Ideally we would need:

A plug-in that:
a - allows to play with the render settings AND
b - renders a file and reports the duration of the render
Both features are available now, but in separate plug-ins.

Standard files that could be used for these experiments. These files should be designed to include "problem areas" such as white specks, transparency, shininess, etc.

I would be happy to run a large number of tests.

Hans