Does RAM speed make a performance difference outside of games?

Staples

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Currently looking into upgrading to an Intel 10700K system. I use a mITX case so I would like to stick to that. Problem is, mITX z490 motherboards are pretty expensive. (Bigger ones are not as bad). You can practically save $100 by going with an H470 variant and the only drawback for me will be that you are limited to running your RAM at 2999Mhz. In gaming it can make 5% of a difference between 2999 and 3800 but does memory speed really affect anything else as much? I use Lightroom and Premiere a lot more than I play games.
 
Some tests I ran with 6700K 3200c14 RAM

Lightroom

Time taken to export 150 24mp .nef to jpeg
2133c15 3:20
3200c14 2:50
3866c16 2:39

Time taken to build 150 24mp 1:1 previews
2133c15 6:03
3200c14 5:33
3866c16 5:23

Here is some tests I ran with this photoshop benchmark
https://www.pugetsystems.com/labs/articles/PugetBench-for-Photoshop-1132/
eb106f9873cf97cffa0485df9a52c910285bd53c020a38fe4e05a14be2e90957.jpg


I believe premier will see a much smaller difference.
 
Thanks. I really love real world tests (something I love to do myself). It seems the gains get lower once you get to 3200. I noticed that most if not all high performance OEM systems just run the default 3000mhz.
 
It is not just the frequency but also the timings.
You will notice that the tests run
SPD C15
XMP C14
Overclocked C16
3200c14 is fairly quick and would be faster than a 3600c17 kit for example and would probably have a lower real world latency than 4000c19 although the higher bandwidth that comes with 4000 would give it the edge in some programs.

A 3000c16 kit would probably sit closer to half way between 2133c15 and 3866c16
 
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I have noticed a nice improvement with my 7700k by going from 2400mhz 15/16/16/35 ram to 3200mhz 16/19/19/37
 
Beyond 3600mhz you start reaching the point of diminishing returns especially on Intel system. 3600mhz cl16 is like the best performance to price for AMD systems.
 
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