Robyn - if your proc is a quad core (I think so), then your specs and mine are about the same. I really don't have many problems with my renders because 1: I guess I just have loads of patience..lol. If I wanna do something on my computer, I just pause the render (cause I CAN...lol). If I want to do something rather intensive, I just save the .flm, save and exit and then when I want to continue the render I just resume the .flm :). 2: I use the random sampler. I find that I get more fireflies with Mitchell, so I stopped using it. When I use choose random in the exporter, I bump up the samples. That'll increase your render times tho ;). I also use gaussian for the filter.

As for the OpenCL, well, that depends on the kind of graphics card you have. I have an Nvidia 9500GT 1 gig card and it does support it. All I had to do was use the most recent drivers. Having said that, Luxrender itself doesn't do so well with GPU rendering just yet, so you might not want to use that anyway.

If you have a second machine that's networked you can also use that to help you render your image. It might go a little faster for you. I use my dual core to help with my renders all the time :).

Laurie