A01 SusWrite @10s intervals: 143 147 149 148 149 149 MB/s Performing as expected (55^th percentile)	86.2% Excellent	Read 152 Write 151 Mixed 92.3 SusWrite 148 100% 136 MB/s	4K Read 1.2 4K Write 2.6 4K Mixed 1.2 232% 1.67 MB/s
Poor: 52% ↑ This bench: 86.2% Great: 109%
Generic- USB3.0 CRW -SD 128GB 176 User benchmarks, average bench 27% 78GB free, PID 0306 Operating at USB 2.1 Speed SusWrite @10s intervals: 36 37 37 37 38 38 MB/s Performing as expected (55^th percentile)	27.4% Poor	Read 40.2 Write 37.5 Mixed 34 SusWrite 37.2 50% 37.2 MB/s	4K Read 7.6 4K Write 3.8 4K Mixed 4.8 321% 5.4 MB/s
Poor: 11% ↑ This bench: 27.4% Great: 45%
18 User benchmarks, average bench 17% 7GB free, PID 1400 Operating at USB 2.1 Speed SusWrite @10s intervals: 4.3 4.1 5.3 4.8 4.9 4.9 MB/s Performing way below expectations (11^th percentile)	8.09% Terrible	Read 38 Write 32.7 Mixed 13.2 SusWrite 4.7 27% 22.1 MB/s	4K Read 6.6 4K Write 0 4K Mixed 0.1 28% 2.23 MB/s
Poor: 8% ↑ This bench: 8.09% Great: 26%

Memory Kit	Bench	Multi core	Single core	Latency
Corsair Vengeance LPX DDR4 2400 C16 2x8GB 46,470 User benchmarks, average bench 75% 2 of 4 slots used 16GB DIMM DDR4 clocked @ 2133 MHz Performing way below expectations (4^th percentile)	44.9% Average	MC Read 17.1 MC Write 16.1 MC Mixed 19.7 50% 17.6 GB/s	SC Read 6.1 SC Write 8.8 SC Mixed 8.6 22% 7.83 GB/s	Latency 205 20% 205 ns
Poor: 47% ↑ This bench: 44.9% Great: 89%

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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 2,348 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 $170Bench 81%, 588,978 samples	832x
Core i5-6600KIntel $49Bench 72%, 342,244 samples	637x
Core i7-6700Intel $170Bench 72%, 282,363 samples	228x

GPU
GTX 1060-6GBNvidia $117Bench 56%, 1,368,019 samples	319x
GTX 1070Nvidia $278Bench 80%, 1,459,281 samples	313x
GTX 970Nvidia $200Bench 49%, 834,238 samples	228x

SSD
850 Evo 250GBSamsung $100Bench 103%, 951,591 samples	118x
850 Evo 500GBSamsung $94Bench 112%, 695,664 samples	76x
970 Evo Plus NVMe PCIe M.2 1TBSamsung $93Bench 310%, 455,997 samples	55x

RAM
Vengeance LPX DDR4 3000 C15 2x8GBCorsair $50Bench 82%, 606,405 samples	98x
Ripjaws V DDR4 2400 C15 2x8GBG.SKILL $31Bench 71%, 98,777 samples	87x
Fury DDR4 2133 C14 2x8GBHyperX $125Bench 73%, 59,072 samples	71x

EDIT WITH CUSTOM PC BUILDER

Value: 85% - Excellent

Total price: $586

CPU	GPU	SSD
Intel Core i5-12600K $160	Nvidia RTX 4060 $290	WD Black SN850X M.2 2TB $150
Intel Core i5-13600K $260	Nvidia RTX 4060-Ti $388	WD Black SN850X M.2 1TB $79
Intel Core i5-12400F $110	Nvidia RTX 4070 $520	Crucial T700 M.2 4TB $363