MSI Z170A GAMING M3 (MS-7978)

Performance Results


Gaming 72% Battleship	Desktop 89% Aircraft carrier	Workstation 62% Destroyer


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 82.8%, this CPU's suitability for 3D gaming is very good.
Graphics	84% 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	76.7% 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.

System	MSI MS-7978
Motherboard	MSI Z170A GAMING M3 (MS-7978) (all builds)
Memory	10.2 GB free of 16 GB @ 2.1 GHz
Display	2560 x 1440 - 32 Bit farger
OS	Windows 10
BIOS Date	20180704
Uptime	0 Days
Run Date	Mar 18 '24 at 18:07
Run Duration	276 Seconds
Run User	NOR-User
Background CPU	9%

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 i7-6700K-$170 588,978 User benchmarks, average bench 81% U3E1, 1 CPU, 4 cores, 8 threads Base clock 4 GHz, turbo 4.4 GHz (avg) Performing above expectations (64^th percentile)	82.8% Excellent	Memory 86 1-Core 131 2-Core 242 86% 153 Pts	4-Core 428 8-Core 661 67% 545 Pts	64-Core 663 41% 663 Pts
Poor: 70% ↑ This bench: 82.8% Great: 90%

Graphics Card	Bench	3D DX9	3D DX10	3D DX11
Nvidia GTX 980-Ti-$560 214,030 User benchmarks, average bench 79% Asus(1043 8548) ≥ 4GB CLim: 1582 MHz, MLim: 1800 MHz, Ram: 6GB, Driver: 551.76 Performing way above expectations (85^th percentile)	84% Excellent	Lighting 105 Reflection 119 Parallax 106 86% 110 fps	MRender 102 Gravity 103 Splatting 93.5 81% 99.4 fps
Poor: 70% ↑ This bench: 84% Great: 87%

Drives	Bench	Sequential	Random 4k	Deep queue 4k
Kioxia-exceria G2 SSD 1TB 4,329 User benchmarks, average bench 198% 122GB free Firmware: ECFA17.1 SusWrite @10s intervals: 1137 692 689 690 615 594 MB/s Performing way below expectations (14^th percentile)	148% Outstanding	Read 1,251 Write 1,656 Mixed 1,351 SusWrite 736 282% 1,249 MB/s	4K Read 31.3 4K Write 54.7 4K Mixed 41.1 129% 42.4 MB/s	DQ Read 332 DQ Write 248 DQ Mixed 310 226% 297 MB/s
Poor: 132% ↑ This bench: 148% Great: 251%
Crucial BX100 500GB-$49 13,478 User benchmarks, average bench 92% 91GB free (System drive) Firmware: MU02 SusWrite @10s intervals: 326 255 156 198 158 153 MB/s Performing way below expectations (15^th percentile)	76.7% Very good	Read 485 Write 432 Mixed 339 SusWrite 208 82% 366 MB/s	4K Read 23.4 4K Write 53.8 4K Mixed 32.1 105% 36.4 MB/s	DQ Read 272 DQ Write 260 DQ Mixed 208 172% 247 MB/s
Poor: 67% ↑ This bench: 76.7% Great: 108%
Samsung 860 QVO 1TB-$109 201,200 User benchmarks, average bench 89% 139GB free Firmware: RVQ01B6Q SusWrite @10s intervals: 455 205 82 81 82 82 MB/s Performing below expectations (29^th percentile)	79.1% Very good	Read 491 Write 462 Mixed 409 SusWrite 164 86% 382 MB/s	4K Read 27.3 4K Write 58.4 4K Mixed 36.1 118% 40.6 MB/s	DQ Read 290 DQ Write 270 DQ Mixed 280 210% 280 MB/s
Poor: 49% ↑ This bench: 79.1% Great: 121%
Samsung PSSD T7 Shield 2TB 170 User benchmarks, average bench 69% 972GB free Firmware: 0 SusWrite @10s intervals: 587 569 593 591 513 572 MB/s Performing way above expectations (95^th percentile)	89.4% Excellent	Read 456 Write 602 Mixed 504 SusWrite 571 121% 533 MB/s	4K Read 21.2 4K Write 36.9 4K Mixed 26.6 86% 28.2 MB/s	DQ Read 221 DQ Write 206 DQ Mixed 214 160% 214 MB/s
Poor: 54% ↑ This bench: 89.4% Great: 89%
Toshiba MQ01ABD075 750GB-$40 42,694 User benchmarks, average bench 43% 224GB free Firmware: AX002F SusWrite @10s intervals: 76 78 78 78 78 78 MB/s Performing above expectations (76^th percentile)	50.4% Above average	Read 97.8 Write 85.9 Mixed 32.6 SusWrite 77.7 54% 73.5 MB/s	4K Read 0.4 4K Write 1.3 4K Mixed 0.5 96% 0.73 MB/s
Poor: 23% ↑ This bench: 50.4% Great: 57%
Toshiba MK3261GSYN 320GB-$72 6,986 User benchmarks, average bench 45% 157GB free Firmware: MH000C SusWrite @10s intervals: 57 61 60 61 60 62 MB/s Performing below expectations (22^nd percentile)	34% Below average	Read 58.2 Write 41.4 Mixed 26.6 SusWrite 59.9 34% 46.5 MB/s	4K Read 0.6 4K Write 1.3 4K Mixed 0.6 116% 0.83 MB/s
Poor: 21% ↑ This bench: 34% Great: 64%
TOSHIBA External USB 3.0 1TB 880 User benchmarks, average bench 30% 201GB free, PID a100 Operating at USB 3.0 Speed SusWrite @10s intervals: 108 113 112 112 112 113 MB/s Performing way above expectations (92^nd percentile)	42.7% Average	Read 87.4 Write 88.3 Mixed 34.1 SusWrite 112 109% 80.4 MB/s	4K Read 0.5 4K Write 1.8 4K Mixed 0.6 84% 0.97 MB/s
Poor: 13% ↑ This bench: 42.7% Great: 44%

Memory Kit	Bench	Multi core	Single core	Latency
Corsair Vengeance LPX DDR4 2133 C13 2x8GB-$45 47,721 User benchmarks, average bench 69% 2 of 4 slots used 16GB DIMM DDR4 clocked @ 2133 MHz Performing as expected (47^th percentile)	69.5% Good	MC Read 25 MC Write 26.2 MC Mixed 22 70% 24.4 GB/s	SC Read 16.5 SC Write 27.1 SC Mixed 22.4 63% 22 GB/s	Latency 74.8 54% 74.8 ns
Poor: 42% ↑ This bench: 69.5% Great: 80%

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System Memory Latency Ladder

L1/L2/L3 CPU cache and main memory (DIMM) access latencies in nano seconds

SkillBench Score 0: 0P 0R 0G 0B (High Scores)

Measures user input accuracy relative to the given hardware

Score	Hit Rate	Shots	EFps	0.1% Low	Refresh Rate	Screen	Resolution	Monitor
0%	0%	0	29	7	120	72.3"	1280 720	GSM81CD LG TV SSCR2

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Typical Z170A GAMING M3 (MS-7978) Builds (Compare 2,340 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	831x
Core i5-6600KIntel $59Bench 72%, 342,244 samples	634x
Core i7-6700Intel $170Bench 72%, 282,363 samples	227x

GPU
GTX 1060-6GBNvidia $117Bench 56%, 1,368,019 samples	318x
GTX 1070Nvidia $278Bench 80%, 1,459,281 samples	312x
GTX 970Nvidia $200Bench 49%, 834,238 samples	227x

SSD
850 Evo 250GBSamsung $100Bench 103%, 951,591 samples	118x
850 Evo 500GBSamsung $94Bench 112%, 695,664 samples	75x
970 Evo Plus NVMe PCIe M.2 1TBSamsung $93Bench 310%, 455,997 samples	55x

RAM
Vengeance LPX DDR4 3000 C15 2x8GBCorsair $48Bench 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: 85% - Excellent

Total price: $584

CPU	GPU	SSD
Intel Core i5-12600K $164	Nvidia RTX 4060 $293	WD Black SN850X M.2 2TB $149
Intel Core i5-12400F $110	Nvidia RTX 4060-Ti $385	WD Black SN850X M.2 1TB $89
Intel Core i5-13600K $245	Nvidia RTX 4070 $549	Crucial T700 M.2 4TB $359