Memory vs Render/Export times in Premiere CC

I forgot to mention that the weakling GPU may be skewing all of the other CPU-intensive performances, as well. I tested a GT 730 with GDDR5 RAM, and it not only was itself sluggish, but it also caused all of the other subsystem scores including the CPU performance to become degraded as well.

As a result, I'm now beginning to suspect that your system's component balance has become SEVERELY lopsided in favor of the CPU.

And the only sure-fire way to check for this would be to obtain different GPUs of different performance levels, and then run the PPBM export test from the MPEG-2 DVD timeline with the MPE GPU acceleration both on AND off (be sure to run ALL of the tests as instructed, but pay attention to the MPEG-2 DVD results with MPE on and off). If above a certain GPU performance level the MPE On (GPU acceleration enabled) scores start to flatten out, then the higher-end GPUs above that particular threshold may be too powerful for your system's CPU. If on the other hand below a certain GPU performance level the MPE Off (software only) scores start becoming significantly slower, then the lower-end GPUs below that threshold are almost certainly severely underpowered for the system's CPU.

So in your particular case, just run all of the PPBM tests as instructed, produce an xls and a Speccy file, and then submit the results. If your CPU is listed on Bill's PPBM8 site, compare your CPU-only MPEG-2 DVD score with the reference CPU-only MPEG-2 DVD score for your CPU (it should be listed among the CPUs in the CPU list). Your result will likely be substantially longer (slower) than the reference score for that CPU.

It just makes me sad to see someone building a video editing PC spend so much money on the CPU and RAM that there is very, very little room left in the total build budget for a decent GPU, especially since that would actually make such a build perform worse at CPU level than an otherwise equally-priced build with a lesser CPU but a higher-performance (mid-range) GPU. To me, that is equally as detrimental as overspending on the GPU but cheaping out on the CPU. And to use the analogy with a car, your system would be almost like ordering a 2014 Chevy Impala LTZ with the optional 305-hp V6 engine but only equipping it with a 2-speed Powerglide automatic transmission that's been lifted from a 1965 Chevy Impala.

Is your system's Windows pagefile on a slow, spinning hard drive? You see, when you added more RAM to your system, it is possible for the default pagefile size to grow larger.

Also, in many systems, running more than 1 stick of RAM per memory controller channel (this means 2 sticks in a dual-channel system) will force the memory speed to drop significantly.