Render speed comparisons are often apples-and-oranges. I remember when Poser4 users used to laugh at Bryce4 users. Sure, Bryce was slower (Bryce has in fact some deadly inefficient algorithms)....but we were doing ray-traced shadows and reflections and proceedural materials in that time. Poser didn't even have real shadows. No matter what the application, to get speed you gotta turn down performance. To get all the bells and whistles you have to sacrifice some time.