@LivingPixels Must admit I had been lazy and looked at the last page of the thread, hadn't seen the 'rig' details. Just those high numbers for what is a simple scene.
There are a few things people should take into consideration when using an unbiased render engine such as IRay. When you hit render, it sends RAYS out from the light source. These rays will either hit something or not. The computer will have a ray length and number of bounces to calculate for each sample. Consider using a back drop, a plane primitive on end behind your main scene. Don't apply a shiny surface to the backdrop though. Another one acting as a ground can help. Even better consider using an HDRI.
Think about the resolution. If you set the length and width to around 70%, you will roughly halve your render times.
Finally, for now, consider using a one click solution to reduce the quality and thus the length of time it takes to complete a render. Something like ( https://zonegfx.com/modular-lights-render-studio/ ) might be a good start 😉
Regards,