Quote -
-Dimensions are set to 1280x720 @ 300 Pixels/Inch

-Max Bucket size is set to 5000 (also tried 15000... I REALLY dont know what to put this as, but 15000 and 5000 work fine for very low quality test renders)

If you're not rendering for print you don't need a dps of 300 - 72 will do nicely.

I'm in total agreement with everyone else on your bucket size ... my jaw hit the floor when I saw it.

I generally use 64 but will drop it down to 32 if there's a lot going on in the scene.  Nothing gets lost and the render goes quicker.

Hugz from Phoenix, USA

Victoria

Remember, sometimes the dragon wins. Correction: MOST times.