@edlo....you said "but high render times are the result of people trying to ram into a scene several hundred thousand populations, complicated displacements, and to top everything out one or two volumetric layers and then render at .8 .9 or even 1 quality settings"
Absolutely not true in my case....take a look at my thread on water render times ( with link to final image)....NO objects, NO clouds....mostly water....yes quality at 1, GI @ 1.....
The subject of render times has been beaten to death...so, as I said before...if you're happy with it, then fine.
Anyway, glad you are having success with quality settings of 0.45....I suspect most folks would not be happy with that level of quality...