Branched Path Tracing adds raytraces, concentrating on areas where a lot of effects are needed or a high rate-of-change of properties is encountered; it gives the benefit of a higher sample count only in the areas where it is needed. So, it will take somewhat longer, but it will be considerably better than a rigid number of samples applied to every pixel.

The E3-1230 is a 3.3GHz HyperThreaded quad core. If you want render performance, use a server/workstation motherboard with two CPU sockets and two Xeon processors. Buy two Xeons with the highest (mathematical) product of core count times clockspeed which fits your budget. Two HyperThreaded hex-core Xeons would give you twenty four render threads.

dual-CPU ATX mobo:

dual-CPU E-ATX mobo:

As far as I know, only Xeon processors can be run in parallel (two CPUs on a single motherboard).

Most dual-CPU motherboards are E-ATX (extended ATX form factor); this requires a case/chassis which will accommodate an E-ATX motherboard. The usual desktop motherboard is ATX. There are some dual-CPU motherboards which are ATX form factor; but, these are usually limited to 48GB RAM, and will likely have fewer PCIe expansion slots than the E-ATX motherboards.

I recommend shopping for used workstations, as the cost of new dual-CPU units is high.

Poser 12, in feet.  

OSes:  Win7Prox64, Win7Ultx64

Silo Pro 2.5.6 64bit, Vue Infinite 2014.7, Genetica 4.0 Studio, UV Mapper Pro, UV Layout Pro, PhotoImpact X3, GIF Animator 5