it is easy to test system prompt and it does make big difference: ask same question “what do you think about china” with system prompt for biden vs trump.
I am not saying it doesn't make. It does set the tone/context of next responses. But it's not a permanent guide throughout the conversation, it can be changed to do whatever you want in your next messages.
of course. in my case, i am using this list for telegram bot. Bot users have no clue about system prompts - and it looks like magic to them when you switch to new "assistant".