It's faster on some scenes, mainly those using radiosity.  Others it's slower and some say slower with the beta update. Some have noticed differences between Vue 6i scenes and renders in 6 versus 7, usually longer. It seems to depend on your settings. Things have to be adjusted for Vue 7i as it's a newer render engine that does a few things differently. Those using 64-bit seem to be having fewer issues, and those with 64-bit tend to have more robust systems with more memory and faster processors/more cores, so that factored together may also help some render times. I haven't quite figured out why some render times vary on test scenes using different settings... some make sense, others don't. YMMV

But, I've liked the results I've seen so far.