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That first Battle Bob: just three point lights?  Doesn't look like complicated shaders.  Back in January, when I tested a similar render (3 point lights, shadows), it took 20 seconds (quad core, 64 bit Vista, 8 gigs memory).  So about 12 times faster. 

I think you're right on there. The shaders were nothing - just your ordinary color map node and nothing else but settings on the surface node.

However, transmapped hair is still a bitch.

Always will be, I'd suspect.