I saw your artifacts, pjz. They disappear once high settings are kicked in.

I am rendering V4 close up illuminated by nothing but two glowing boxes (no lights) and AO in nodes. Her hi-res skins.

Render settings low = artifacts.

Render settings cranked = gorgeous renders.

indirect light quality = 100%
bounces = 6
Irradiation cache = 50
Pixel Samples = 36
Min Shade Rate = .21

no tone map, i am not ready for the adventure of finding out what that is yet!

800x500 renders in 1/2 hour
Q6600 quad
8 gig RAM

I'll post a render or two later today.
I think the GI is great. No free lunch.

I read elsewhere that Stewar says no need for such 'high' I.Cache but I am working backwards: as I continue to get great renders I'll keep turning the settings down to get better timings.

I have not even begun to engage HDRI lighting, domes, etc.

::::: Opera :::::

P.S. I miss the OpenEXR format dammit. Looks like it will be 6-9 months until Pro is out and I get it back.